Graduate Student
The Ohio State University
My name is Ericka Velez Bonet and I am a Ph.D. candidate from Puerto Rico. I am part of the Ohio State Nutrition (OSUN) program at OSU doing my doctoral work under the guidance of Dr. Zobeida Cruz Monserrate. Previously, I earned my B.S. in Chemistry at the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey and M.S. in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Medical Science Campus at San Juan, Puerto Rico. My research focuses on studying a protease that is upregulated early in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and the use of the ketogenic diet (KD) as a therapy for obesity-associated PDAC. My past personal experiences drove me into learning more about the effects nutrition has on health to develop novel nutritional interventions for the improvement of this deadly disease.