Alumni Profile: Shree Bose ’12

By Eleanor Siff

Shree Bose ’12 is no stranger to hard work. As an FWCD student, she took learning beyond the classroom to pursue her passion, which led to her becoming the inaugural Google Global Science Fair Grand Prize Winner (2011) out of a field of 10,000 competitors from 90 countries. She even presented her winning cancer research project to President Barack Obama and National Institutes of Health Directors.

After graduating, Bose attended Harvard University and co-founded the EdTech company Piper to help break down barriers to computer science education. Then she enrolled in the Duke University School of Medicine M.D./Ph.D. program, where she recently completed her Ph.D. on understanding metabolic changes in ovarian cancer metastasis and her M.D. in May 2023. She was also named to the 2023 Forbes 30 Under 30 for Science list.

Before attending some of the most prestigious schools in the country, pursuing a career in cancer research, and becoming an award-winning scientist, Bose was inspired in Sharon Hamilton’s biology class. “She was one of the first people who taught me in a classroom what cancer is, and I remember having so many questions afterward,” she said. “I’m thankful to her for a lot of that early spark that led to what I am doing.”

Working on the Falcon Quill, eventually becoming Editorin-Chief, Bose learned to use Adobe InDesign and Illustrator thanks to Upper School Journalism Teacher Lisa Wallace “Because I learned those two things, I’m able to make the graphics that help me communicate science,” Bose said. “That’s one of the things that was unique about my science fairs in Upper School, but also everything I have done since. Even the graphics I was making for my Ph.D. defense. These are all tools I learned in Mrs. Wallace’s classroom.” Like biology with Hamilton, Wallace shaped Bose’s studies and career path.

Bose also participated in Prairie Restoration Day at FWCD, which helped her see how learning extends beyond the classroom. When she wanted to participate in the Google Global Science Fair, she felt empowered and prepared to pursue her interests beyond her assigned coursework. “Country Day is special in that way, in that it’s not just classroom work,” she said. “School prepares you, and then you can do anything you want outside these walls because you have the support to do it, which is something that’s carried into every single thing I’ve gone on to do.” Bose attributes her ability to get creative and break out of “the box” to her time at FWCD. Freedom from the traditional school structure created pathways to innovation, which has been a throughline of her education and career experiences.

It was also at FWCD that Bose first learned about M.D./ Ph.D. programs. “You can do research as an M.D., and you can do clinical-related stuff as a Ph.D., but as an M.D., you get a really strong basis in how cancer care is done in the real world, and that is something I really needed to know for any of the research I do to matter,” Bose said. “You can do the coolest research in the lab, but if it’s not in a way that a patient can actually experience, it doesn’t have the power I want my research to have. I need the Ph.D. to do the highest caliber of research and to understand the cuttingedge questions we are asking about cancer. Still, I need to understand exactly how that translates to a patient who has cancer for my research to matter.”

Beginning her Fellowship at the University of Chicago in June, Bose is considering what’s next. “I think taking my research and personalization of medicine and turning it into a company down the line is something I’m super interested in,” she said. However, Bose is quick to note that she doesn’t know what the future looks like, especially as she navigates the structured world of medicine. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that all that structure has her thinking about how she can break down some walls to think beyond what you “have to do to see what you can do.”