By: Marc Ransford—
Muncie, IN–Ball State University alum Hannah Fluhler, an Honors College student who recently completed a bachelor’s degree in nursing and pre-dance/movement therapy along with a minor in dance performance, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to Melbourne, Australia.
There she will help conduct research on Fanconi anemia (FA) at St. Vincent’s Institute, as part of a 12-person Genome Stability Lab team, under the supervision of a leading FA researcher.
During her 10 months in Australia, Fluhler also plans to get involved with a local dance studio and to volunteer at the institute’s adjoining hospital.
After her Fulbright year, the Yorktown, Ind., resident intends to pursue an MD-PhD or DNP-PhD, with the goal of becoming a researcher and health care provider for neonates and infants with critical, life-threatening illnesses.
At Ball State, Fluhler has been an active volunteer and leader in many campus and community organizations, including Prism Project (helping children with intellectual disabilities experience dance, music, and theatre), BSU’s homecoming (as both Parade Chair and Homecoming President), and the local hospital’s NICU (where she has conducted research on opioid withdrawal and movement).
Fluhler ’s passion for Fanconi anemia research was the result of caring for a young child, Aria, who was born with the disease.
“Being able to seek new treatment methods and potentially a cure for this particularly cruel disease means possibly giving adults and children like Aria more time with their families,” she said of her upcoming research in Australia. “Being a small part of this would help me feel that Aria’s light is being carried on.”
Read the BSU magazine story about Hannah at this link: https://magazine.bsu.edu/2018/07/13/students-proposed-study-aims-to-help-drug-dependent-newborns/
About Ball State
Founded in 1918 and located in Muncie, Ball State is one of Indiana’s premier universities and an economic driver for the state. Ball State’s nearly 22,000 students come from all over Indiana, the nation, and the world, and its 780-acre campus is large enough to accommodate premier facilities and 19 NCAA Division I sports but small enough to ensure the friendliness, personal attention, and access that are the hallmarks of the University.
