The internship showed me how scientists can work alongside business, technology, and innovation to transform not just medicine but also the world.

Before Franck Uwiragiye (BS neuroscience ’27) enrolled in BIO-489: Biotechnology last spring, he had never taken a biotech class. By summer, he was experimenting with gene editing, holding a bioengineered lung, and crisscrossing the country to watch how science moves from the laboratory into the real world. 

Uwiragiye was one of five AU students selected for paid summer internships at United Therapeutics, a $21 billion Maryland biotech company developing treatments for rare diseases and new ways to get organs to transplant patients. 

But Uwiragiye’s biggest surprise wasn't in the lab. It was everything happening around it. 

"The internship showed me how scientists can work alongside business, technology, and innovation to transform not just medicine but also the world," he says. 

From Classroom Pitch to Paid Internship 

The AU- Do-iT team (left to right): Libert Kanojerera, Franck Uwiragiye (back), Sophia Gagliardi (front), Abonesh Girma, Ailene Pak

The AU students bring curiosity, fresh thinking, and a willingness to challenge assumptions.

With the National Institutes of Health, Food and Drug Administration, National Science Foundation, and a thriving biotechnology industry in its backyard, American University offers students a myriad of opportunities to explore science beyond the classroom. A three-year partnership with United Therapeutics is one way they’re doing that. 

When Uwiragiye enrolled in BIO-489: Biotechnology, taught by Biology Professor Taisuke Izumi, the course was centered on a real-world challenge: the shortage of organs available for transplant. Izumi brought in experts from industry, law, and business to help students develop their ideas. Then he asked students to develop and pitch potential solutions. 

One of those guests was Shola Oyewole (CAS/MS ’89), vice president of digital innovation at United Therapeutics. He introduced students to the company’s work and returned to judge their final pitches. Five AU students, including Uwiragiye, were offered paid summer internships with his Department of Innovative Technologies (Do-iT).  

“AU students bring curiosity, fresh thinking, and a willingness to challenge assumptions,” says Oyewole, a member of the College of Arts and Sciences Advisory Board. “They ask questions that experienced professionals sometimes overlook, and that perspective is incredibly valuable in an innovation-driven organization.” 

BIO-489 is also part of AU’s STEM Entrepreneurship in Biotechnology certificate, jointly offered by the College of Arts and Sciences and the Kogod School of Business. Uwiragiye's classmates Abonesh Girma (CAS/BS ’27), Ailene Pak (CAS/BS ’27), and Sophia Gagliardi (CAS/MS ’27), along with Kogod student Libert Kanojerera '26, also landed internships this past summer. The partnership has become a pipeline from classroom to internship and has even led to one student joining United Therapeutics after graduating from AU. 

Wicked Problems and Hands-On Science 

Franck Uwiragiye (right) and Libert Kanojerera working in United Therapeutics lab

It was surreal to see something so tangible at the intersection of biology, engineering, and medicine. That moment made the work I was learning about feel real.

Inside Oyewole's Digital Innovation group, Uwiragiye tackled what he calls "wicked problems" — challenges without easy solutions—including work on net-zero buildings and pollution reduction. For his final project, he and the other interns built a "value chain" tracing how United Therapeutics' departments and subsidiaries work together, traveling to company facilities around the country to see the operation firsthand. 

He also got real hands-on science experience, working with cells used to manufacture drugs and seeing how techniques from his AU labs could be scaled up for commercial production. 

One moment stood out. At United Therapeutics' Lung Bioengineering facility, Uwiragiye touched a bioengineered lung. This technology could help address the shortage of donor lungs, giving more patients waiting for transplants a chance to receive one. "It was surreal to see something so tangible at the intersection of biology, engineering, and medicine," he says. "That moment made the work I was learning about feel real." 

A New Career Direction 

Uwiragiye (far right) with fellow interns at United Therapeutics. 

The internship opened my eyes to possibilities I hadn't considered before and made me see my future not as one defined path, but as an opportunity to bridge science, innovation, and business to create meaningful impact.

Uwiragiye describes the paid internship as “getting rewarded on both ends.” He learned on the job, felt his work was valued, and saw how his science education can translate into work with real-world applications. 

For Izumi, this is the shift he hopes to see in students taking his course. “Biotechnology today demands far more than strong scientific knowledge and technical expertise,” he says. “Students need to understand how discoveries become products and how business and regulatory decisions affect whether those advances reach patients.” 

For Oyewole, the partnership—and hiring and supervising American University students—carries a personal dimension. “As an AU alum, it's particularly meaningful to help create opportunities that allow students to gain real-world experience, build confidence, and explore career paths that may shape the rest of their professional lives. Seeing that impact firsthand is one of the most rewarding parts of the program." 

As for Uwiragiye, it was a life-changing experience. “The internship showed me how scientists can work alongside business, technology, and innovation to transform not just medicine but also the world,” he says. “It opened my eyes to possibilities I hadn’t considered before and made me see my future not as one defined path, but as an opportunity to bridge science, innovation, and business to create meaningful impact.” 

For More Information 

Learn more about how AU's partnership with United Therapeutics came together and how interdisciplinary collaboration makes for better science. 

Franck Uwiragiye outside UT’s Silver Spring headquarters.