Growing up on U.S. military bases in Louisiana, then Washington, then Colorado—his father served in both the Marine Corps and the Army, often on dangerous assignments abroad—Johnathan Rodgers Gochicoa didn’t get hooked on science until he was in high school in Aurora, Colo.

He loved biology, but chemistry was an acquired taste, nurtured by a teacher who had been trained as a chemical engineer.

“Neither of my parents went to college, and it was really my first exposure to someone in that field,” Gochicoa says about the teacher, Sandra Robertson, “She told me about all this cool stuff she did with her PhD in chemical engineering, and that was the first time I realized that chemistry isn’t just about learning the periodic table and writing down equations and memorizing them. There are ways to apply it.”

A graduate of Baylor University, where, as a McNair Scholar, he received a BS in neuroscience and a secondary degree in chemistry, Gochicoa is now a third-year PhD candidate in cancer biology at the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies. A former E.E. Just Liftoff Fellow and a Dartmouth Leader in Biomedical Research scholar, he holds a GEM Fellowship through the National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science. 

Gochicoa’s undergraduate research focused on a group of toxins called organotin complexes and their impact on human health exposures. They were often found, for instance, in paint for hulls on boats.

“Organotins were used in the maritime industry a lot, and by 2008 there were international bans on them, but the bans on general usage of organotins didn’t apply to the U.S. until much later,” he says. “I was investigating how chronic exposure and potential acute exposure could affect human health overall.”

Gochicoa has personal reasons for taking this research route. While deployed abroad, his father was exposed to toxic burn pits. 

“So my work really did kind of lead into this: what happens when you take a lot of these chemicals and evaporate them?” he says. He was also interested in brain science because, as he said in an interview on the Guarini website, his mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which he learned for the first time while accompanying her to a neurology appointment.

“That moment ignited a deep interest in understanding neurological disorders and advancing treatments,” he says. 

That’s exactly what he is doing in the Pointer Laboratory, working with Kelli Pointer, assistant professor of radiation oncology and applied sciences, on identifying radiosensitizers for the treatment of glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer that is usually fatal.

“We specialize in this palliative care,” he says. “Radiation only expands life by an additional three to four months with chemotherapy, so median life expectancy is less than two years overall.”

Gochicoa is studying a subpopulation of cancer cells that become dangerously radiation-resistant.

“That radiation is paradoxical,” he explains. “It can kill a bunch of tumor cells, but it also promotes more aggressive cells that can’t be killed off as easily. So my research is really trying to figure out how we can target those new upcoming resistant cells to stop recurrence or future progression, or at least slow down that timeline.” 

George Zanazzi, assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, says Gochicoa is reaching ambitious goals by mixing time in the lab with close observation of patients.

“Johnathan has shadowed me on the clinical neuropathology service, asking insightful questions as we made intra-operative diagnoses and postmortem examinations,” says Zanazzi. “In the classroom, he stood out with his thoughtful, inquisitive nature. Given our mutual interest in patients with glioblastoma, we have had several discussions that have focused on translating our research findings into better patient care.”

Caring for others seems to come naturally to Gochicoa, not just in graduate school but in the surrounding community. He’s a volunteer firefighter for the town of Lyme, N.H., having earned certifications through the New Hampshire Fire Academy and the Vermont Fire Academy, and he’s certified in EMT. 

In addition, he finds time to recruit and mentor others interested in advancing their STEM studies, says Ansley Booker, the inaugural Penny and Jim Coulter 1982 Executive Director of Dartmouth NEXT.

“Johnathan has generously shared his time and advice to support students by discussing research opportunities, navigating the D-Plan, and belonging at Dartmouth,” says Booker. “He recently recommended that Eric Guiterrez ’29, who attended our First Year Summer Enrichment Program, apply to POWERED, the Program for Oncology Workforce Education and Research Experience at Dartmouth.”

As a first-generation college student, Gochicoa says he’s grateful for the encouragement and support he’s received from his family.

“It means a lot to them for me to pursue my interests, and they’ve given me so many opportunities. I can’t really quit on myself because of that,” he says. “That’s not a burden, it’s a really strong motivation to keep believing in myself.”

Gochicoa has been cheered on by extended family members, as well. 

“I am Native American (La Mixteca/Powhatan) and Hispanic (Basque), and many of my relatives live in Mexico City,” he says. “We have developed a strong relationship and a few of my cousins in Mexico watched the livestream of my graduation at Baylor University and virtually celebrated my graduation with me.” 

He’s also powerfully inspired by the patients he meets as he shadows professors making rounds at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.

“I’ve been there when patients have been diagnosed and on the days when their disease became terminal,” says Gochicoa. “Understanding what glioblastoma does to people and families—it motivates you to keep working, even when you run into a wall.”