Thomas Lightfoot Vidal Email and Phone Number

I am a 2017 graduate of Drexel University from the Biomedical Engineering bachelor's program. Despite a stellar undergraduate career in engineering, where I was awarded TAships and my final senior design team received third place among a student design showcase of 28 teams, I felt myself feeling isolated and wanted to see my devices and work in action. My passion lies in conducting medical research and furthering the boundaries of our medical knowledge and techniques to improve patient outcome.I discovered an opportunity to begin my clinical research career as a volunteer undergraduate student in May 2015 in the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Emergency Department where I learned the basics of clinical trial conduct such as study screening, enrollment, and general data/labs collection. I excelled among a class of 100 volunteers and was selected by the PI to join the full time research staff in May 2016 to help run the research program and perform higher level regulatory tasks.I eventually joined the gastroenterology department at the University of Pennsylvania in August 2017 where I focused on maintaining two inflammatory bowel disease biobanks with roughly 4000 unique patients as well as leading a team of three other researchers. I then joined the rheumatology and renal departments within UPenn to diversify my knowledge of the different fields in medicine as well as better understand the different manifestations of autoimmune disease.I currently have 6 years of combined experience in managing and conducting clinical trials in many different areas of medicine. I currently plan to attend medical school (estimated fall 2023/24) in the future but am pursuing a career in clinical research now to better appreciate and understand how clinical trials are conducted so I can one day employ these lessons as a Principal Investigator of my own trials one day.