Kylie Hutchison, a rising 2nd year PhD student within the Pathobiology and Translational Science program, was accepted into the UNC Certificate Program in Translational Medicine and selected as 1 of 4 trainees to receive funding from the certificate’s T32 training grant from the National Institute for General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) (NIH T32GM122741). This certificate program provides specialized training in translational and clinical research by augmenting the student’s research team with a clinical co-mentor with whom they will gain clinical experience. As a graduate student in the Blood Research Center in Dr. Erica Sparkenbaugh’s lab, Hutchison is investigating the molecular and vascular drivers of placental dysfunction in sickle cell disease pregnancies. Hutchison’s clinical co-mentor is Dr. Kim Boggess, a maternal fetal medicine clinician scientist whose research focuses on medical complications of pregnancy.