Dylan Hwang ’26 Connects Chemistry to Patient Care

For Dylan Hwang ’26, a semester-long internship at Stratificare, a Singapore-based medical technology company, was particularly eye-opening. The experience helped him see the technical details of analytical and biomedical science come to life in an industry setting.

A biochemistry major, Hwang had spent the previous semester studying analytical chemistry, where he learned various forms of experimental instrumentation and methodologies used to examine the chemical nature of compounds. While he appreciated the precision and rigor of these techniques, he still wondered how analytical methods played a meaningful role in real-world applications.

A few months later, he began his internship at Stratificare, where he saw firsthand the development of diagnostic tests for severe dengue fever progression and the efficacy of radioembolization treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma. Stratificare’s work relied on many of the analytical techniques Hwang had studied in class—methods essential for gauging how diseases progress.

Through this experience, Hwang came to see that even a field like analytical chemistry—often perceived as methodical and narrow in scope—revealed itself as a critical foundation for tools that can fundamentally change people’s lives.

Hwang’s CELA experiences have given him not only a strong technical foundation but also the confidence to keep exploring. After graduating, he will join a neurobiology lab at Boston University School of Medicine, where he will study the mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

“My CELA experiences have been foundational in getting me here,” Hwang says. “Not just in building technical research skills, but in shaping how I think about science and my place within it. I’m excited to deepen my experience in biomedical research before applying to a PhD program, where I hope to pursue these questions at the highest level.”

To learn more about exciting opportunities like Dylan's, check out the Internship+ Program.