The beginning of my MD/PhD career

Last weekend I went to the 24th annual MD/PhD student conference in Keystone, Colorado. It was a great way to start my training as a physician scientist and meet my new classmates who will probably be my friends and colleagues for life. The conference consisted of talks and poster presentations from other MD/PhD students from all around the country. A few featured speakers were invited also, as well as practicing physician-scientists who held a career panel and chaired break-out sessions on topics such as time and stress management, grant writing, negotiating jobs, etc.

This was different from other conferences I have attended because the science presented came from all different fields, including medical genetics, pharmacology, bioengineering, molecular biology, and cell biology. This exposed me to new areas I may wish to explore further when choosing which labs to rotate in, and ultimately what my own research will involve. I also appreciated the advice and examples of seasoned physician-scientists who spoke at the conference. Most of them described at least one unexpected twist or hurdle they had to overcome in their career and most were not where they thought they would be twenty years earlier. They were very encouraging and suggested that we not pigeon-hole ourselves too soon into what we think we want to do. This was good for me to hear, because sometimes I wish I had a better idea of exactly what I wanted to study and what kind of doctor I wanted to be. It is comforting to know that I have plenty of time to feel everything out and make my decisions. Also, should I decide to make a career shift later in life, as it seems many physician-scientists do, I will be well trained for a variety of different options as an MD/PhD. Interestingly, all of the panelists were married, except one, and all had kids. They gave excellent advice about prioritizing family needs first, sacrificing for family, and balancing their lives. I value their examples as very successful scientists who also seem to succeed in life, including family life.

One of my favorite featured speakers was a psychiatrist and bioengineer named Karl Deisseroth. He was introduced as one of the only people in the world who has integrated these to unlikely disciplines to come up with very exciting potential solutions to neural disorders from narcolepsy to Parikinson's disease. Click here for a brief article on his work. If you have about twenty minutes and want to watch a very cool lecture he gave to a general audience at Stanford, watch this video. He is a model product of an MD/PhD program, uniting cutting-edge research with a clinical specialty to come up with patient-driven solutions. I don't know that I necessarily want to go into psychiatry, neuroscience, or bioengineering, but I admire how he has been able to come up with such clever tools to approach complicated clinical problems in a relatively short period of time.

In addition to serving as a forum for scientific dialoge and career devlopment, the Keystone conference is a social event, particularly for attendees from the University of Colorado. New members of the program are required to attend to meet their class and other members of the program. Mine is the largest MSTP class in the program's history with 10 students. I feel very fortunate to have a wonderful class full of people who are interesting to talk to and easy to get along with. They also care about each member of the group and watch out for eachother already. I look forward to getting to know them even better as the years go by. The upperclassmen from the program were also eager to get to know us new students and to provide helpful tips on how to survive our first year.

Overall the Keystone experience was very rewarding. I feel so blessed to have been given the chance to train both as a medical doctor and a scientist. I hope my education will provide me with skills, experience, and opportunities needed to bridge disparate disciplines to come up with novel solutions to clinical problems as a fulfilling part of a balanced life.