Michaela Hvizdak is a New Jersey native with dual citizenship in the United States and the Slovak Republic. She graduated from Arcadia University in May of 2021 with a B.S. in Biology and a concentration in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. At Arcadia, she performed three years of undergraduate research studying the effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) on metabolic development in fruit flies. She also spent a semester abroad at the University of Otago in New Zealand where she conducted fieldwork in freshwater and marine ecology. In the final year of her undergraduate career, she held an internship as a Clinical Research Assistant at OraSure Technologies, a leading medical diagnostic device company in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Michaela joined the Toxicology PhD program in August 2021 and is currently researching EDCs per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and their effects on oxylipin and steroid metabolism in the Lampe Lab. She is primarily interested in the capacity for PFAS to interact with cytochrome P450 enzymes involved in development, such as the neonatal CYP3A7 and CYP19A1 (Aromatase).

Michaela