Past experiences, present research opportunities shape OSU med student

Past experiences, present research opportunities shape OSU med student

Thursday, September 11, 2025

Media Contact: Kayley Spielbusch | Digital Communications Specialist | 918-561-5759 | [email protected]

For second-year Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine student Amara Dike, three culminating experiences shaped her decision to become a doctor.

Dike, pronounced Dee-kay, is the daughter of Nigerian immigrants, and her oldest brother has arthrogryposis, a congenital joint condition that led to him having 12 surgeries throughout his life.

She recalled how highly her parents spoke of the doctors who cared for him, especially with how they built trust and communicated across cultural barriers.

"Those doctors always felt like heroes to me. I knew I wanted to be a part of that and show up for families in their most vulnerable moments," she said.

Then in high school, Dike lost two close family friends to cancer - one a best friend - and walking through his cancer journey with him changed her.

"I saw how much weight doctors carry, not just in treating patients, but in balancing honesty with hope," she said.

Lastly, Dike saw firsthand the challenges of limited health care access when she visited her parents' village in Nigeria. She said residents walked long distances to receive care due to the village's remote location and lack of accessible transportation.

Speaking with village members and helping her family distribute blood pressure kits and over-the-counter medications, she gained a greater awareness of the disparities in global health care.

These experiences led Dike to OSU-COM, which she chose because its mission of serving rural and underserved communities resonated with her.

"I am passionate about addressing the social determinants of health and treating patients within the context of their communities. I love OSU-COM's commitment to serving underserved populations," she said.

Dike's commitment to community-centered care is demonstrated by her recent summer externship. She was part of the fourth cohort of the Robert A. Winn Clinical Investigator Pathway Program (Winn CIPP), where she and 65 other medical students from around the nation completed externships at sites across the United States.

Winn CIPP aims to expose medical students to clinical research and community outreach and create a workforce with the skills and knowledge to improve participation in clinical trials.

Dike applied to the program because of its focus on improving health outcomes and because of her heart for service.

"As a Black woman in medicine and someone who's from an immigrant family, I know what it's like not to always see yourself represented in health care and research," she said. "I knew I wanted to be a part of something to change that, and it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up."

Her externship site was the University of Arizona Cancer Center in Tucson, which she chose because of her personal experiences with cancer.

Winn CIPP participants are paired with a mentor for the duration of their externship, and Dike and another medical student worked under Dr. Alejandro Recio Boiles. Their objective was to design a research project that addressed real-world barriers that prevent patients from accessing clinical trials. Dike said addressing these barriers is essential to advancing the future of medicine.

"Clinical trials help us figure out what works for who and why. They are one of the most powerful tools that we have to improve health outcomes, and when every population is represented, we can ensure those outcomes are meaningful for all," she said.

The project focused on mapping biomarker-driven clinical trials in Arizona for genetic mutations such as BRCA1 and BRCA2, among several others, which are found in different types of cancer.

Dike said that when these genes mutate, they can cause severe disease progression. For her and her team's project, they focused on these genes in prostate and bladder cancer. They wanted to understand whether patients with these biomarkers had access to clinical trials that targeted them.

The research team collaborated with another company to identify the locations of patients with specific biomarkers throughout the state. By mapping these locations against clinical trials that had been active or enrolling participants in the last five years, they discovered significant gaps in the preliminary data.

"Many patients live far away from trial sites that are relevant to their mutation," Dike said. "Since these biomarker-driven clinical trials are very important and can improve patient outcomes, our goal was to help inform future trial placement and expand this project to other Southwestern states."

During the six-week externship, Dike and her research partner worked on their project, shadowed their physician mentor, and participated in a peer mentoring program for those interested in medicine, which she said was a highlight for her.

"I've always felt deeply grateful for the people who came before me that looked like me and encouraged me. Being able to share my experience and affirm individuals that they belong here was incredibly special," she said.

The externship may have ended, but Dike's involvement is far from over. Some of the research data is still pending and there is another associated project related to genetic testing and disease progression in the works.

She credits Winn CIPP with helping her build confidence as a student and a future physician.

"It deepened my sense of purpose and taught me to think critically. It reminded me that I matter and belong in these spaces, and that I have something valuable to contribute to medicine," Dike said. "I will always carry this experience with me."