Rebekah Peplinski, daughter of Mike and Fran Peplinski and a 2016 graduate of Amherst High School, recently earned her doctorate in Genetics from the University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medicine. Specializing in cancer genetics, Peplinski told the Spirit that she plans to “work at a biotech company in the oncology field looking at cancer therapeutics.”

Peplinski gave credit to Jared Schroeder and Sara Pate, her high school science teachers for Advanced Biology and Anatomy, respectively, for fueling her drive for science. After earning her bachelor’s degree in Biology, Peplinski chose to pursue her doctorate in Genetics and specialized in cancer genetics because of her family’s history with the disease.

Rebekah Peplinski, Ph.D. (right), with her advisor, Dr. Adam Dupuy (left).