USC Dornsife-educated immunobiologist receives prestigious Soros Fellowship
By his own admission, alumnus Eric Hoyeon Song was not a “model student.” His academic resume might beg to differ.
After graduating from the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry, Song went on to earn his master’s in biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University before attending Yale University, where he is currently pursuing a medical degree and a doctorate in immunobiology.
Most recently, Song was named as one of 30 academics — from over 2,000 applicants — in the country to receive the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, a $90,000 merit-based fellowship for immigrants and children of immigrants who are pursuing graduate school in the United States.
“I always thought fellowships were for people with pristine backgrounds,” Song said. “When I was at the interview, everyone was so impressive, and I thought, ‘Wow, I definitely do feel a little bit out of place here.’”
But rather than continue to speak about his surprise or the honor of receiving such a fellowship, Song thanked the people who got him here — from professors to his own family.
“I think I’ve been very fortunate to have a select number of people who lifted me up to the next stage of my life and my career,” he said.
Along with his parents and younger brother, Song, 30, immigrated to the U.S. from South Korea when he was 8 years old. Looking back, Song said he has a greater appreciation for what his parents sacrificed to build a life for him and his brother.
“I think they lost a sense of their identity” working their first jobs in the U.S., Song said. “They now have re-found themselves in America, and they’re more established and doing well again. Now I can appreciate how much they’ve sacrificed in order for us to be able to have this opportunity.”
From cystic fibrosis to COVID-19, alumnus tackles challenges
Eric Hoyeon Song and his dog, Momo, show off the Soros Fellows announcement.
While at USC, Song started Project L, a nonprofit that used art classes to teach children about chronic diseases and the children living with them, all while raising money for disease research.
Song said he took a particular interest in cystic fibrosis, which would carry to his studies at Johns Hopkins, where his research focused on optimizing gene delivery methods to help brain tumor and cystic fibrosis patients, and at Yale, where he researches brain tumors.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Song said his lab has had to switch gears. The lab now is studying viral immunity and testing samples of patients with COVID-19.
“We’re trying to help, or at least come up with ideas to get to the next step of understanding how we might be able to create a vaccine or therapies that can help the patient,” he said.
Once the dust settles, Song said he wants to one day run his own lab to study different diseases, particularly those of the brain. Perhaps more importantly, he wants to become like the professors that mentored him throughout his academic career.
“I’ve always had a chance to be mentored at USC and Yale,” he said, “so that’s the ultimate goal.”