Carina Shiau

About Carina Shiau

Born in Taiwan, Carina Shiau immigrated to the United States at the age of two. Her family settled in a small community on the outskirts of Houston, Texas, where her mother worked as a nurse. Growing up, Carina was inspired by her aunt, a mathematician and artist, who used whimsical sketches and logical puzzles to teach Carina math. This early love of both art and math sparked Carina’s lifelong passion for exploring the connections between creative expression and analytical problem-solving.

Carina’s fascination with the intersection of art, math, and life science led her to study computational biology, where she developed tools to model complex biological systems that underlie disease. She graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Cornell University, majoring in computational biology. Now a medical student at Harvard, Carina combines rigorous scientific inquiry with patient-centered care, guided by the stories and resilience of patients she meets. 

Carina’s research focuses on improving therapies for pancreatic cancer by developing computational frameworks to identify cell-cell interactions that may obstruct the efficacy of cytotoxic treatments. As lead author, she has published in Nature Genetics and presented her findings at national conferences, including the American Association for Cancer Research. Her additional works have appeared in Nature Chemical Biology, Frontiers in Oncology, JAMA Dermatology, The American Journal of Medicine, and Cancer Discovery. Her innovations in pancreatic cancer detection and treatment have been patented.

Throughout her academic and professional journey, Carina has been driven by a belief in the unity of science and humanism. Inspired by her aunt’s early lessons in imaginative problem-solving and by mentors who seamlessly blend analytical precision with empathy, she sees medicine as a profession where art and math converge. She aspires to be a clinician-scientist, integrating computational research with compassionate patient care to foster connection and advance medical innovation.