Andrea Pettit
Andrea Pettit, a member of the Honors College from Morgantown, will graduate with a degree in immunology and medical microbiology. She is a member of the WVU Cross County and Track and Field teams, community service chair of the WVU Student Athlete Advisory Committee, treasurer of Alpha Epsilon Delta and co-founder of the WVU Cross Country Ski club.
She has maintained a 4.0 while competing as a student-athlete, immersing herself in research, presenting her research, volunteering her time to WVU Medicine Children’s and enjoying extracurricular activities.
Pettit has volunteered hundreds of hours to WVU Medicine as a Neonatal Intensive Care “cuddler,” holding babies who are withdrawing from substance addiction and as a family liaison for the Intensive Care and Post-Anesthesia Care units.
She is also the creator of the “Giving Back” program, a service project that delivers backpacks filled with donated toys, books and games to local youth faced with unfortunate situations. She has delivered backpacks to the Ronald McDonald House, Bartlett House and WVU Medicine Children’s.
Pettit is a two-year immunology research intern in the School of Medicine where she has been investigating the impact of gut bacteria on sexually dysmorphic immune responses to develop a better understanding of the molecular differences between males and females, a critical endeavor as the medical community moves toward disease-specific treatment options and therapeutics.
Through hard work and dedication, she has mastered methodical hand-movements and executes experiments with precision allowing her to perform independent research and mentor other students on proper lab techniques.
She has presented her research at the Chicago Autumn Immunology Conference, WVU Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium and received First Place Undergraduate Poster Presentation at the Branch American Society of Microbiology Research and Van Liere Research Symposium.
Carrying on her family’s legacy, she is the 21st person in her family to attend WVU, leaving the next generation of Mountaineers “big shoes to fill.” She is a Rhodes Scholarship finalist and recipient of Dr. Gerald Lage Academic Achievement Award, the Big 12 Conference’s highest academic honor.
Fascinated with research, but a longing for human connection has led her to a career as a physician. She is deeply concerned about the opioid epidemic and people’s lack of access to health care services and how it exacerbates chronic diseases in her home state.
At this time, she is unsure if she will attend the WVU School of Medicine in the fall or defer medical school for year to pursue a master’s degree in primary care research at the University of Cambridge.