Community and connection fuel student’s cancer research journey

When a high school summer internship took Akhila Kunuthuru to a Pennsylvania oncology center, she met a patient and her husband who’d traveled from West Virginia for her monthly chemotherapy treatments. She’ll never forget them. 

The wife, always upbeat and talkative, shared stories about her childhood and the couple’s children. Her husband, on the other hand, would sit quietly in the waiting room or walk the halls. When Kunuthuru had the opportunity to talk with him, she was curious why he never sat with his wife during treatment. He told her it only made the reality of their situation hit harder.

“That made me want to be part of that human connection,” Kunuthuru said. “I want to work closely with people in their hardest times and be an empathetic person they can rely on.”

Now in her second year of medical school, Kunuthuru is not only on her way to becoming a caring clinician, she’s gaining research experience. Drawn to the oncology field, she was awarded the 2025 James D. Popp Student Research Fellowship. Since 2010, the fellowship has provided travel and living expenses for recipients who engage in cancer research over the summer. 

‘Without research, we won’t be able to help health care progress’

Over the course of eight weeks, Kunuthuru worked alongside Askar Chukmaitov, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor in the VCU School of Public Health and a VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center researcher. Their research team, including Bassam Dahman, Ph.D., Gati Wambura and Dustin Bastaich, studies the impact of Accountable Care Organizations, which are groups of doctors, hospitals and other providers that work together to improve quality of care and reduce costs. For her summer project, Kunuthuru looked specifically at what factors influence treatment plans for colorectal cancer patients, including the choice of open surgery versus a more minimally-invasive approach.

“Akhila is an intelligent, curious and reliable self-starter whose contributions have been both insightful and impactful,” said Chukmaitov, who earned his Ph.D. in health services organization and research from the VCU College of Health Professions. “She brings energy, thoughtfulness and a strong sense of purpose to everything she does.” 

The James D. Popp Student Research fund was established by Jack Haar, Ph.D., now a professor emeritus in the Department of Neuroscience and Anatomy, in memory of his former student. Popp worked in Haar’s research lab, later becoming a friend and colleague before dying of cancer in 2007. 

“Dr. Popp was a cancer researcher and a devoted father, husband, physician, researcher and friend,” Kunuthuru said. “It is very inspiring to be part of that legacy and something I will cherish throughout my academic journey and as a physician.”

The fellowship expanded on the introduction to cancer research she had as an undergraduate student in the VCU Honors College’s Guaranteed Admission Program for Medicine, when she took the sequence of Biology of Cancer courses taught by Santiago Lima, Ph.D. Those experiences in the lab of surgical oncologist and Massey researcher Harry Bear, M.D., Ph.D., gave Kunuthuru the opportunity to learn alongside Bear and his team as they studied different chemotherapy and immunotherapy regimens to treat breast cancer and determine the optimal timing and dosages.

“Akhila rapidly grasped the concepts to a degree that I have found unusual for students at her level,” said Bear, who earned his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees on the MCV Campus, where he also completed his fellowship training. “She was a pleasure to work with in the lab, has a resilient and adaptable personality and responded well even when experiments didn’t work out the way we expected.”

For Kunuthuru, her time learning from experienced researchers has been invaluable. “What they have always encouraged me to do is explore on my own. They’ve been amazing mentors, telling me to take it one step at a time.”

‘I’ve done things I could not have done without community support’

In addition to receiving the James D. Popp Student Research Fellowship, Kunuthuru holds the Monument Avenue and Harry and Harriet Grandis scholarships – providing her with freedom to explore educational opportunities plus extra motivation.

“This kind of support means so much to us as students. There are people out there who may not know us personally, but they’re cheering us on through the difficult journey to become a physician,” Kunuthuru explained. “I really appreciate it and hope to become the physician that these donors want me to be, and I’m getting one step closer each day.”

If you are interested in making a gift to the James D. Popp Research Fund, contact Jasmine Davis, senior director of development, at (804) 828-1452 or jjdavis3@vcu.edu.