The sixth annual MSTP retreat took place this year on August 11th at the

Mount Washington Conference Center. As the unofficial start of a new academic year, the MSTP retreat has grown to be one of the most highly anticipated events in our program each year. This year’s retreat proved to be no exception. In addition to providing an opportunity for students from every stage of the program to gather and interact, the retreat offered a unique glimpse of both where the program has come from and where it is headed.

The morning session began with Dr. Donnenberg and Dr. Keegan introducing the twelve new members of the MSTP. They acknowledged some of the accolades of this incoming MSI class, the program’s largest and most impressive to date. They also highlighted some of the exciting new changes to the program, including our collaborations that allow interested stu-dents to complete their PhDs through the Graduate Partnership Program at the NIH or through the Fischell Depart-ment of Bioengineering at University of Maryland, College Park. The directors also announced some changes made to help streamline the PhD portion of the

program, part of a national trend towards shortening the average completion time for MD/PhD training. Dr. Neda Frayha also gave a brief talk about her role as a liai-son between the MSTP and the Office of Student Affairs in the School of Medicine.

Following Dr. Frayha’s talk, Dr. Ramin Parsey gave an engaging keynote address. Dr. Parsey is a 1994 graduate from the Maryland MD/PhD program, and one of several alumni from that era who were present at the retreat. Dr. Parsey told the story of his career path, how he was in-fluenced to pursue a dual degree by Dr. Stephen Max, why he chose psychiatry as a specialty, what led him to go into im-aging research, and finally, how he ended up at his current position as chair of the psychiatry department at Stony Brook University Medical Center. Consistent throughout Dr. Parsey’s talk was the idea that whenever opportunities present them-selves, “the answer is always yes.” He also expressed his belief that the unique skill set acquired through the MD/PhD training means that there will always be a role for MD/PhDs, especially in the modern land-scape of large, multi-person collaborative studies. Dr. Parsey also highlighted some of his groundbreaking research on depres-sion and the identification of biomarkers

Dual Decree Baltimore � Volume VI � Issue 1 � Autumn 2014

the university of marylanD meDical scientist training program

MSTP GATHERS FOR ANNUAL RETREAT

(continued on page 8)

AMIDST THE TREES: MSTP STudenTS, faculTy, aluMni, and SPeakerS gaTher ouTSide of The MT. WaShingTon conference cenTer for The SixTh annual reTreaT.

UMB School of Medicine Takes the Lead on Ebola Outbreak Efforts

In light of the current Ebola virus outbreak in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, the international community and the United States have stepped up efforts to contain the outbreak. Much effort is now underway to contain the virus, both with the US military now coordinating logistical support on the ground in West Africa, and in the development of vaccines to help stop the spread of Ebola. The University of Maryland School of Medicine has taken a key role in educating the public and advancing Ebola research through this outbreak. In the August 13th issue of Science, our very own Alan L. Schmaljohn, PhD, in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology was interviewed in a Q & A to address the science behind Zaire ebolavirus and what it does to the immune system of its host. In addition, Myron L. Levine, MD, DTPH, and Samba Sow, MD, MS, from the Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) are ramping up their research efforts. The CVD will be leading phase I trials of a new Ebola virus vaccine candidate in the Republic of Mali as part of an accelerated international effort to identify candidate vaccines to stem the current outbreak and prevent future recurrences of Ebola outbreaks. Although the current state of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa cannot be overstated, our University is at the front lines of educating the public and pooling our research and clinical resources to provide assistance as we can.

Jackline lasola, ms i

Jeffrey freiberg, gs ii

There’s a lot on my mind right now, so this issue’s column lacks a coherent theme. So be it.

I must start by welcoming, one last time, the new MS1 students. I am very excited about this highly accomplished group and relish the opportunity to watch them develop into outstanding physicians and terrific scientists. It is really rewarding to see our program grow in size and stature.

Elsewhere in this issue of the DD

is an article devoted to our upcoming NIH virtual site visit. Because of its importance, I want to share with you my thoughts about how our current students can help, at the risk of redundancy. Our students are, without a doubt, our most valuable asset and showcasing you can only benefit us. The reviewers will be very interested in meeting you and learning from you about our program. They are particularly interested in potential problem areas, such as the transitions from medical school to graduate school and vice versa. So it’s especially important that they hear from students who are about to make or recently made these transitions. Fortunately, all of the MS3 course directors have readily agreed to excuse our students for the time it will require (one hour plus travel). All I ask is that you show up and be your usual brilliant, enthusiastic, relaxed, candid, insightful selves.

I have lately been thinking about how to keep our MS3 and MS4 students more engaged in the program without adding to or compromising their busy schedules. This is an issue that vexes all MD/PhD programs and solutions are not easy. Last year we began to enlist MS4 students to help GS2 students prepare their Clinical Case Studies presentations. I view that effort as a

modest start. I believe that our students could employ their scientific reasoning skills to great effect during MS3 and MS4 rotations, benefiting their clinical teams and fellow MSTP students. I shared some rudimentary thoughts on the matter with the Office of Medical Education and with Clinical Course Directors and received positive feedback. I am eager to receive suggestions from current and former students and to work with our Student Council to develop some innovative plans. Please let me know what you think.

Lastly, I feel compelled to mention our student handbook. This should be an important, accurate resource for current students, but alas, it is terribly dated. Your devoted program leadership has been working diligently to update it, but we are not pleased with the results and have resolved to start over. In the meantime, we have made some quick edits, and hopefully by the time this issue of the DD has hit the presses, you will have reviewed this temporary version. We intend to resume our efforts to make a satisfactory Academic Year 2015 edition soon and then update it annually. Thanks for your patience.

With Best Wishes,

Michael

michael Donnenberg, mDmstp Director

Dual Decreethe university of marylanD meDical scientist training program

Baltimore � Volume VI � Issue 1 � Autumn 2014

eDitor-in-chief:Kristi Chakrabarti

managing eDitor:Elise Ma

copy eDitor:Carolyn Rosinsky

eDitor of photography:Alexander Tsai

contributing eDitors:Sarah Aranson

Sai Sachin DivakaruniJeffrey FreibergJackline Lasola

Jeffrey Kleinberger

contact us: dualdecree@gmail.comThe views expressed herein are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily repre-sent the views of the University of Maryland School of Medicine or any affiliated institution.

Autumn 20142 the Dual Decree

DATES & REMINDERSOctober 20, 2014 @ 12 pm Translational Medicine Topics with [HSFII Rm 341] Carolyn Rosinsky, GS I

October 23, 2014 @ 12 pm Molecules to Medicines with [HSFII Rm 341] Michael Kessler, MS I

October 23, 2014 @ 5 pm Clinical Case Studies with [HSFII Rm 341] Gary Plotnick, MD

October 27, 2014 NIH Site Visit

October 30, 2014 @ 12 pm Molecules to Medicine with [SMC Rm 223] Ilia Baskakov, PhD November 6, 2014 @ 1 pm White Coat Ceremony [Hippodrome Theater]

DIRECTOR’S DECREE

nicolas Dorsey

Autumn 2014 3mdphd.umaryland.edu

Nicolas Dorsey, MS IV, was one of two students in the nation chosen to speak at the National

Institute of General Medical Sciences MSTP 50th Anniversary Symposium at the National Institutes of Health on July 17, 2014. This was a symposium to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the creation of the MSTP. Nicolas was chosen to give a talk based on her dissertation research. “I was truly shocked and honored. I have found scientific research to be a very enriching and humbling field that has taught me to find personal satisfaction in what I do. Accolades like this invitation for me to speak at such an integral event are rare and never expected, but always truly appreciated,” she explained, about being selected. For Nicolas, this was one of the biggest talks she has given besides her thesis defense. She prepared by talking to Dr. Keegan, giving practice talks, and re-reading her thesis. Nicolas especially wanted to make sure she connected to the broad audience from various backgrounds. In addition, she wanted to represent MSTP students in a positive light. “I felt a lot of pressure to represent MSTP students in the best possible way because of the recent questions being raised by NIH about whether the creation of the MSTP had been a success and if it should be continued,” she said. Nicolas received great feedback from the attendees, including several MSTP directors and scientists. The experience was also a great source of motivation for Nicolas as she finished up her third year of medical school and prepared for residency applications. “It helped me to really think about the future steps I need to take to establish myself as a successful physician scientist.”

The University of Maryland MD/PhD program is in the process of renewing its NIH T32 Medical Scientist Training Program grant. Thanks to everyone’s efforts, we have submitted the grant application and completed an external site visit. The final stage of the grant renewal process will be the NIH site visit on Monday, October 27th. The visit will be in the form of a teleconference and will take place from 9 am to 4 pm in the Bressler Building. The MSTP designation has been a boon to the program, and renewal of our MSTP grant is a high priority for us as it signifies the quality of our program, staff, and students. The positive

effect of MSTP designation can be best seen at the level of recruitment: In 2009, prior to receiving MSTP designation, 90 students applied to the program. In 2014, the applicant pool increased to 211 students. Thus, with this grant application, our program aims to maintain our MSTP status as well as increase the number of funded positions.

In advance of the site visit, Jane Bacon, our wonderful program coordinator, has requested that we remind you to not ignore her emails and turn in your NIH Biosketches and Individualized Development Plans as Word Documents (thank you to those of you who have already

Jackline lasola, ms i

kristi chakrabarti, gs ii

sarah aronson, ms i

DORSEY SELECTED AS FEATURED SPEAKER AT NATIONAL SYMPOSIUM

Program Prepares for Virtual Site Visit for NIH Grant Renewalcouncilcorner

The Student Council met shortly after the annual retreat and the external advisory committee’s site visit to kick off the academic year and to discuss issues that were brought up by committee members Dr. Joseph Barbieri, Dr. Terence Dermody, and Ms. Leslie Harrington. Here are some discussion points and goals:

PROGRAM-SPECIFIC MEETINGSStudents will be grouped according to their programs (or potential programs) and have meetings to address students’ needs [i.e. qualifying exams, program graduation requirements, and paperwork items for each program.], especially at various transition stages . We also hope to establish program-specific liaisons for MS1s and MS2s who are considering different programs.

IDPsA survey will be created to receive feedback on the IDP form after all students have completed their first round of meetings with the directors.

CLINICAL LONGITUDINALSThere is thought among the students that the current clinical longitudinal rotation criteria are too stringent and not flexible enough. This will be a topic of discussion for the coming year, and the Council hopes to send out a survey to receive feedback from students soon.

MS I NEW MEMBERThe first year class elected their new MSTP representative—Michael Lee—so please feel free to contact him if you have any issues that you would like the Student Council to address!

WEBSITEA video of our program will be posted on the MSTP website.

SOCIALSPlease let any one of your Student Council representatives know if there is anything you would like to do with the MSTP family! Other than Jess Shiu’s favorite happy hours, we would like to have activities that engage all our students!!

(continued on page 9)

During our progress through the MSTP, we may come to face daunting tasks that make the imme-diate future seem bleak. In these times, it’s helpful to look to peer mentors or alumni who have gone through similar adversity and have come through on the other side. For this edition of “Alumni Spot-light”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. James P. Nataro. Dr. Nataro was the first combined MD/PhD student at Maryland, and was an integral part of the program’s development under the vision and guidance of the late Dr. Steven Max. Dr. Nataro is currently the Chair of Pediatrics at the University of Virginia School of Medicine (UVA), and the Physi-cian in Chief at UVA Children’s Hospital, and has held both positions since 2010.

Congratulations on holding two top leadership positions at a great school! Could you talk a bit more about your role and/or responsibilities?

Thank you! As Chair of Pediatrics, I oversee over 100 faculty members, all of whom belong to either general pediatrics or pediatric subspecialties, and approximately 500 other non-physician personnel. I oversee more faculty, including both medical and surgical members, as Chief of the Children’s hospi-tal.

Yet, my administrative responsibilities are only a part of my duties. I still run an active lab and transla-tional research program, and am fortunate to spend some time at home working on these goals. In addi-tion, I see patients on the general pediatrics inpatient service and pediatrics infectious disease consult ser-vice.

Another big part of my role here is contributing to medical student education. I lead resident morning report daily and teach medical students on the wards once a week. Though there are many facets of my job here, I try my best to remain active in all areas, and try to be the best leader I can.

Wow, that sounds like quite a lot. It’s very en-couraging to hear that alumni of our program have moved on to do really cool things. Could you tell me a little bit more about how you ascended the ranks after graduating from Maryland MD/PhD?

Well, after graduation, I completed my residency in Pediatrics at the Children’s Hosptial of Philadel-phia (CHOP), and then my fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Upon comple-tion, I was hired to join the world-class Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1991, and I stayed there for 19 years. I was promoted to Full Professor in 1999, and Jay Perman, who was the Chair of Pediatrics at the time, invited me to be Associate Chair for Pediatric Research. This was my first administrative appoint-ment, and I decided to take it for two reasons: I wanted a chance to lead in an area that actually mat-tered to me, and also because I had the opportunity to work with someone I truly admired. Learning is done best from another human being, not by books or the internet. Wisdom = knowledge + experi-ence, and the greatest opportunity in life is to work with someone who is truly wise. In Dr. Perman, I saw someone with a love for, and skill in leadership, and someone who I wanted to emulate. Then, in 2001, feeling under-educated in the business of medicine, I decided to pursue an MBA. It took me 7 years to complete because I was only taking a cou-ple of classes per semester, but I really loved it. Plus, I had the chance to sit down and do homework with my kids, so that was pretty cool. Almost the minute I finished my MBA in 2008, I was offered the position of Vice Chair of Pediatrics by Dr. Steve Czinn, who had replaced Dr. Perman as Chair. Soon after, I was offered my current job at UVA and have been here ever since. Charlottesville is one of the best places to live in the country. It is a large combined undergrad-uate and graduate campus that has a legendary feel to it. Plus, there are lots of elements of satisfaction that the city offers to my personal life, so I accepted the job in 2010, and have had a great time here.

It sounds like you had a lot of opportunities fol-lowing your MD/PhD training. Could you tell me a little bit about your time in the MD/PhD pro-gram?

Sure. I earned my undergraduate degree in micro-biology from Notre Dame, and knew I wanted to do basic science research. My dad convinced me to pursue an MD/PhD because it would offer me bet-ter job security, and so that’s how I decided to apply to MD/PhD programs. I decided to come to Mary-

land because I’m a member of the third generation of Nataros, and 6th person overall, to earn their MD at Maryland. When I began medical school at Mary-land, there were no students pursuing the combined MD/PhD degrees. So one day, I walked into the of-fice of Dr. Stephen Max and became ipso facto first student in the combined program. Because it was so new, I even had to apply separately. The whole thing was so new and over the next six years, we had a great time figuring out how the combined program should work including: what kind of qualifying ex-ams I had to take, the value of the graduate educa-tion compared to traditional PhD students, when I should go back to medical school, etc.

Because of my background in Microbiology, I chose to do my PhD in the Department of Microbi-ology and Immunology with Dr. James Kaper, who was the best mentor I could ever imagine. In fact, he remains my mentor to this day. He had a fantastic lab,

but his greatest strength was that he was the most altruistic person I have ever known. It’s a really rare and valuable char-acteristic, and because of it I had an amazing graduate school experience.

When I went back to the clinical years, I shifted my focus and tried to put as much effort as possible in those years, and had a good time. It was at this time that I realized that when you’re away from basic science for so many years, techniques are going to become dated. The important thing to do as an MD/PhD student is to become a master of a particular scientific discipline. Learning the discipline and how to think like a scien-tist will serve you for the rest of your career. Actu-ally, you can say the same for clinical medicine: learn the essence of the discipline and how to think like a physician. In any case, when you are immersed in ei-ther the PhD or the MD portions of your training, always be fully present.

I think I know the answer to this question already, but if you had to do the MD/PhD again, would you?

Absolutely. In fact, if given the opportunity, I might repeat every single decision the same way during my career. I would, however, have spent more time carefully choosing my residency and fellowship insti-tutions. I now know that before you choose an insti-tution, it’s very important to determine how you’re

4

“LEARNING IS DONE BEST FROM ANOTHER HUMAN BEING, NOT BY BOOKS OR THE INTERNET.”

sai sachin Divakaruni, gs i

in conversation with ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

james p. nataro

the Dual Decree � Autumn 2014 � mdphd.umaryland.edu

land because I’m a member of the third generation of Nataros, and 6th person overall, to earn their MD at Maryland. When I began medical school at Mary-land, there were no students pursuing the combined MD/PhD degrees. So one day, I walked into the of-fice of Dr. Stephen Max and became ipso facto first student in the combined program. Because it was so new, I even had to apply separately. The whole thing was so new and over the next six years, we had a great time figuring out how the combined program should work including: what kind of qualifying ex-ams I had to take, the value of the graduate educa-tion compared to traditional PhD students, when I should go back to medical school, etc.

Because of my background in Microbiology, I chose to do my PhD in the Department of Microbi-ology and Immunology with Dr. James Kaper, who was the best mentor I could ever imagine. In fact, he remains my mentor to this day. He had a fantastic lab,

but his greatest strength was that he was the most altruistic person I have ever known. It’s a really rare and valuable char-acteristic, and because of it I had an amazing graduate school experience.

When I went back to the clinical years, I shifted my focus and tried to put as much effort as possible in those years, and had a good time. It was at this time that I realized that when you’re away from basic science for so many years, techniques are going to become dated. The important thing to do as an MD/PhD student is to become a master of a particular scientific discipline. Learning the discipline and how to think like a scien-tist will serve you for the rest of your career. Actu-ally, you can say the same for clinical medicine: learn the essence of the discipline and how to think like a physician. In any case, when you are immersed in ei-ther the PhD or the MD portions of your training, always be fully present.

I think I know the answer to this question already, but if you had to do the MD/PhD again, would you?

Absolutely. In fact, if given the opportunity, I might repeat every single decision the same way during my career. I would, however, have spent more time carefully choosing my residency and fellowship insti-tutions. I now know that before you choose an insti-tution, it’s very important to determine how you’re

going to choose the institution (i.e. what characteris-tics you are looking for and how to assess them). Be thorough and systematic, and ask people you trust what criteria they might apply. One pearl I would offer is that it is more reliable to ask graduates of a program their opinion rather than current trainees: incumbents often feel some need to recruit even if they hate the program.

The first time I applied this lesson to my career was when I had to choose between accepting a faculty position at Hopkins or Maryland when I finished my fellowship. After careful reasoning, I did make the right decision to come to Maryland. I was obvious-ly attracted to the prestige of Hopkins, just as I was attracted to CHOP for residency and Hopkins for fellowship. So I called Paul Offit, who was my men-tor at CHOP, for advice. He asked me “at which of the two institutions will your research be more pro-ductive?” The answer was Maryland, hands down, because of the opportunity to work at the Center for Vaccine Development, headed by Dr. Myron (Mike) Levine. The CVD, a realization of Dr. Levine’s vi-sion, pioneered the nexus of clinical, translational, and basic science research, long before it became fashionable to do so. Plus, I had done my PhD there so I knew the diseases they were interested in, and knew most of the faculty members. It was altogether a much better fit for me.

If you still practice clinical medicine and conduct research, how do you balance the two? Moreover, how do you manage a busy work life with your personal life?

I would say that it’s not really balance but rather vI would say that it’s not really balance, but rather value. If you’re going to have a successful academic career, you’ve got to invest a lot of time. So, the amount of time you spend with your family is not as important as the value you communicate. A great ex-ample of this was, again, Dr. Levine. He is very successful, and an incredi-bly hard-working scientist, but there has never been a shred of doubt that he values his family above all. The fact that he coached his son’s la-crosse team still blows my mind.

What other advice would you give to current students in the pro-gram?

1. Find excellent mentors and be open to be influ-enced by them.

So far, I’ve mentioned several mentors: Dr. Perman, Dr. Czinn, Dr. Offit (who developed the rotavirus vaccine), Dr. Kaper, and Dr. Levine. These individ-

uals have all played important roles in shaping my career and I still keep in touch with many of them to this day.

Other important mentors that I had were the late Dr. Frank Oski and Dr. Murray Kappelman. Dr. Oski was the Chair of Pediatrics at Hopkins when I was a fellow there. He was a revered physician and academic, and a clinical leader. I knew that if I ever became a chair of a department, that’s the kind of chair I would want to be. Dr. Kappelman was a family friend, and a similar influence. He was Vice Dean at Maryland at one time, and he influenced me in important ways from the time I was in college.

2. Learn how to juggle a lot of different activities ear-ly on.

This is important because this is what the clini-cian scientist career entails. You will be drawn to tackling as much as you can at all times, but it is im-portant to learn to be organized and to check in on yourself – know when you are running low on energy, creativity or attention. Know when to slow down, sit down or back away.

3. Only do what you’re really passionate about.

Life is too short to spend doing something you’re not absolutely passionate about.

4. If you have a personal life, make sure it’s supportive of your drive.

My wife is also a pediatric infectious disease spe-cialist, and has been my biggest support and advo-cate at every step. You’ve got to make sure that you don’t abuse that privilege and make sure that it goes

both ways (i.e. support your part-ner!). My wife has developed a yoga medicine curriculum at UVA that is now growing to the national level, so I’m very fortunate that we align so well together. I think my support of her pays dividends for her, for me, and for the patients and families she serves.

I also have two daughters and two sons. My older three are into music, business, and art. My youngest is in high school and she’s very active in everything (opera, politics, field hockey, on and on…).

Well, Dr. Nataro, that’s all the questions I have for you today. On behalf of the MSTP, I want to thank you so much for your wise words, and it was a real pleasure having this chat with you!

Thank you too. I’m honored that you have deemed me worthy of being interviewed. Good luck!

5

LEARNING IS DONE BEST FROM ANOTHER HUMAN BEING, NOT BY BOOKS OR THE INTERNET.”

“LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO

SPEND DOING SOMETHING YOU’RE NOT ABSOLUTELY PASSIONATE

ABOUT.”

the Dual Decree � Autumn 2014 � mdphd.umaryland.edu

the Dual Decree � Autumn 2014 � mdphd.umaryland.edu6

--Jeffrey Kleinberger, gs ii

The MSTP welcomed twelve new students and one internal applicant to our program this year. We will be introducing all the students in a two part series.

Erik is great at juggling, both tennis balls and talents. He is an athlete, an academic, and a traveler, in addition to being able to juggle up

to five tennis balls simultaneously. Erik is interested in studying antibiotic resistance and how it is affecting the current practice of medicine. We were lucky to attract him here with UMB’s strong infectious disease program. With the demands of medical school and graduate school, Erik’s juggling skills will undoubtedly be put

to work here.Originally from Bethesda, MD, Erik traveled all the way to

Northfield, MN to attend Carleton College for his undergraduate s t u d i e s . He was a chemistry major, with a focus in biochemistry. He was also a successful swimmer in college, earning All-American status. Fortunately for us, the cold winds of Minnesota helped push him back to his home state of Maryland.

After graduating college, Erik had the opportunity to travel to Australia. During that trip, he traveled all 700 miles from Sydney to Brisbane… by bicycle. Erik stopped at the beautiful beach towns all along the trip. We are excited that he made it back, and we are glad to have him as a member of our MST program.

Tony is another student who has taken a circuitous route back to his home state of Maryland. He was born in Silver Spring, MD, and

raised in Mt. Airy, MD. For undergrad, Tony travelled all the way to the University of Central Florida, where he studied in the department of Molecular and Microbiology. He was recruited there through the National Merit Scholarship program, and while there, he was a member of the Burnett Honors College. We

are lucky that he decided to leave the beautiful weather of Florida to come back to his home state for his postgraduate training.

It is clear that Tony is truly a scientist at heart. Since a very young age, he has had a curiosity and passion for understanding how things work. It is clearly genetic, since there are multiple engineers in Tony’s family. While in college, he spent three years studying Schwann cells and myelination-related motility in a neuroscience laboratory. Tony is looking forward to trying to bridge the gap between patient care and research findings in his career as an MD/PhD.

Tony has a wide range of hobbies, and he is always looking to take on new ones. He especially enjoys outdoor activities, like hiking, fishing, and archery. Like many good scientists, he also experiments with home-brewing. We are looking forward to seeing what he cooks up next (both in his brewery and his career)!

Sarah seeks to study the neurobiology of human behavior and its application to the clinical setting. In undergrad, she was a Neuroscience

major at Dartmouth College. Her interest in the human mind was inspired by her grandparents, who worked in psychological fields. Sarah hopes to continue to study psychiatry throughout her career.

We are very lucky to have Sarah join the UMD MSTP. At Dartmouth, she was named the James O. Freedman Presidential

Scholar for her research. She also received a Tucker Foundation International Service Fellowship for her work as an art teacher at an

Arab-Jewish school in Jerusalem. During this past summer, Sarah performed a pre-matriculation research rotation focusing on Schizophrenia and Nicotine Addiction at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center.

Besides her science interests, Sarah also enjoys art and music. Her instrument of choice is mallet percussion. Artistically, Sarah enjoys drawings and printmaking. She is also interested in American history. With historical landmarks like Federal Hill, the Edgar Allan Poe House, and Fort McHenry, she will definitely get her fill of American history in her time in Baltimore.

Jackline is a West Coast transplant who has been living in Baltimore for a few years. She was born in San Francisco and was raised in the

surrounding areas. For her undergrad, she attended University of California Berkeley. While there, she studied a broad range of topics that included fields like sociology, political economy, and international development. As is customary for Berkeley students,

she enjoyed bicycling, hiking, and the occasional protest for social causes.

Despite her broad interests at Berkeley, Jackline has always aspired to be a physician scientist. She knew in high school that it was her career path, and she was heavily involved in the Berkeley Free Clinic during undergrad. She sees the physician scientist career path as the best opportunity to combine her medical, scientific, and social interests. She is excited about the opportunities for being involved in biomedical research policy that are available here at UMB.

Coming from the wealth of professional sports teams in the Bay area, it is no surprise that Jackline is a huge sports fan. She stays true to her hometown teams, but hopefully she can come to root for the Baltimore teams a little too. Jackline is also very crafty, as shown by knitting clothing, brewing beer, and urban gardening. We are looking forward to seeing what she does next as a member of the MSTP team.

ERIC KLONTZ:THE SUPERSTAR SWIMMER

SARAH ARONSON:THE PERCUSSING PSYCHOLOGIST

JACKLINE LASOLA:THE BAY-AREA BACKER

TONY COLE:THE OUTSTANDING OUTDOORSMAN

INTRODUCING...

the Dual Decree � Autumn 2014 � mdphd.umaryland.edu 7

--Jeffrey Kleinberger, gs ii

The MSTP welcomed twelve new students and one internal applicant to our program this year. We will be introducing all the students in a two part series.

Sarah seeks to study the neurobiology of human behavior and its application to the clinical setting. In undergrad, she was a Neuroscience

major at Dartmouth College. Her interest in the human mind was inspired by her grandparents, who worked in psychological fields. Sarah hopes to continue to study psychiatry throughout her career.

We are very lucky to have Sarah join the UMD MSTP. At Dartmouth, she was named the James O. Freedman Presidential

Scholar for her research. She also received a Tucker Foundation International Service Fellowship for her work as an art teacher at an

Arab-Jewish school in Jerusalem. During this past summer, Sarah performed a pre-matriculation research rotation focusing on Schizophrenia and Nicotine Addiction at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center.

Besides her science interests, Sarah also enjoys art and music. Her instrument of choice is mallet percussion. Artistically, Sarah enjoys drawings and printmaking. She is also interested in American history. With historical landmarks like Federal Hill, the Edgar Allan Poe House, and Fort McHenry, she will definitely get her fill of American history in her time in Baltimore.

Engineer, political scientist, and music aficionado, it is difficult to classify Philip into a single category. He is a

true Baltimore native though, and he has the historical knowledge of the city to prove it. Both of his parents are electrical engineers, and fittingly, he did his undergraduate studies at MIT. After completing five years of coursework in four years at MIT (!), Philip did research for a year at West Virginia

University. He is happy to be back in Baltimore, and he is surprised by how small a city like Baltimore can

f e e l when returning home.Philip enjoys studying politics very much, especially gerrymandering (altering

the boundaries of electoral districts). He has even gone so far as to draw his own redistricting maps and submitted them to different states. He has his own blog about politics and gerrymandering and created an amateur polling operation that has produced multiple public polls. Not surprisingly, Philip has an encyclopedic knowledge of government and can name all 535 members of Congress.

Outside of science and politics, Philip is a big fan of music from the 1960s. His parents introduced him to it when he was young, and now he knows more about the topic than they do. While at MIT, he even had a radio show that centered on music of the 1960s. We at the MSTP are all very excited to have Philip and his range of interests as a part of our group, and we are looking forward to seeing what he will be able to accomplish during his time here.

Natalie is an internal matriculate, who joined us midway through her first year of medical school. She is originally

from New York City. With a growing family, she felt she needed to find a city that was a little less cramped, and she chose nearby Baltimore. Natalie, her husband, her (now) 2-year-old son, and her golden-doodle packed up and came to UMB for

her medical school training.For her undergraduate studies, Natalie studied

human development at Cornell University. After undergrad, she earned an MA and an MEd in Mental Health

and Psychiatric Counseling from Columbia University, and she performed some clinical work. She didn’t catch the research bug until after graduation when she worked with Ramin Parsey, an MD/PhD alumnus of UMB, at the Columbia University Molecular Imaging and Neuropathology Division. Luckily, Dr. Parsey was able to show Natalie the opportunities of MD/PhD training, and we were able to scoop her up into our MSTP.

As you can imagine, Natalie keeps very busy between her family and her studies. She still finds time for her passions, like cooking. She is currently enjoying the ability to spread out (compared to NYC!) in her new home in the Baltimore suburbs. Although she is a New Yorker at heart, we know that she will come to love the charm of Baltimore.

Jackline is a West Coast transplant who has been living in Baltimore for a few years. She was born in San Francisco and was raised in the

surrounding areas. For her undergrad, she attended University of California Berkeley. While there, she studied a broad range of topics that included fields like sociology, political economy, and international development. As is customary for Berkeley students,

she enjoyed bicycling, hiking, and the occasional protest for social causes.

Despite her broad interests at Berkeley, Jackline has always aspired to be a physician scientist. She knew in high school that it was her career path, and she was heavily involved in the Berkeley Free Clinic during undergrad. She sees the physician scientist career path as the best opportunity to combine her medical, scientific, and social interests. She is excited about the opportunities for being involved in biomedical research policy that are available here at UMB.

Coming from the wealth of professional sports teams in the Bay area, it is no surprise that Jackline is a huge sports fan. She stays true to her hometown teams, but hopefully she can come to root for the Baltimore teams a little too. Jackline is also very crafty, as shown by knitting clothing, brewing beer, and urban gardening. We are looking forward to seeing what she does next as a member of the MSTP team.

NATALIE HESSELGRAVE:THE MD/PHD MOTHER

SARAH ARONSON:THE PERCUSSING PSYCHOLOGIST

JACKLINE LASOLA:THE BAY-AREA BACKER

PHILIP SMITH:THE POLITICAL POLYMATH

INTRODUCING... part 1

that are able to predict both risk of depression and the likelihood that a patient will respond to treatment.

Also speaking in the morning session was Dr. Calvin Williams. A more recent graduate of the Maryland MSTP, Dr. Williams completed his internal medicine residency at Christiana Care Health System in Dela-ware and has since returned to Maryland to complete an Infectious Dis-ease fellowship. He was able to provide a more recent perspective when addressing students’ questions on choosing a residency and fellowship. He also gave insight into how you can stay involved in research during your postgraduate clinical training. The remainder of the morning was comprised of student presentations by two of our own GSIII students, Grace Maldarelli and Haiwen Chen. Grace discussed her work in Dr. Donnenberg’s lab studying the structure and composition of the Clos-tridium difficle type 4 pilus. Haiwen gave an enthusiastic presentation on her work in Dr. Blanpied’s lab looking at differences between consti-tutive or stimulus-dependent neurotransmitter release.

Following lunch, students split up to attend several interactive break-out sessions. These sessions covered the full range of the MD/PhD ex-perience, from an introduction to MSI all the way through residency planning. Of special note this year was a highly attended session led by Dr. Frayha that covered the M3 and M4 years, with a special focus how that experience can be different for MSTP students. The afternoon session then concluded with an alumni panel where Dr. Ramsey was joined by Dr. Richard Moore, Dr. Mayer Fishman, and Dr. George Porter. Having all graduated in 1993 or 1994, the panel served as a mini-twenty year reunion of sorts. All four of the alumni commented on their experience training during a time when the idea that you could be both a physician and a scientist was not a widely accepted idea. They answered a number of questions about making career choices and how to decide which path is right for you. They also discussed the unpre-dictable nature of a career as a physician scientist. Their overarching advice was that it is important in your PhD to learn the tools that will help you succeed later, instead of trying to learn one specific trade to make a career. The retreat concluded with students, faculty, and alumni alike heading to the Mount Washington Tavern for a social hour which provided further opportunity to socialize and get to know both the pro-gram’s past and future. After another successful retreat, one can only imagine what next year’s retreat will have in store as we approach the thirtieth anniversary of the MD/PhD program at Maryland.

the Dual Decree Autumn 20148

Sara STockMan, gS ii, kriSTi chakrabar-Ti, gS ii, JeSS Shui, MS iV, alliSon arai, MS i, and Sarah boudoVa, gS iii break for lunch during The reTreaT (aboVe).

RETREAT(continued from page 1)

Autumn 2014 mdphd.umaryland.edu 9GRANT RENEWAL(continued from page 3)

done so). In fact, Dr. Donnenberg suggests that if you are reading this, and have not yet completed these two items, stop reading now and submit your Biosketch and IDP!

As for the site visit in October, it will be conducted by three members of our NIH study section, which consists of MSTP program directors and assistant program directors from across the country, and will be overseen by an NIH Scientific Review Officer. The study section members will meet with representatives of the medical school, graduate school, program directors, and students. All students are invited to meet with the study section in groups on October 27th. These groups will be: MS I/II, GS I/II, GS III+, and MS III/IV.

During each group’s time with the study section representatives, students should be prepared to answer questions regarding their experiences in Maryland’s MSTP. Anything regarding

medical school, graduate school, preparing for residency, etc. are fair game. However, it is likely that a special emphasis will be placed how the program handles and prepares students for transitions. For example, if you are an MS I or II, you may be asked about why you chose Maryland, what support you have had while adjusting to medical school, and how you chose your research rotations. Graduate students may be asked about the process of choosing a thesis lab, the transition to graduate school from medical school, opportunities available for involvement in clinical medicine, and what your advisory committee has done to keep you on track to complete your degree. MS IIIs and IVs may need to respond to questions about the transition back to medical school and clerkships, and about career advising you are receiving for residency and post-doc applications. Note that it is expected that you know how our program is structured, so brush up on your knowledge of M2M and the Physician Scientist Seminars, if it has been a while for you!

SOFTWARE ENDNOTE REFERENCE MANAGER MENDELEY REFWORKS

Unofficial MSTP Pros (n ≥ 1)

Integrates well into MS Word

Barebones and easy to use

Great for organizing papersScientific social

networking

n/a

Unofficial MSTP Cons (n ≥ 1)

Not an effective software for initial

organization of papers

Older features without the

creative feel of Endnote

Not useful for importing citations to manuscript

n/a

Utility/LimitationsWindows and Mac

Must have Endnote installed

Only WindowsMust have Reference

Manager installed

Anywhere with anything

Anywhere with anything

Cost $107.24 (Student Version)

$115.95 (Student Version) Free Institution-

sponsoredUser-friendliness very yes very yes

File Storage device storage device storage device and webremotely (online),

but may keep device backups

Output Styles >4500 >1000 none >500Multi-User

Database Access no yes no yes

Automatic Download of

Citation and PDFyes no yes yes

managing your sourcessai sachin Divakaruni, gs i

Affix Mailing Label & Postage

Freiberg JA, McIver KS, Shirtliff ME. In vivo expression of Streptococ-cus pyogenes immunogenic cell wall proteins during tibial foreign body in-fection. Infect Immun. 2014 Jul 7. pii: IAI.01831-14. [Epub ahead of print]

Shin RK, Qureshi RA, Harris NR, Bakar D, Li TP, Jafri MS, Tang C-M (2014). Wilbrand’s knee. Neurology, 82(5), 459–60.

10 the Dual Decree Autumn 2014

CONFERENCES

PUBLICATIONS

Sai Sachin Divakaruni attended the annual Vascular Meeting held by the Society of Vascular Surgery in Boston, MA and presented his abstract “Dilation of Ipsilateral Extremity Veins: A Beneficial Effect of Dialysis Access Procedures” on June 6, 2014.

DOCTORAL DISSERATIONS

graDe malDarelli, gs iii received an F30

latey braDforD had a baby! Everton Josell Bradford was born on June 6, 2014.

grace malDarelli, GS III

Oral Presentationnatalie hesselgrave, MS II - First Prize

Poster Presentation michael lee, MS I - First Prizephilip smith, MS I - First Prize

GRANT AWARD

GPILS PHD SCHOLAR AWARD

MEDICAL STUDENT RESEARCH DAY

PERSONALS

heather WeiD

NeuroscieNce “The Orbitofrontal Cortex and Inferred Value: Neural Correlates and the Effects of Cocaine””

patrick kerns

Molecular Microbiology & iMMuNology “Development and Testing of Five-Subunit Biofilm Vaccine for the Prevention of Pulmonary Tuberculosis”

Kyle Wilson attended the 13th International Symposium on Dendritic Cells organized by the DC Vaccine Society in Tours, France and presented his abstract, “IKDC depletion enhances the rejection of established melanoma by TAA-specific CD4+ T cells” on September 14-18, 2014.

congrats!