Jackie Knupp (’06) Will Use Truman Scholarship to Attend Medical School

Jackie Knupp (right) and another student intern examine yeast cells at a Duke University lab.

One thing is clear on Jackie Knupp’s Jepson internship form: she’ll be spending the summer interning at a genetics lab at Duke University. What is not clear—at least to the layman—is what exactly she’ll be doing there.

The form states that Knupp will be conducting “research on characterizing novel BRCA1-interacting protein targets in yeast and human cells and assisting in laboratory experiments regarding the characterization of a new BRCA1-dependent DNA damage signaling function.” Right. Suffice it to say, she’ll be researching breast cancer.

In March the petite brunette with big brown eyes and an electrifying smile learned that she had just been selected as a Truman scholar, becoming the seventh student in the history of the University to receive the highly selective and prestigious national scholarship. (See related article.) The Truman Scholarship Foundation awards $30,000 scholarships to students for use in their graduate education on the “basis of leadership potential, intellectual ability and likelihood of ‘making a difference’” in the field of public service, according to the organization’s Web site.

Knupp, who plans to work in the public health sphere in primary care, such as pediatrics, family practice or obstetrics and gynecology, will use the scholarship money to help pay for her medical school tuition, she said. She is still elated and a bit surprised by the news of the scholarship award.

Surprised because only a few years ago she would have never guessed that she would combine biology and leadership studies as a double major and be pursuing a medical career. “I hated science in high school,” she said. “I wanted nothing to do with it. I was very much a right-brain person in a lot of ways, someone who loved French, English and dance.”

Despite her distaste for high school science classes, the Raleigh, N.C., native spent the summer after her sophomore year in high school volunteering at Duke University Hospital. The summer after her senior year in high school she became involved in cancer patient advocacy when she returned to the hospital to intern in the Cancer Patient Support Program.

“I loved working in that environment with patients,” Knupp said. “And although I had no idea about what I wanted to major in when I came to the University of Richmond, I knew I wanted to work with people.”

Knupp attended all the orientation sessions as a college freshman and decided to register for a pre-health curriculum to keep her options open. She was amazed to find that she loved her science classes, in particular a genetics class taught by Dr. Valerie Kish, who chairs the biology department and became a mentor to Knupp. Knupp has worked in Kish’s lab for the last two-and-a-half years, where she just completed a year of honors work researching brain-tumor cells.

“Jackie’s work ethic, ability to focus and willingness to help others are characteristics that immediately come to mind when I think of her in the lab,” Kish said. “Her leadership within the research team, sense of humor and determination to succeed when faced with challenges are attributes that have made her a highly respected member of our community.” 

In addition to her science classes, a Jepson class titled Service to Society provided Knupp the chance to explore her chosen field. She performed her volunteer service for the class at the Medical College of Virginia Child Life Department, where she worked with many terminally ill, young cancer patients.

Dr. Kenneth Ruscio, dean of the Jepson School, told Knupp about the Truman scholarship program and suggested she apply, Knupp said. “It was obvious to me and to others that Jackie Knupp is someone who has the desire as well as the capacity to make a significant difference as a future leader in her profession and her community,” Ruscio said. “She is a bright, talented, principled and thoughtful student who will make the Truman Foundation proud, just as she has made the Jepson School proud.” 

The foundation’s grueling application process, which included an interview in Washington, D.C., where seven panelists grilled her about her essay on children’s health care, helped Knupp clarify her ideas on the type of medicine she would like to pursue. “I want to have a practice with patients, but I also want to be involved in health advocacy,” she said.

But don’t assume that medicine is Knupp’s only passion. A dancer since the age of four, she often mentions her love of dance first when asked to describe herself. “If I don’t dance for a week, I get antsy,” Knupp said. “I have to move.”

Knupp received a scholarship to attend the American Dance Festival at Duke for six weeks last summer. Recently she wrote a successful Quest grant that will provide the funding to bring Starrene Foster, an acclaimed modern dance choreographer and instructor, to campus as an artist-in-residence—a prospect that Knupp, who is the captain of the University Dancers, finds particularly exciting.  

“Dance has always been a part of my life, although never a priority,” Knupp said. “I would love to find ways to connect dance and medicine in my practice.” Odds are good she’ll make it happen.