By Jim W. Harper
An undergraduate could get lost in the graduate student atmosphere on the top floor of Malachowsky Hall for Data Science and Information Technology, but that’s not the case for senior Harold Bishop.
Bishop, 20, has leapfrogged with ease into the mature world of graduate-level research and steady employment. It all started with a semester of boredom and a simple flyer in the library.
Bishop had felt a bit overwhelmed by heavy classes in his first semester as a biochemistry major. But in semester two, he course-corrected too much, and the resulting boredom was too much. He needed a challenge.
“One day I was in the library and saw a QR code for the UF Health Cancer Institute scholars’ program: scan this QR code to apply. I was just applying for everything at that point,” Bishop said.
He got into the program and interned for a year before landing half-time employment as a research assistant for the UF Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics (HOBI) in the College of Medicine. Currently, he collaborates with a team led by Ramzi Salloum, Ph.D., the Chief of HOBI’s Division of Implementation Science and Health Interventions.
Bishop is also a full-time student and highly active volunteer—more on that later.
Cool mentorship
When the Cancer Institute asked him to choose a mentor as a freshman, Bishop relied on his intuition instead of trying to narrow down the many fields that interest him. He selected Jennifer LeLaurin, PhD., who conducts research both in HOBI and the UF Health Cancer Institute. “I just kind of randomly looked and I thought the name “LeLaurin” looked cool. She did smoking research, and my dad smokes, so I was like, cool,” Bishop said.
It got even cooler. LeLaurin referred him to a smoking cessation project that compares the efficacy of smartphone apps, such as iCanQuit, and he still works there. For the project Promote UP (UP stands for Underserved Patients), Bishop focuses on recruiting the 1300 smokers needed for research.
He found that helping real patients had gravitas. “It just seems so much more important than anything I had ever done and so much more serious than anything I had ever done. The better you did, the bigger of an impact you could have,” Bishop said.
Less than a year into the University Scholars Program, Bishop created a winning poster for the UF Health Cancer Institute’s 2025 Research Showcase: “Relative advantage of mobile health smoking cessation treatments: An analysis of care team perspectives in a comparative effectiveness trial.” In October 2025, Bishop earned a scholarship to give a similar poster presentation at a conference in Washington, D.C.
Bishop has been inspired by the serious investigations of professors and students alike. He works on qualitative studies with Ryan Theis, Ph.D., a HOBI Research Associate Professor who also works with the Institute for Child Health Policy. He supports the dissertation research of Dima Bteddini, who studies cancer control plans for low-and-middle income countries.
Dressing the part
Bishop tends to be the youngest person in the room. He adapted quickly to the serious world of research because of support from his “buddy” Sofia Anrecio, a former HOBI Research Assistant who last year started medical school at the University of Virginia.
He sounds and looks like a typical college senior with curly red-blond hair and a slim build. His friends tease him when he returns from work wearing business clothes.
“I’m overdressed for college right now in a collared shirt, but going there to work, it’s like everyone was very professional and you always had to sit straight,” Bishop said.
In contrast to his university classes in physical sciences, Bishop’s employment focuses on qualitative interviewing and other social science approaches.
“I had no background in that, so I had to learn how to conduct an interview, how to do qualitative analysis, and honestly, it was that qualitative analysis part that really got me into it,” Bishop said.
He enjoys relaxing at work while analyzing large spreadsheets. Really.
What makes Bishop unique—besides being an undergraduate in a graduate world—is the ease with which he navigates and builds bridges between disparate disciplines.
He epitomizes the name of the department where he works. He researches “Health Outcomes” using implementation science, and last summer he practiced “Biomedical Informatics” as a coder at the University of Utah.
Extracurricular excellence
Since that boring second semester, Bishop has challenged himself inside and outside the classroom. He plans to graduate in May 2027 with a biochemistry degree and two minors in physics and business administration. In April, he became the president of the UF Chemistry Club.
Charity is another passion. Bishop is the founder and president of UF Bread of the Mighty, which supports the local nonprofit Bread of the Mighty food bank.
As if he were not busy enough, this spring he was the race director for the “Escape the Swamp Triathlon” sponsored by the UF Triathlon Club.
Bishop is bored no longer.
Go gator family
The City of Gainesville is Bishop’s hometown, and his family bleeds orange and blue. Bishop’s two siblings live locally, with sister Meghan Bishop having completed her first year at UF, and brother Nicholas Bishop, who graduated UF in 2024, working at Florida Farm Bureau Insurance.
His mother, Hope Bishop, works in spine neurosurgery as a Physician Assistant in the UF College of Medicine. His father, Mark Bishop, directs the UF Doctor of Physical Therapy Program. Go Bishops!
Nuclear option
This summer, “Harry,” as friends call him, plans to work in Washington, DC, at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He can’t really talk about that.
“I’ve done a lot of background checks,” Bishop said. “I think I’ll be working in medical physics.”
Bishop is undecided about a career, but nuclear medicine fascinates him the most. Nuclear medicine uses radiation and technology, such as PET scanners, to examine organs and treat diseases.
Eventually, Bishop hopes to earn an MBA and a doctorate. Let’s call that the HB option.
Blending business and science
In March, Bishop won a unique accolade for his business presentation in the “Shark Tank” competition at HOBI’s Education Day. His platform, “Developing Student Driven Tobacco Control Systems,” plans to engage students in creative ways to discourage smoking and vaping.
He’s very grateful for the experience he has gained from HOBI and the UF Health Cancer Institute. His skill set has expanded dramatically.
“I didn’t know what a poster was before this, I didn’t know what an abstract was before this, I didn’t know how to do scientific writing.” Now, he has co-authored two peer-reviewed articles that he expects will be published this year.
With one year of college left, Bishop can stand shoulder to shoulder with graduate researchers trying to help people quit nicotine products. Smoking doesn’t stand a chance.