Caxton College Leaves its Mark at MIT and Harvard

Lucía Castelló, a former student of this British school in Puçol, just started a PhD programme in Medical Engineering at MIT and Harvard to which only a small number of students are admitted each year.

Only five years have gone by since this 22-year-old from Valencia started her degree in Biomedicine at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), going on to complete a master’s degree at the University of Cambridge. She is now based in the Boston area, pursuing one of the most internationally esteemed doctoral programmes available.

Her passion for nanotechnology applied to health sciences has led her to the summit of the academic world, where there are more lectures by Nobel prize winners per square metre than anywhere else in the world. “Nanotechnology plays a crucial role in the development of new methods of diagnosis and therapy that are minimally invasive and extremely precise. I had the chance to start in this multidisciplinary field at the Instituto Universitario de Tecnología Nanofotónica at the UPV, collaborating on a European project in my final year. During my master’s programme, I was able to witness the huge impact of translational research–which is firmly established at the University of Cambridge—whilst participating in projects with several biomedical companies. My master’s thesis consisted of an analysis of the technological and financial viability of integrating a surgical technique in the public health system (NHS) in the UK”.

Lucía Castelló obtained a place in the doctoral programme at MIT and Harvard, fully funded by these institutions, in addition to a scholarship from La Caixa that seeks to promote the talent of the most outstanding students so that they can broaden their education at the world’s best universities. “I knew it wouldn’t be easy to gain a place in the master’s programme at the University of Cambridge or the doctoral programme at MIT-Harvard, but I was hopeful. The academic requirements are very demanding and admission is contingent upon a selective admissions process and several rounds of personal and technical interviews. All told, it was a long and intensive process that taught me a lot and I’m really pleased with the final result”, she said.

Lucía Castelló, a graduate of Caxton College, will be spending the next six years immersed in this programme that combines medical studies at Harvard and engineering at MIT together with lab research.

“Medical engineering permits advances in the field of medicine through the use of technology. Its aim is to improve health outcomes and quality of life for patients. I am particularly interested in the applications of nanotechnology to develop diagnostic tools that allow for early detection of disease, as well as the intelligent release of pharmaceutical treatments to optimise therapeutic effects”.

Regarding her education at the UPV, she highlights the importance of her research period through a collaborative scholarship, as well as the quality of the theoretical and practical classes, all of which contributed to her being named the highest-ranked Biomedical Engineering student at the national level by the Sociedad Española de Excelencia Académica. Of her education at school, she said, “Thanks to the advice of my maths teachers, I decided to combine Engineering with Medicine instead of pursuing only Medicine. I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity to further my studies of maths, a subject I have always loved, and be able to apply these principles to the interdisciplinary field where I now work. I am also truly grateful for the level of English I gained and the demanding nature of the education I received. This defined my work ethic and my determination to succeed in achieving the ambitious goals I set for myself”.

During the first weeks of her studies at the two campuses near Boston, this biomedical engineer with such a promising professional future is very pleased. “Although it’s true that it’s a very competitive atmosphere, all of us here share the same aim: to have a positive impact on society through our work. I’m sure we’ll be successful,” she said with a smile.