Behind the Microscope

Dr. Aherne is an Assistant Professor at University College Dublin School of Medicine. She earned her PhD from University College Dublin followed by a post-doc and assistant professorship at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. I caught up with Dr. Aherne at last years FASEB epithelial biology conference in steamboat springs and we discussed the challenges facing young faculty both i...

Dr. Michael Diamond is an ID-trained physician scientist at Washington University of Saint Louis where he serves as the Herbert S. Gasser Professor within the Departments of Medicine, Molecular Microbiology, Pathology & Immunology.    Dr. Diamond runs a prolific basic science lab studying the molecular basis of disease of globally emerging RNA viruses and focuses on the interface between patho...

Dr. Sean Colgan is a Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Immunology at the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus. He earned his Bachelor's, Masters, and PhD degrees from Colorado State University. He completed a post-doc at Brigham and Women's under the mentorship of one of our former guests - Dr. Jim Madara. He then spent 12 years on faculty at Harvard Medical School before...

Dr. Steven Freedman is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School where he serves as the Director of the Pancreas Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center as well as the Chief of the Division of Translational Research.     Prior to joining the faculty at BI, Dr. Freedman completed his PhD at Yale before pursuing his medical education at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine...

Samuel David Burciaga, a first-generation Mexican American, earned his Biology degree from the University of Minnesota and is currently in the first year of his Immunology PhD at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Motivated by the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, he sees scientific research as a practical tool to unravel complex problems. His academic journey is fueled by a pa...

Dr. Connors is the Program Director of the University of Colorado Internal Medicine Residency Program, the Vice Chair for Education in the Department of Medicine, and an Associate Professor of Medicine in the division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. He earned his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Michigan, his MD from Tulane, did residency and a chief year at the University of Colora...

Dr. Marie Hollenhorst is an Instructor of Medicine in Hematology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Hollenhorst earned her MD and PhD from Harvard University followed by residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a fellowship in transfusion medicine at Harvard Medical School, and a fellowship in hematology at Stanford before ultimately joining facu...

Dr. Olujimi Ajijola is a leader in physician-scientist education and directs both the PSTP and MSTP at UCLA. He earned his BS from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, his MD from Duke, and his PhD in Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology from UCLA. He completed residency in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by fellowships in cardiology and cardiac e...

Dr. Jay Vyas is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Program Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Prior to joining the faculty at MGH, Dr. Vyas completed his MD/PhD training at the Baylor College of Medicine, where he conducted his Immunology PhD research within the lab of Dr. Robert Rich. He then completed his internal medicine residency fol...

Dr. Furuta was among the first physician scientists I ever met and is a big reason why I decided to choose this career path. He is a dedicated mentor, exceptional clinician and researcher, and an incredible leader – most recently taking the helm of the pediatric division of gastroenterology at Colorado Children’s Hospital. Dr. Furuta earned his BA at the University of Texas in Austin, His MD at Ba...

Dr. David Schwartz professor of medicine in the division of pulmonary and critical care, prior chair of medicine, and current Director of the physician scientist training program in internal medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz medical campus. Dr. Schwartz got his BA at the University of Rochester, his MD from UCSD, did his internal medicine residency and a chief year at Boston Universi...

Dr. Tejasav Sehrawat is a post doctoral fellow at Mayo who recently matched at the Yale internal medicine PSTP for gastroenterology. Dr. Sehrawat is a first generation physician who went to medical school in Northern India – where he found a passion for both medicine and science despite the lack of a formal physician-scientist pathway. He then made his way to the NIH and from there to the Mayo Cli...

Dr. Scott Reeder is a cardiovascular radiologist and professor in the Department of Radiology at the University of Wisconsin. Prior to joining faculty at the University of Wisconsin, Dr. Reeder completed his undergraduate studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. He then went to John’s Hopkins to pursue his masters in biomedical engineering followed by his MD/PhD training. Dr. Re...

Dr. Meghan Althoff is a fellow in the division of pulmonary and critical care at the University of Colorado. Dr. Althoff earned her bachelor’s degree from Northwestern then spent 2 years working as a high school teacher in Chicago for Teach for America. She then got a Masters in Public health at Berkley before ultimately joining the MD-PhD program at Tulane University School of Medicine. After fin...

Dr. Hanna Erickson is PGY-1 internal medicine resident in the Stanbury Physician-Scientist Pathway of the Massachusetts General Hospital. She completed her bachelor’s degree in chemistry at the University of Minnesota, her MD-PhD at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the lab of Dr. Sayeepriyadarshini Anakk. During her time as a MD-PhD student, she held many roles including Vice Pres...

Dr. Allan Brett is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado. Dr. Brett earned his MD at the University of Pennsylvania and did his residency in internal medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. He has served on faculty at Georgetown University, Washington University in St. Louis, Harvard University, and the University of South Carolina where he served as the director of the division...

Dr. Kristi Kuhn is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Immunology and Microbiology and the head of Rheumatology at the University of Colorado Anschutz medical campus. Dr. Kuhn earned her MD and Ph. D. at the University of Colorado, did her residency in internal medicine and fellowship in rheumatology at Washington University in St. Louis, and then returned to the University of Colorado as facul...

Dr. Ira Schwartz is a Professor of Pediatrics, An Associate Dean of medical education and student affairs, and the Director of admissions at Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Schwartz earned his bachelor’s degree from Union College, his MD from Chicago medical school, did his residency in pediatrics at Children’s Memorial Hospital at Northwestern University medical center, and then complete...

Dr. Alfred Lee is a classical hematologist and professor of Medicine in Hematology at Yale University. In addition to his clinical responsibilities, he also serves as the Director of the hematology/oncology fellowship program.  He earned his MD-PhD in the Yale Medical Scientist Training Program, and completed his internal medicine residency at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, where he also ser...

Dr. Will Parsons is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Hematology-Oncology at Baylor College of Medicine. He also serves as the Director of the Baylor Pediatrician-Scientist Training Program, Director of the Center for Personal Cancer Genomics and Therapeutics, and Co Director of the Neuro-oncology and Cancer Genetics and Genomic Programs at Texas Children’s. Sr. Parsons earne...

Dr. Niroshana Anandasabapathy is a dermatologist and associate professor of Dermatology and vice chair of research at Weill Cornell Medical School. She earned her MD-PhD in the Stanford Medical Scientist Training Program, completed her residency in Dermatology at NYU and trained as a postdoctoral fellow under the late Ralph Steinman at the Rockefeller University, where she also earned a Master's o...

Dr. Holly Bauser-Heaton is an assistant professor and interventional pediatric cardiologist and physician-scientist at Sibley Heart Center at Children’s Healthcare of Altanta. She is also a co-director of the MD-PhD program at Emory University. She earned her MD and PhD at Indiana University, completed residency in pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, and fellowship at Lucile Salter Packa...

Dr. Mark Mullins is a neuroradiologist and professor Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences at Emory University. In addition to his clinical responsibilities, he also serves as the Vice-chair for education within the department and as well as the Director of Radiology Medical Student Education. Prior to joining the faculty at Emory, Dr. Mullins completed his undergraduate and graduate traini...

Dr. Talia Swartz is an associate professor in the department of medicine, division of infectious diseases and medical education at Mount Sinai. She is also the co-director of the MD-PhD program and associate dean for MD-PhD education, and is also involved nationally through the AAMC GREAT group MD-PhD section communications committee where she has been developing resources to make physician-scient...

Dr. Timothy de Wet is the first local student in the combined MD-PhD program at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He earned his PhD in 2021 and is currently in his final year of medical school. Today, he shares his journey of finding and pursuing MD-PhD training, discusses how this training differs in South Africa, and offers his thoughts on the future of the clinician-scientist in the...