For Randolph-Macon College alumna Sammi Scarola ’18, summer will bring more than just a change in the weather. It will also signal the start of an exciting new adventure for Scarola, a behavioral neuroscience and chemistry major. In July, she will enter the Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine.

SURF-ing Toward Discovery
Scarola’s ultimate goal—to become a neurosurgeon or neurologist—reflects her passion to learn all she can about how the brain and body interact. Whether delving into research or participating in internships, she has spent the last years preparing for medical school.

Scarola was twice awarded a Schapiro Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF). This signature RMC program gives students the opportunity to conduct 10 weeks of research under the guidance of a faculty mentor.

Her first SURF project was inspired by an internship in which she shadowed a school nurse and helped perform medical exams.

The school was in a low-income community, and the internship fueled Scarola’s desire to research how socioeconomic status affects maternal stress. She presented her SURF results at the 2017 International Behavioral Neuroscience Society (IBNS) conference in Hiroshima, Japan where she networked with top researchers and was awarded first place for her poster presentation.

“The experience was incredibly enriching, as it brought to my attention the caliber of the research we are doing at RMC,” says Scarola, a certified EMT. “We conducted graduate-level research that is recognized and well-respected across many fields.”

For her second SURF project, Scarola worked under the guidance of Psychology Professor Massimo Bardi as she investigated how acute stress versus chronic stress affects the immune response.

“The relationship between stress and health is probably one of the most significant issues in contemporary societies,” says Bardi. “Sammi did excellent work trying to find creative answers to this problem by assessing the contribution of environmental, physiological and neural factors in an animal model.”

Scarola recently submitted a paper about this research for publication in Comparative Medicine, a scientific journal, and she will present her research at the IBNS conference in Boca Raton, Florida this summer. “This was a special project because it was the start of what I plan to translate into clinical research once I become a physician,” she says.

Home Away from Home
Scarola is an RMC Presidential Scholar and the recipient of the Jackson Fellowship for Chemistry and the Georganne W. and Stephen P. Long Scholarship. At the college’s recent scholarship banquet, Scarola had the opportunity to thank the Longs for their generosity. “My scholarship was more than financial aid,” she says. “It was support from donors who believed in me.”

She also served as a tutor in the Higgins Academic Center (HAC); as a HAC academic coach; and as the student coordinator for the college’s annual Brain Expo. Scarola is a member of Delta Zeta Sorority, Omicron Zeta Chapter; Omicron Delta Kappa; Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society; Chi Beta Phi; Beta Beta Beta; and Gamma Sigma Alpha.

“I am thankful to have so many mentors at RMC who have recognized my potential and helped to shape me into the person I am today,” she says. “I know that I will always have a home at Randolph-Macon.”