Kelsey Diederich Corcoran

Hi, I’m Kelsey. I joined the Tetel lab as a research technician in October 2011.

I graduated with a BS in Biology and Minor in International Affairs from Northeastern University in December 2010.  I first got involved with research in a lab at Northeastern where I investigated the DNA repair enzyme Apurinic endonuclease and was fortunate to start gaining research skills as a freshman in college.  During my time at Northeastern, I also completed a 7 month co-op at Genzyme in Framingham, MA.  I spent the majority of my time there testing the efficacy of a breast cancer therapeutic.  At Genzyme, I was introduced to in vivo experimental models and gained many new skills working with animals. 

When I wasn’t working in research, I took time during college to travel.  After an exciting one month geology trip hiking glaciers and volcanoes in Iceland, I decided to study abroad in beautiful Christchurch, New Zealand for a year.  From there I traveled to Thailand and Australia.  I was able to fulfill my goals of bungy jumping and scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef that year. I spent my last summer of college living on the Big Island of Hawai’i and working on an organic kava farm.  After graduating, I took 5 months off to hike all 2,181 miles of the Appalachian Trail, from Spring Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine, before joining the Tetel lab in the Fall.

I’m excited to have recently joined the Tetel lab and have been enjoying my time at Wellesley College. I’ve been working closely with Jen Wan '12 and will continue her project investigating the interactions between progesterone receptor isoforms and steroid receptor coactivators in the female mouse brain using protein-protein pull-down assays.   I’ll also have the opportunity to further study these interactions in vivo using knockout mice that lack specific isoforms of the progestin receptor. I look forward to being involved with this novel research.

Kelsey Corcoran, DC, is currently a postdoctoral fellow of medical informatics at the Yale School of Medicine. A chiropractor by training, Dr. Corcoran's research interests include nonpharmacological pain management for spinal conditions, with a focus on Veterans' healthcare needs. She completed a chiropractic residency in integrated clinical practice at the Buffalo, NY Veterans Affairs Medical Center prior to her appointment at Yale. Her fellowship at Yale is in association with the West Haven, CT Veterans Affairs Medical Center. She utilizes her training in medical informatics to analyze large-scale electronic medical records data for research and administrative projects at the hospital. She also continues to provide patient care to Veterans.