So I chose to pursue an MD/PhD program because it really married two really interesting aspects of Biomedical Sciences, the really technical aspects that we use in the research lab of like basic biochemistry, with the practice of application to patients, and really furthering, you know, patients and human health.

My experience has been really excellent, I felt a very strong kind of social support, administrative support, I've made, you know, some extremely good friends here through the program, they remain among my best friends of my entire life. I still see all of them on a regular basis. And that has really kept me grounded and supported through a lot of fun times, and a lot of like difficult times with excitement for the future.

My PhD research had to do with these genetic elements known as "retrotransposons." And so these are pieces of DNA in the human genome that are able to jump around or they're known as "jumping genes." And my PhD focused on how these genes actually go through this biochemical process of jumping around, they can help us better understand the proteins that tend to aggregate in neurodegenerative diseases, such as ALS, or Frontotemporal dementia. But additionally, the work can help us figure out ways of potentially targeting cancer cells in a very new way in that cancer cells tend to have high expression of these jumping genes.

So right now I'm on my surgery rotation. These clinical rotations are particularly stimulating, you know, having just come off of this, you know, very technical, like biochemical viewpoint of things, I see a lot of opportunities in the way we manage even simple diseases like diabetes, or heart disease, where we still are up against the limits of our knowledge of how these diseases work. I think it really is invigorating to me to see that there's so many different, you know, opportunities for me to apply my PhD knowledge to medical questions in a way that could help patients.

I live in Vilcek Hall. I've lived with my MD/PhD classmates for my entire time that I've been there and it's been amazing. What I've come to love about New York City is that there's so much going on. There's so many people that it is almost liberating in a way that you can just be yourself. My extracurriculars are really would have kept me you know, excited and kind of sane through this whole, like long journey.

One of my major kind of hobbies is actually playing the piano. I've done that since I was very young. One of my MD/PhD classmates played guitar and we like found each other and we're like, "Oh, you play music. I play music. There's music room here on campus. Why don't we go like see if we can find a drummer and start a band?" And that's exactly what we did. And it's been amazing. I never thought I would be getting back up stage like, you know, playing for my friends.

If I did describe my experience here at MD/PhD program so far, I think I would say it's probably like the most enjoyable marathon I can imagine. Overall, I think it's given me a lot more than it's really challenged me with and I'm very grateful for a lot of the support and the relationships and, you know, education that I've experienced there.