Destin Hinson begins work on his Ph.D. in the immunology program at the Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences this July.
It’s a prestigious program, and not easy to get into. But the Saint John’s University graduate credited the work he did on campus at CSB and SJU for making it an obtainable goal.
“CSB and SJU provide students with so many opportunities in so many different areas,” said Hinson, who graduated in 2024 with a degree in biology. “I know that helped me out a lot when it came to deciding what I wanted to do.”
Hinson specifically credits his work with Ashley Fink, an assistant professor in the biology department at CSB and SJU.
The Rochester Lourdes High School graduate started out doing dishes in the lab as a freshman, then became Fink’s teaching assistant. That led to collaborating with Fink on a summer research project between his sophomore and junior year titled “Sex Differences in Exercise-Induced Modulation of the Humoral Immune Response to Influenza Vaccination.”
“Being part of that project taught me the basics of how to conduct research and the concept of scientific rigor,” Hinson said. “The work I did helped me learn a lot about what I wanted to do for a career. and it provided me with the skills I needed to help make that happen.”
Indeed, Hinson – who hopes to become a principal investigator in biomedical research – was able to parlay his work with Fink into a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) position at Mayo during the summer between his junior and senior year.
That, in turn, helped position him for a spot in the immunology program.
“Destin was an excellent student to work with and I miss him dearly,” Fink said. “Watching him grow from a quiet freshman into a junior and senior who could practically run his own research project was incredibly rewarding for me as a mentor.
“He consistently looked for ways to get involved in the lab, took the work seriously and was remarkably successful.”
Hinson, meanwhile, is grateful for the chances he was provided.
“Saint John’s really does a good job of preparing students for future careers,” he said. “The professors in the biology department were amazing and they were all willing to take the time to help me out in whatever way I needed.”