Shaping a Legacy

One week in a pediatric unit solidified Laura Kate Holden’s dream to be a doctor. During clinical rotations in a hospital in Columbus, Georgia, Holden spent days with an 11-year-old girl who was extremely underweight. The doctors were struggling to figure out what had caused her condition. 

As Holden and the patient talked, painted pictures, and made friendship bracelets, they built a connection. That connection gave Holden insight into what the patient was going through, and that information helped the medical team shape the patient’s care.

“Being a person that was able to give important information about someone, especially in context of their care, really changed things for me and really made it to where I wanted to do this,” Holden said. 

She lost touch with the patient after the clinical rotation, but she hasn’t let go of that feeling of connection and ability to meaningfully help a patient. 

As Holden approaches graduation in May 2025, the UGA senior is eager for medical school. She’s applied to the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, and hopes to be a doctor in the U.S. Air Force. 

Creating knowledge

Holden started college as an Honors scholar with UGA’s Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities and as a recipient of the Bradley-Turner Leadership Scholarship.

She was drawn to UGA by the opportunities to practice research with faculty throughout her biochemistry and molecular biology degree from the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. Since her freshman year, she’s worked with Lance Wells, an associate director of the Center for Molecular Medicine and a Georgia Research Alliance Distinguished Investigator. 

“I think I’m really lucky, and I’m a huge advocate for if people want to get involved in research,” Holden said. “You can really see a project through in four years.”

Her research focuses on a gene (OGT) mutation that is associated with the development of X-Linked Intellectual Disability. Holden is trying to fill in knowledge gaps about how the mutation disrupts the function of a certain enzyme. 

Through her research experience, she has drawn inspiration from Wells and Johnathan Mayfield, a graduate student she works closely with in the lab. “Their enthusiasm for generating and creating knowledge and hope for these patients is unmatched,” she said. “Everything they teach me in the lab has translated elsewhere.”

Showing up

Holden’s commitment to helping others extends far beyond the lab. 

As a senior in high school, her mom was diagnosed with blood cancer. That was part of Holden’s inspiration for founding a chapter of NMDP, an organization formerly known as Be The Match that recruits stem cell donors to a national registry. Since its founding in 2022, the UGA chapter has registered more than 2,000 students and targets donors to help patients from underrepresented groups. Holden has led by example by donating blood stem cells to her mom.

Holden has also been an active participant in the UGA chapter of Kesem, which means “magic” in Hebrew. It is a national nonprofit that provides support to children impacted by a parent’s cancer. She has served as an outreach coordinator and co-director, helping children and families with logistics, emotional support, and care packages. She’s also attended funerals to support children who have lost parents to cancer.

It’s been an emotional, eye-opening experience.

“When you talk to those families about what they’re going through, it really just puts it in perspective the amount that they lean on you and how much you’re able to provide,” she said. “I would show up every day for any one of those kids and their families.”

Building connections

Although Holden’s research and outreach are weighty enterprises, she embraces joy and connection in all she does. 

She’s been a Digital Dawg, a UGA social media ambassador, since her sophomore year and launched the Dawg Talk series on Instagram to interview her fellow students. Inspired by Humans of New York, Holden wanted these interviews to capture the slice-of-life experiences and a glimpse into the personal stories of those she talks with. 

From interviewing students to helping future patients, Holden hopes to continue fostering connections with and learning from the people around her.

“In Dawg Talk, the focus should be the person being interviewed. In Kesem, the focus should be on the children. In research, it should be the patients. In medicine, it should be the people I’m trying to help,” she said. “I am constantly, and hopefully succeeding, at putting the spotlight on those around me. And when you do that, it helps you.”