Angella Valenzuela

Angella is a Tucson native who earned her B.S.H.S. in Honors Physiology & Medical Sciences with an emphasis in Exercise & Extreme Physiology from the University of Arizona in May of 2025. Angella completed an honors thesis focusing on the use of exercise mobilized NK cells to improve the efficacy of cytokine-induced memory-like NK cells to treat chronic myeloid leukemia in vivo, under the mentorship of Dr. Helena Batatinha and Dr. Richard Simpson. Her research aims to continue to explore how exercise can be an adjuvant to improve the persistence and cytotoxicity of cell products used in immunotherapies. This includes examining the potential of double-negative T cells as an exercise enhanced immunotherapy to treat hematological malignancies.