Hello, my name is Aamir Tucker and I am a masters student in Dr. Kacena’s lab at Indiana University School of Medicine. I started working in the Kacena lab in May of 2014 and have had the privilege of continuously working in the lab throughout my undergraduate and graduate careers. Over the years I have had the opportunity to fulfill a number of roles in the lab ranging from basic cell culture work to performing defect surgeries for our most recent spaceflight study in February of 2017. In May of 2017 I was awarded the “Outstanding Research Award” in undergraduate Biology from IUPUI’s School of Science for my work on our successful spaceflight study.
In addition to working in the lab I also work for my family’s block foundation company and oversee sidewalk snow removal operations for the greater Indianapolis area including properties such as Lucas Oil Stadium, Julia Carson Transport Center, and the length of Georgia Street during winter festivities hosted by the city of Indianapolis. Outside of my many working roles I enjoy spending my free time outdoors mostly hiking or camping and am frequently accompanied by my Great Dane Myla during my adventures. For my future plans, I am currently pursuing a career in medicine and am waiting for final decisions from a number of schools, as well as furthering our bone healing research through work on a number of recently started projects. My hope is to be able to continue both my research and professional pursuits together in order to maximize my impact on the future medicine and the community at large.