Vanessa B Sanchez received her Associate of Arts in Social & Behavioral Sciences and Psychology from Citrus College before transferring to California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Minor in Cellular and Molecular Biology. While at CSUF, she participated in various programs focused on preparing students from underrepresented, first-generation, and low-income students for doctoral studies, such as the Ronald E. McNair Scholars program and the NIH-funded Maximizing Access to Research Careers program. During the summer of 2018, Vanessa also participated in The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard’s summer research program. Vanessa was accepted into the Neuroscience PhD program at the University of Pennsylvania. She is using this opportunity to stand as an example that success is possible regardless of one's ethnicity, socioeconomic background, and gender. Outside of lab, she is an outdoor enthusiast and loves camping, as well as practicing yoga and mindfulness.