Kalli Stephens grew up in Orderville, Utah, not far from Zion National Park. Once a cook in food competitions in high school, she is now one of the undergraduates working in Dr. Joy Winuthayanon’s laboratory at WSU’s School of Molecular Biosciences. Come graduation she hopes to attend medical school.
Where are you from? What high school did you graduate from?
I am originally from Orderville, Utah. A very small town in Southern Utah (near Zion National Park) and I went to high school in Hurricane, Utah.
What are some of your favorite hobbies?
For fun, I enjoy cooking and baking and other food-related projects, like making pastries, ciders, and fruit wines with my friends and husband, Hayden, a third-year neuroscience Ph.D. student in Dr. Ryan McLaughlin’s lab.
What’s your favorite course you’ve taken at WSU?
So far, my favorite class has been Biomedical Ethics with Dr. Kabasenche. Dr. Kabasenche is great at explaining and responding to different points of view, and he designed his class to be really engaging. I also liked how different it was from other classes I was taking, and it’s a really important topic!
What’s a unique fun fact about you?
I competed in food competitions in high school. I participated in ProStart, a two-year program preparing students for work in the food industry, for attending school for culinary arts, or restaurant and hotel management. The biggest competition I was in was my senior year of high school. I led our school’s first culinary team at the Utah State ProStart competition. We didn’t win, so I never competed at nationals, but it was a great experience. After high school, I went to culinary school for bread and pastry.
What are your career goals?
My goal is to attend medical school when I finish my undergraduate degree in pursuit of a career as an OB/GYN and/or reproductive endocrinologist. I would also like to continue research in the future.