Holly Ponichtera is an immunologist and former competitive figure skater who competed for
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
in
Hanover, New Hampshire
Hanover is a town located along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 11,870. The town is home to the Ivy League university Dartmouth College, the U.S. Army Corps of Eng ...
. Poichtera played on figure skating teams at Dartmouth that won the national championship in four consecutive years.
Early life and education
Ponichtera grew up in
Gladstone, New Jersey
Gladstone is an unincorporated community located within Peapack-Gladstone in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. The area is served as United States Postal Service ZIP Code 07934. and also raced horses as a child. Ponichtera captured the championship title for the Mini-Stirrup B Division at the 1995 New Jersey Horse Show Association's Silver Anniversary.
During her high school years, Ponichtera competed as a figure skater at the American Academy Figure Skating Club in
. She performed at the opening ceremony for the dedication of the Twin Oaks Ice Rink in
Morristown, New Jersey
Morristown () is a town and the county seat of Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. ...
in 2001. After advancing to the 2001-2002 Eastern Sectional Championship, Ponichtera placed twelfth in the final standings. Ponichtera graduated from Morristown-Beard School in Morristown, New Jersey in 2003. In 2014, Ponichtera delivered the keynote address at the school's induction ceremony for the
Cum Laude Society
The Cum Laude Society is an organization that honors scholastic achievement at secondary institutions, similar to the Phi Beta Kappa Society, which honors scholastic achievements at the university level. It was founded at The Tome School in 190 ...
.
Figure skating performances
While competing at the national collegiate championship in figure skating in 2006, she captured gold medals in both the junior ladies
freestyle
Freestyle may refer to:
Brands
* Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe
* Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile
* Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine
* ICD Freestyle, a paintball marker
* Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott La ...
and junior ladies short programs. Ponichtera also earned entry into Dartmouth's Wearer of the Green Honors, the school's athletic hall of fame. She was the tenth player in figure skating to attain the Honors. During the four-year title run, which began in 2004, Ponichtera and her teammates went undefeated in competition.
Graduate studies and immunology research
Ponichtera earned her bachelor's degree in biology at Dartmouth in 2007. She then completed her master's degree in biology at
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...
in
Medford, Massachusetts
Medford is a city northwest of downtown Boston on the Mystic River in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, Medford's population was 59,659. It is home to Tufts University, which has its campus alo ...
and her PhD in
immunology
Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see there ...
at
Tufts University School of Medicine
The Tufts University School of Medicine is the medical school of Tufts University, a Private university, private research university in Massachusetts. It was established in 1893 and is located on the university's health sciences campus in downto ...
in 2014. During her doctoral studies, Ponichtera helped discover an innate
cell receptor
In biochemistry and pharmacology, receptors are chemical structures, composed of protein, that receive and transduce signals that may be integrated into biological systems. These signals are typically chemical messengers which bind to a recepto ...
(CD209a) linked to the development of T helper 17 cells and inflammation in
schistosomiasis
Schistosomiasis, also known as snail fever, bilharzia, and Katayama fever, is a disease caused by parasitic flatworms called schistosomes. The urinary tract or the intestines may be infected. Symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhea, bloody s ...
. Schistosomiasis is a disease caused by
Schistosoma
''Schistosoma'' is a genus of trematodes, commonly known as blood flukes. They are parasitic flatworms responsible for a highly significant group of infections in humans termed '' schistosomiasis'', which is considered by the World Health Organ ...