May 11, 2026

A Promise to His Grandmother Will Carry Him to a Career in Medicine

For Molecular Biology major Melvin Rodriguez, studying melanoma in zebrafish is more than academic – it’s a promise kept and a path toward healing

Posted in: CSAM Students

Melvin Rodriguez, wearing a white lab coat with a Montclair State University patch and blue gloves, sits at a fluorescent microscope in a dim lab. He looks intently through the eyepiece while holding a petri dish glowing bright green under the microscope lens, surrounded by scientific equipment and incubators in the background. — Melvin Rodriguez observes zebrafish eggs under a fluorescent microscope. (Photo by University Photographer Mike Peters)

In one of their last conversations, Melvin Rodriguez made a promise to his grandmother that he would help patients fighting the cancer that was taking her life. “It was a promise to myself, a promise to serve and a promise to my grandmother,” he says. “She’s been my driving force.”

A dozen years later, that promise is coming true. A first-generation student from Camden, New Jersey, Rodriguez is graduating in May 2026 with a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology and minors in Chemistry and Classics from Montclair State University, and will attend medical school.

That promise has shaped his time at Montclair, especially his work in the lab with zebrafish to better understand cancer. Rodriguez dove into research focused on melanoma and fertility, presented his work at conferences and mentored fellow pre-med students – all while balancing rigorous science courses with Honors and Classics seminars.

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