{"id":143311,"date":"2026-04-06T14:16:52","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T18:16:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/?post_type=bu-article&p=143311"},"modified":"2026-04-06T14:18:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T18:18:21","slug":"gms-student-spotlight-chelsey-skeete-phd25","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/medicine\/articles\/2026\/gms-student-spotlight-chelsey-skeete-phd25\/","title":{"rendered":"GMS Student Spotlight: Chelsey Skeete, PhD\u201925"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Chelsey Skeete (left) returned to STaRS as a mentor in 2023 and 2024. She is pictured here in 2023 with her mentee Jessica Bacelar at the STaRS Poster Symposium.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGMS Student Spotlight: Chelsey Skeete, PhD\u201925\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n
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Chelsey Skeete, PhD\u201925, had a passion for science long before she matriculated into Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine in 2020. Born and raised in Boston, Skeete remembers participating in science fairs throughout the city and gravitating toward science books, even as a young child. As she progressed through school, teachers and mentors encouraged her to pursue extracurricular outreach opportunities that would bolster her interest in scientific research. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo be able to research, to ask questions, to be comfortable not knowing things, to explore in the lab\u2014and to have an impact on the community through your findings\u2014was very important to me,\u201d Skeete said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That drive propelled Skeete\u2019s professional path to STEM, first taking her to Boston College for her bachelor\u2019s degree in biology and then to BU Graduate Medical Sciences for her PhD, where Skeete successfully defended her dissertation in June 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Journey to Boston University <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

As an undergraduate student in 2019, Skeete joined the summer cohort of BU\u2019s Summer Training as Research Scholars (StaRS), an on-site summer research program that offers academically talented undergraduates an opportunity to work with a faculty mentor on an independent biomedical research project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a summer working under Lee Quinton, PhD, in the Pulmonary Center, she knew that the BU Medical Campus was where she wanted to be for the next chapter of her education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverything was just very collaborative,\u201d Skeete said. \u201cAll the graduate students had very complex projects, but the campus was set up with all these different cores and labs who were willing to share information and willing to have multilab meetings on a weekly basis.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skeete applied to the Program in Biomedical Sciences (PiBS), which offers students the opportunity to rotate through three laboratories during their first year before specializing in their second year, and matriculated in fall 2020. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her rotations helped Skeete solidify her interest in host-pathogen interactions and she chose to specialize in the department of virology, immunology & microbiology (VIM), joining the lab of Rahm Gummuluru, PhD, professor and vice chair of VIM. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Multidisciplinary and Collaborative Research <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Skeete\u2019s dissertation research focused on the effects of opioids on individuals infected with HIV in the brain. A new project at the time, Skeete\u2019s research examined how this intersection can impact a person from an immunology lens, and how opioid use with an HIV diagnosis affects inflammation and leads to different neurocognitive disorders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople with HIV who are also using drugs or opioids are often overlooked in our healthcare system,\u201d Skeete said. \u201cThey often have limited resources, and it\u2019s important that we continue to research the best practices and ways to help them.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cPeople with HIV who are also using drugs or opioids are often overlooked in our healthcare system. They often have limited resources, and it\u2019s important that we continue to research the best practices and ways to help them.\u201d<\/div>