Kate Johnson is a junior in Saybrook College majoring in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology and pursuing a Certificate of Advanced Language Study in French. Originally from upstate New York, she now lives in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. At Yale, Kate serves as a board member of the Yale Hunger and Homelessness Action Project (YHHAP), serves on the Student Library Advisory Committee (SLAC), and is a founding member of the Yale Student/Farmworker Alliance (YSFA), where she advocates for farmworker rights in the U.S. In addition to her work in social justice, she conducts research in the Müschen Laboratory at the Yale School of Medicine’s Center for Molecular and Cellular Oncology, studying the role of lipid membrane composition in hematopoietic malignancies.

Kate aspires to become an oncologist and hopes to provide medical and humanitarian aid in Francophone West Africa with Doctors Without Borders. Her academic interests include African decolonization, French postcolonialism, and the use of strategy to leverage bureaucratic institutions in pursuit of lasting structural change. Outside of the classroom, Kate enjoys singing in her band, playing card games with her housemates, and watching films from the Nouvelle Vague era, particularly those by her favorite director, Jean-Luc Godard.