Back to "Normal"

By Susan Brooks Graduate Chair & Professor, Molecular & Integrative Physiology

As my third recruitment season as Graduate Program Director winds down, I have been reflecting on my time in this role and the many challenges of the past three years. As a Program, we had to adapt and adjust the ways we interacted with applicants and presented ourselves to potential trainees by implementing a fully virtual experience in 2021, pulling double duty with a hybrid combination of virtual interviews and in person recruitment visits in 2022, and finally returning to “normal” fully in person events in 2023. Despite our initial (and in my case, continued) awkwardness with virtual events and the additional time commitments, I have been so grateful throughout for the enthusiastic support of our students. Our spectacular current graduate students are without question our very best “weapon” for consistently attracting terrific new students. During recruiting weekend our current PhD students volunteer as a 1 to 1 host for an individual applicant. I was so energized this year by seeing all the smiling faces of student hosts live at my office door delivering applicants for interviews and so many additional students during our recruitment social events. This “normal” routine during recruitment weekends, with MIP’s passion for science, training, and community on full display, also reinforced how enormously proud I am of the perseverance and resilience demonstrated by our students and mentors throughout my time as Director. It is hard to believe that “my” first incoming class of students, who completed all their coursework, research rotations and preliminary exams in a virtual environment, are now presenting their 3rd year seminars. The class that we recruited fully virtually in 2021, joined by two MD/ PhD students welcomed as part of the UM/Central South University Xiangya School of Medicine joint training program, have settled in comfortably and completely to the research phase of their training

Our “hybrid” recruiting class of 2022 are all well on their way to officially joining MIP from PIBS at the end of this semester following completion of their required coursework and research rotations. Finally, our students have sustained our enviable record of producing excellent science, publishing outstanding papers, receiving grants and awards, and defending their dissertations at our “normal” exceptional pace. We have had five students complete their PhD degrees in just the past year with three more scheduled to defend in the coming two months. Although things have not fully reverted to pre-pandemic practices, we have adopted a new “normal” that includes time-saving virtual meetings when those work just as well along with accommodations for remote work that can actually enhance productivity and well-being. I am reassured by our demonstrated ability to rise above the “normal” trials of research and education and by the spirit and flexibility demonstrated by our students and faculty to achieve greatness in the face of unprecedented challenges. I look forward to welcoming an outstanding group of new PhD students to our MIP family in the fall of 2023 with great confidence that they will each make their own unique contribution to sustaining our “normal” level of extraordinary achievement in science and training.

Daniel Beard/Scott Leiser Labs

“Metabolic Regulation of Longevity by Flavin-Containing Monooxygenase 2”

Future Plans:

Hyo will be attending the Central Michigan University College of Medicine to pursue an MD.

Bethany Moore Lab

“The Role of M2 Macrophages and Their Product, HB-EGF, as Regulators of Lung Fibrosis"

Future Plans:

After graduation, Elissa plans to pursue a medical affairs position in a pharmaceutical company in the Boston area.