The pathway Helena Ochoa followed to her current job as a scientist at Pfizer started in a learning lab at Fred Hutch Cancer Center.
Ochoa first came to Fred Hutch on a high school field trip with her science class from TAF Academy (now TAF@Saghalie) in Kent, Washington. Her family had recently immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico and Ochoa was still learning English. But science was a language she immediately grasped.
“After that, I just kept coming back to Fred Hutch,” she said.
She participated in the Summer High School Internship Program (SHIP) in 2015, returned the following year as a SHIP lead/mentor and came back during college for Pathways Undergraduate Researchers — all programs run by Fred Hutch’s Science Education Outreach (SciEd) team. Ochoa also worked for seven years in the lab of David Hockenbery, MD, who studies the biology of cell death. Throughout all of her experiences at Fred Hutch, colleagues and mentors provided encouragement and support.
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“Fred Hutch gave me life-changing opportunities,” said Ochoa. “Seagen [now Pfizer] hired me because of my experience there.”
And it all started with a field trip.
Now, thanks to generous support and partnership from Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc., Fred Hutch has a new, state-of-the-art learning laboratory where high school and college students who participate in education programs, or who visit with school and community groups, can learn and be inspired by science.
“Alexandria’s investment in this space reflects our shared belief that the best way to inspire future scientists is to provide incredible mentorship in a vibrant space that brings impact to life. The learning lab is just that,” said Thomas J. Lynch Jr., MD, president and director of Fred Hutch, and holder of the Raisbeck Endowed Chair.
Alexandria’s Hart Cole would be delighted if some of the students training in the learning lab today someday work in spaces built by Alexandria, a trailblazing California-based company that helped fuel the biotech boom by creating infrastructure for life science companies.
Alexandria owns and operates nearly 40 million square feet of research space in eight top U.S. biotech markets and has approximately 750 tenant relationships, including many it has cultivated over decades.
Even so, Alexandria’s relationship with Fred Hutch is special, said Cole, the company’s executive vice president of Capital Markets and Strategic Operations and co-regional market director for Seattle.
“Alexandria and Fred Hutch have been working together for 30 years,” he said, starting with Fred Hutch’s purchase of its South Lake Union campus in the early 1990s, which Alexandria helped facilitate, all the way through a 2024 real estate partnership to expand that campus.
“Partnering with Fred Hutch continues to be a privilege,” he said.
Since 2003, Alexandria has also been a donor and event sponsor, including sponsoring the water station for Obliteride, Fred Hutch’s annual bike ride and 5K walk/run.
Now the company has invested in the future of science with a gift to establish the Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. Learning Lab.
“Alexandria is committed to STEM education, and Fred Hutch’s programs are the gold standard,” said Cole. “Their work is incredibly powerful, both in terms of the number of students it reaches and the quality of education.”
Alexandria’s gift for the learning lab aligns with its philosophy of investing holistically in the life sciences sector, he said.
“From our perspective, what’s good for students at Fred Hutch is good for the future of the life sciences ecosystem — which is good for anyone who cares about advancing human health,” he said.
The new learning lab is a purpose-built site for young scientists, a goal long pursued by the late Beverly Torok-Storb, PhD, a pioneering stem cell biologist who founded both SHIP and the Pathways Undergraduate Researchers program. Torok-Storb, by sheer will, pieced together lab space for education for more than a decade, ultimately securing two adjacent labs on the ground floor of the Thomas Building on Fred Hutch’s South Lake Union campus.
The new training space — designed by Fred Hutch’s SciEd and facilities teams in collaboration with Alexandria — unites them as one large lab. It is the permanent home for training that Torok-Storb envisioned.
“Alexandria is building on what Beverly started,” said Dave Vannier, PhD, a senior scientist who worked alongside Torok-Storb for many years and succeeded her in leading programs for high school and college students. “We are honored that they have made our students their priority.”
The lab was designed to meet stringent safety standards for minors. But it’s nearly indistinguishable from other newly renovated research labs at Fred Hutch, save for small touches like a ceiling-mounted projector and an open space in the center of the lab where groups can gather for discussions. An interior picture window puts learning on display for scientists and visitors walking through the building.
“It’s practically unheard of to have a training space embedded on a research floor,” said Jeanne Ting Chowning, PhD, associate vice president for Science Education and Community Partnerships. “Creating this type of learning environment — and siting it in a prime scientific space — is a testament to the commitment Fred Hutch and our partners have to future scientists.”
In addition to being a cornerstone of Fred Hutch’s summer programs for high school students and undergraduates, the learning lab is used year-round for campus visits by school and community groups, donors and others.
In 2024, the SciEd team hosted 40 visits that brought nearly 900 people to campus, and more than half participated in hands-on programs led by scientist-volunteers.
2024 Fred Hutch Science Education and Community Partnerships highlights:
Aidan Schutter, who works in the lab of liver and pancreatic researcher Sita Kugel, PhD, was one of 28 volunteers who in 2024 led students through hands-on experiments built around real-life scenarios in cancer diagnosis and treatment.
“While we’re teaching basic skills, like pipetting and gel electrophoresis, we’re also talking with kids about science education and careers,” said Schutter. “It’s a positive, inclusive experience for students who might not have even met a scientist or considered a career in science.”
That was true for Malia Callier.
“When I was in high school, science was something I knew about, but I didn’t know what it looked like,” she said.
She knew only too well what cancer looked like, though, because her mother had been diagnosed with leukemia when Callier was in middle school. And she knew about Fred Hutch because that is where her mom received a lifesaving experimental treatment. When Callier’s chemistry teacher suggested she apply for SHIP, she was both intrigued and intimidated.
Callier applied anyway. And it changed everything.
“Before SHIP, I was interested in science,” she said. “Afterward, I knew I wanted to do this for the rest of my life.” Callier came back to Fred Hutch for subsequent internships and worked as an undergraduate researcher in the lab of Hans-Peter Kiem, MD, PhD, a groundbreaking gene therapy researcher.
“I used to think of science as a lot of rote memorizations with a grade attached,” she said. “In the learning lab, and later in the Kiem Lab, I was able to see science as something that mattered to me, to the community and to the world.”
Now a third-year student at the University of Washington, Callier stays in touch with her Fred Hutch mentors and peers. “The people I met there are invested in me,” she said. When she graduates, she hopes to pursue a joint MD-PhD degree.
“By opening the door to science for young people, providing very real research experiences and helping them meet scientists, our programs help them see science as a career option for themselves,” said Chowning, the SciEd leader. “The learning lab is central to that.”
Cole said that’s precisely why Alexandria is investing in education at Fred Hutch.
“When the students who are learning in the lab come back in 10, 15 or 20 years as contributing members of the life sciences ecosystem — as scientists, entrepreneurs or philanthropists — that will be the ultimate measure of our success,” he said.
As we mark our 50th anniversary in 2025, Fred Hutch is looking beyond what’s possible today to a new era of discovery. Explore the Campaign for Fred Hutch to learn how your partnership can help transform the pace and scale of innovation so we can redefine cancer and infectious disease for generations to come.
Rachel Hart is a writer on the Philanthropy team at Fred Hutch Cancer Center. She has extensive health communications experience, and prior to joining Fred Hutch held staff positions at Boston Children’s Hospital, the New England Journal of Medicine, Seattle Children’s and PATH. Reach her at rhart2@fredhutch.org.
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Are you interested in reprinting or republishing this story? Be our guest! We want to help connect people with the information they need. We just ask that you link back to the original article, preserve the author’s byline and refrain from making edits that alter the original context. Questions? Email us at communications@fredhutch.org
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