Metrohealth and Cleveland Clinic Internship
Ilya Nikitin is a fourth-year Biomedical Engineering major with Honors at The Ohio State University, where he is a Choose Ohio First (COF) Inclusive Biotech Economy Scholar and a Kettering Biomedical Engineering Scholar. With a passion for bridging engineering with healthcare, he is pursuing opportunities that combine research, clinical impact, and innovation. In Summer 2025, Ilya worked at MetroHealth in Cleveland, where he designed and implemented a multi-instrument REDCap database to capture longitudinal outcomes for cellular therapy and CAR-T patients that can be used for future statistical analysis. This experience deepened his interest in clinical research and data-driven solutions in medicine.
Beyond MetroHealth, Ilya has contributed to research in granuloma formation in sarcoidosis at Ohio State and degradomics analysis at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute, where he also gained exposure to quantum computing applications in biology. Ilya’s work reflects his commitment to advancing healthcare through engineering innovation, clinical research, and interdisciplinary collaboration. He looks forward to a career in medicine and biomedical research, with a long-term goal of integrating engineering tools into patient care.
Impact of the Choose Ohio First Scholarship Program
"[The] COF scholarship program has had an extremely positive impact on my academic career. It has encouraged me to go beyond my usual approach to learning and attend various office hours, volunteering, and events that I wouldn't have otherwise tried. This has led to an expansion of my academic skills and network well beyond what it otherwise would have been".