 About
myself
My
name is Mohammad Eghtedari; my twin sister and I were born in 1972 in
Shiraz, Iran. I completed elementary, middle, and high school in my
hometown. During high school, I especially enjoyed my physics courses
and in 1989 was invited to join the Iranian national physics team which
would attend the world-wide Olympiad of physics. I got my high school
diploma in mathematics and physics in 1990 and my M.D. degree in 1997
from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences.
Although I was a physician, I enjoyed basic sciences more than my
clinical experiences and this is the main reason why I am pursuing a
Ph.D. here at UTMB instead of practicing medicine. My extracurricular
activities include designing and making electronic circuits and model
aircrafts, as well as computer hardware and programming.
Last
summer, I married a lovely girl who had recently graduated from UTMB and
is a pediatrician. Currently, I am a third year graduate student at the
Center for Biomedical Engineering and am preparing to propose the title
of my thesis very soon.
Applying to graduate school
I
decided to become a researcher in biomedical engineering a long time
ago. Early on in medical school, I realized that being a clinician was
not what I wanted and so I started asking my professors about
possibilities for pursuing research. When I explained my interests and
capabilities, they advised me to apply for biomedical engineering; a
field which they believed was a promising discipline and matched my
interests. Because of that, I planned early in medical school to improve
my knowledge in mathematics, physics, computer sciences, and electronics
while I was studying medicine. It is noteworthy to mention that the
title of my thesis in medical school was “Designing and making a pulse-oximeter”
which won the letter of excellence at that time.
At the
time I graduated from medical school, there were only two biomedical
engineering departments in Iran. Both of them were a branch of
electrical engineering and so chose prospective students with
engineering, rather than medical backgrounds; thus, there was no way for
me to study biomedical engineering in Iran. This made me seek
opportunities abroad. Searching the internet, I found many opportunities
in the US for a medical doctor to study biomedical engineering, and
among them, the program at UT Austin appealed to me the most.
Taking
the GRE and TOEFL was a general requirement for applying to graduate
school but due to the conflicts between the U.S. and Iran, there was no
center in Iran to take these tests. I remember my frustration while
trying to order reading materials for these tests online. As soon as I
would enter Iran in the shipping address, a message appeared on the
screen explaining that due to the U.S. sanctions, they cannot send any
books to Iran and so my order was canceled. This made me sad for a while
but I recovered soon and searched for alternate opportunities. I started
reading very old books that I found in a shop to prepare for TOEFL and
GRE and traveled to the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), a small country
located south of Iran, in order to take these tests.
Having
GRE and TOEFL scores in my hand, I applied to U.T. Austin for a Ph.D. in
biomedical engineering. They were quite interested in my file after
interviewing me over the phone, but because of the fact that I was not
an engineer, they could not accept me in their program. However, they
advised me to apply to UTMB which was accepting students who had a
biology background. They recommended me to Dr. Motamedi, who is my
current supervisor at UTMB, and he kindly promised to support my
application after he reviewed my file and talked to me over the phone.
His major concern was that many of the medical graduates from the Middle
East who come to the U.S. as a Ph.D. student leave the laboratory and
continue their medical educations as a resident before finishing their
research project. Fortunately, I convinced him that I am not that kind
of student.
During
spring 2001, the committee members at GSBS reviewed applicants to select
students for the following fall. I could not wait to hear from the
committee through mail and so I was calling their secretary every week
to get the updated news. Finally, the secretary told me that the
committee who reviewed my file in their last session did not make any
decision; “This may be good or bad news for you; call us next week” she
added. That week was one of the longest weeks I have ever had in my
life. The following Friday, I was able to clearly hear my heart beat at
7PM when I was dialing their number from Iran… Beep… it was about
10:30AM Galveston time… Beep…
The
lady answered the phone and recognized me because of my foreign
accent…”Yes Mohammad, I am writing you an e-mail … congratulations, you
were granted…” I don’t remember if I said goodbye to her or not as I was
so excited that I could not talk … All of the efforts and time that I
spent over the years had paid off; my dreams were changing into reality;
it was a very delightful feeling. I hung up the phone and cleared the
tears from my eyes.
What
happened between spring 2001 and fall 2002
As
soon as the excitement of receiving the letter of acceptance cooled
down, I started to apply for a student VISA. Again the problem was that
there was no U.S. embassy in Iran and I had to travel abroad to get a
VISA. Although it was more costly, I decided to apply at the US embassy
in Ankara, Turkey instead of the U.A.E. The interview was short and easy
and they accepted my documents but they told me that because of my
nationality, I would have to wait until they get my security clearance
from Washington. The security check normally takes 4-6 weeks, they
added.
After
the interview, I went back to Iran happily and waited for 4 weeks; then
I called them weekly but my VISA was not ready even after 8 weeks. It
was very stressful for me to see that I had been accepted at UTMB and
the deadlines for fall registration were close, but my VISA was not
ready. So, I packed and said goodbye to my family and friends and went
to Turkey to stay at a hotel close to the embassy in order to get the
VISA the very next day after my security becomes clear. I stayed there
for another four weeks but my VISA was not ready…
It was
in the afternoon and I was watching C.N.N at my room in Elite hotel in
Ankara when that horrible attack of 9/11 occurred. “What is going on?”,
I asked myself. I was shocked. When the twin towers collapsed, I felt
like my dreams to study biomedical engineering were collapsing… The U.S.
embassy was closed… No chance to get VISA… I was certainly a victim of
the attack of 9/11, on a different level.
I
returned to Iran very disappointed. Everybody was asking me of my
situation and I did not know how to respond. After a while, I decided
not to ruin my future by waiting for a U.S. VISA anymore and applied for
similar positions in Europe. The application process to European
institutions was much easier than that of US. By February of 2002, I was
at Aarhus University (Aarhus, Denmark) to study for a Ph.D. in cell
physiology. I was quite happy with my position over there, but could not
forget my dreams about biomedical engineering.
Three
months after starting a Ph.D. program at Aarhus University, I received
an e-mail from the U.S. embassy informing me that my VISA was ready. Now
I had two choices: to stay at Aarhus University and become a cell
physiologist or to come to Galveston to become a biomedical engineer.
Because of my longstanding dreams, I decided to quit Aarhus University
and come to the U.S. to study biomedical engineering.
Thanks
to the cooperation of the GSBS and the department of cell physiology and
biophysics for issuing a new I-20, I was able to register for the BBSC
in the Fall of 2002.
The
First year at graduate school
I came
to Galveston in May 2002 and started to take research rotations until
August when I joined new students to register for the BBSC program in
fall 2002. I already had an M.D. degree and had passed a cell biology
course; thus I decided to take the place-out examination to test my
knowledge in this field. I was fortunate to be the only student in my
class who passed that exam and so dropped my cell biology course that
year. That success made me feel happy especially when I saw the response
of the faculty members at the cell biology program when I met them in
one of the welcome parties. By dropping the cell biology course,
biochemistry was my main course work during fall 2002.
The
biochemistry course was very exciting to me because it started with
thermodynamics and energy conversions; the topics that I remembered well
from medical school. I also liked the way Dr Thompson presented his
lectures. I was sitting in the first row of the auditorium all the time.
His open-book exam was also one of the best exams I have ever taken;
however, I made minor mistakes in that exam by going into unimportant
details and making the questions more complex.
During
the Fall semester, we had small group discussions every week as part of
the biochemistry course. I liked these sessions because there was a
chance for me to discuss topics that were presented that week. However,
sometimes the facilitators did not know the answer to our questions
-which was not a shame at all- but were trying to escape it by asking
another question. This made me nervous a few times. I believe “I don’t
know” is the best answer when we do not know the answer!!! It happened
three or four times that after discussing the questions with the
instructor, I got different answers from what I got from facilitators.
Thus, I believe it is very important to choose a facilitator for small
group discussions who has enough experience in that field.
The
other part of the biochemistry course was about nucleic acids which was
less interesting to me than the first part; however, I continued
following the lectures carefully and reading all the required materials.
The
worst parts of this course were the topics on enzyme kinetics. The way
the instructor presented the speed of reactions was totally different
from what I had learned in medical school. I was confused and it was
very hard for me to understand the new materials. It was amazing for me
to hear from other students that they had similar feelings but they
simply preferred to memorize the materials rather than understand them.
At first, I thought I could not do that and I had to find a way to
understand them, but I became disappointed very soon when I got no
response to my questions from the instructor by e-mail. After the third
time that he did not reply to my email, I stopped asking questions and
memorized the materials just to pass the exam. The exam of the last part
of the course was also strange; we had three to four hours to answer
questions and even this was not enough for many of us to finish it!!!
There was something wrong with that exam.
Despite my initial interests and the efforts I put into biochemistry, my
final score was a B. I was deeply sad and believed that I did not
deserve it.
Our
main course in spring semester was genetics. I was not interested in
this course and hesitated to sit in the front row as I used to do in
biochemistry. The score of B in biochemistry made me mute during the
genetics course. I did not ask any questions during lectures, nor did I
participate in the discussions in small groups, unless I was asked.
Because I did not actively participate in discussions, I hardly remember
the materials I memorized at that time. Talking to other students, I
found that an easy way to pass the exam was to find and memorize the
answers to the questions of the exam in previous years, as the questions
did not change. I didn’t know it until I saw other students memorizing
them. Although this method of studying was not right, I decided to
employ it for genetics. Surprisingly, at the end of the genetic course I
was granted an A. It was very strange for me to see that several
questions in the exams were copied from that in last year. If we assume
that the main goals for taking an exam at the end of courses are to
encourage students to study the materials and also to evaluate them
based on their knowledge, then none of these goals can be achieved by
repeating questions verbatim from prior exams.
First
year graduate students are supposed to do research rotations in at least
three laboratories in order to become familiar with different research
projects before joining any of them permanently. Despite the fact that I
knew from the beginning which laboratory I was going to attend, I had to
take two additional laboratory rotations during my first year.
My
first rotation was very productive, as I learned many techniques that
are used in cell biology, but I had never used before. My second
rotation, however, was different because of a fourth-year graduate
student in that lab who wanted to tell me what to do. To be honest, I
did not like it when I noticed that he was even keeping track of my
arrival time in the lab. But very soon, I impressed him with my
interests and sincerity and so we became good friends and I learned a
lot from him during that rotation.
After
completing these rotations, I came back to my original laboratory to
take the third mandatory rotation and comply with the regulations. I
made a rule for myself at that time to do my best to show everybody that
I am very eager to learn and am not afraid of working hard. This is the
key to having a friendly relationship with other staff in the lab.
I like my current research project because it is all about what I love
to learn; in addition, my supervisor allowed me to actively participate
in that project from the very beginning stages of writing the grant
proposal to designing and conducting the experiments to the stage of
reporting the results.
The other thing that I like about my current job is that we are working
in a unique group of scientists from different countries; i.e. Russia,
Germany, China, Mongolia, Iran, and Belarus. My supervisor is so kind to
me that sometimes I feel like he is my big brother rather than my
supervisor.
Taking
the qualifying exam
During
the second year, students are supposed to pass a qualifying exam which
is designed by a committee inside each department. Regardless of its
form, taking an exam is stressful for any student and the qualifying
exam is not an exception. Being over 30 years old I have lost my
capability to memorize material but have earned the knowledge and skills
required to analyze them. Thank God, the qualifying exam was in the form
of a take home exam in our department. However, the regulations for the
qualifying exam were changed recently and I was the first student who
was taking it under the new regulations. The committee gave me a
hypothesis and a one-week deadline to design an experiment to test that
hypothesis and write a 10 page grant proposal. Additionally, I was
supposed to present and defend those answers in front of the committee
members the next week.
After
receiving the question by e-mail, I carefully read it several times and
then started to think and search the literature to learn more about that
subject. I guess one of the most important strategies in such a
situation is not to jump in to writing until you have a clear
understanding of both the question and your proposed answer. Thus, I
continued reading and thinking until the very last night when I started
to write down my ideas. I was working that night until 6AM the next
morning!!
The
verbal part of the exam was much more stressful to me than the written
part. Although I started my presentation quite calm, the condition
changed when committee members started to ask me questions that were
hardly related to my written part. I became nervous but attempted to
answer them to the best of my knowledge. At the end, I was worried about
my performance in the exam. They sent me out of the room to discuss my
final score; after ten minutes, my supervisor called me in and
congratulated me for passing the exam with an overall score of 97%.
I
heard from my supervisor that because of my nervousness at the end of
the exam, I was interrupting people to answer their question before they
finished their sentence; he advised me to be more patient next time and
listen to their question through to the end before starting to answer
it.
Plans
for the future
It may
be too ambitious for a graduate student to finish his Ph.D. program in
less than four years, but I will work hard to do that. My supervisor and
I believe that combining my knowledge in medicine with that of basic
science, which I will achieve during my studies as a graduate student,
will enable me to conduct multi-disciplinary research in future. Because
of that, I will probably apply for a post-doctoral position in molecular
imaging, which is my field of interest, as soon as I finish my current
Ph.D. program. Having both publications and Post-doctoral experience
will strengthen my resume to get an academic position in the future.
Third year graduate
student
Center for Biomedical Engineering
The University of Texas Medical Branch
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Irina Larina
Graduated
May 2005
 I
came to Galveston together with my husband and started working at UTMB
in 1998 as a Research Assistant. I worked in the Center for Biomedical
Engineering on different biophysical and biomedical projects such as
monitoring of tissue temperature, coagulation, and freezing. I was
involved in the development of novel non-invasive techniques for cancer
therapy and diagnostics, as well as noninvasive monitoring of various
physiological parameters such as blood oxygenation and glucose
concentration. It was a time of continuous excitement, and I have felt
myself to be a part of something extremely important and unique. We
performed experiments, some of which were never done before, and if
successful, they could change the lives of a lot of people and make
significant contributions to modern science. During this time I realized
that I like being in research and I want to continue my career in this
area.
I received my M.S.
degree in Physics from Saratov State University in Russia. So I have
felt pretty comfortable with lasers and oscilloscopes, but I felt a lack
of knowledge in the area of physiology and biology, which limited my
abilities to work in the area of biomedical engineering. I decided to
apply to the Graduate School at UTMB, because it offered good education
which correlated with my needs, and the school was right there, so I
could continue working on the same projects.
I passed the TOEFL
and GRE exams and sent application materials to the Graduate School of
Biomedical Sciences. Some time later I was invited for an interview,
which included a UTMB tour, meetings with three faculty members, lunch
and dinner with graduate students, and meetings with officials of the
Graduate School. Some time after the interview I was informed that my
application is accepted, and
in fall of 2000 I started a new period of my life, I became a graduate
student.
The first semester was the hardest. We had to take two big courses,
biochemistry and cell biology, and at the same time go through the
orientation process, which took all our time.
During orientation, each department had a week to familiarize students
with their research, program of studies and opportunities for students.
Sometimes we thought that all those required seminars, poster sessions,
and presentations of other students were overwhelming and unneeded,
especially for those students, who already selected their department,
while we had to do a lot of homework and get ready for exams. And only
later I realized that we had a unique opportunity to learn about
research in different labs and meet faculty members, and all departments
did really good job during orientation. Some of the information I got
during this time was very useful to me later.
My supervisor was a
faculty on the department of Physiology and Biophysics. Since I wanted
to continue my research in the same lab, I decided to choose Cellular
Physiology and Molecular Biophysics program from the beginning of
studies. For some reason, this program did not look very attractive
during orientation. But the more I’ve been in this program, the more I
liked it. There are a lot of interesting projects and wonderful
researchers in this department. The program of studies is very
interesting; it is designed to give deep knowledge to students without
overwhelming and stress. We learned from great teachers. For example, I
remember, how Dr. Lewis explained to us structure of the epithelium. He
brought a 6-pack of Sprite cans connected by plastic retainer and said
that the structure of the epithelium is similar to this pack of Sprite:
(1) it is polar, and one side of the epithelial layer is not the same as
the other, similar to the Sprite pack; (2) molecules and compounds can
be transported across epithelium through the epithelial cells (cans) or
through the intracellular junction (plastic retainer); and (3)
epithelium can contain different types of cells, and he have shown one
Pepsi among the Sprite cans. He always found a way to make complicated
things understandable and interesting.
During the summer we
had a seminar course, where every student presented papers to other
students that captured his/her attention. It gave us an opportunity to
practice presenting in a relaxed atmosphere, helped me to understand how
to hold the attention of an audience and how to make effective
presentations. We were also given an opportunity to gain some teaching
experience by tutoring first year graduate students. It was a wonderful
experience for me. I felt that sometimes I could teach better than
professors who were teaching the course, because as a foreign student
with different background, I can better understand potential
difficulties and problems. One of my students was a girl from India with
a background in chemistry. Tutoring her was like tutoring myself one
year ago. When she got good grades, I had a feeling that I got these
grades. I was proud when all my students successfully passed the course.
At the beginning of
my third year at the Graduate School I took the qualifying exam. At that
time, our department had the following rules for the qualifying exam: A
student receives three questions from different professors. One question
can be dropped. Forty eight hours are given to write answers to the
other two questions. When the answers are graded, the student has to
prepare a one-hour presentation on the question that received the lower
grade. The reason for this exam structure was, probably, to force
students to study harder in an area that is more difficult for them, and
to see if they are able to do it. In reality, when I received my
qualifying exam questions, I first through about which question I could
make a nice one-hour presentation on, then I tried to answer that
question poorly and incompletely to make sure that I’d get this question
for my presentation. It worked for me, but it would be better to work on
the exam and to do the best you can, nor the worst. Now the format of
the qualifying exam has changed completely, and students don’t face this
problem anymore.
In April of 2002 I
became a mother of wonderful twin girls. Their appearance in my family
completely changed my life. In accordance with my visa status, I could
only take one semester out of school. I wish I could stay at home longer
to take care of my girls, but I had no choice. It was very hard to come
back to work, and I was able to do it only because of help and support
from my husband, my mentor, co-workers and friends. My friends, three
other girls from different countries, were especially supportive and
encouraging. We started graduate studies together. After completion of
the BBSC curriculum we went on to different departments. Two of them
recently graduated, found a job, and moved to Houston. But we are
keeping our friendship and, I hope, we’ll always be in each other’s
life.
I plan to graduate
in a few months. After graduation I am going to pursue an academic
career as a postdoctoral fellow in the area of biomedical engineering. I
am going to combine my knowledge in physics and cellular physiology with
my experience in the area of bioengineering to become a valuable,
qualified specialist. Postdoctoral training will allow me to gain more
experience in performing independent research and publishing my results.
By working in a different laboratory, I hope to get familiar with a
different style of planning and performing scientific experiments. That
time will help me to find my own research project, to be able to write
research grants and to get ready for a faculty position.
As a faculty member,
besides working on research projects, I hope to have an opportunity to
teach. I hope to be able to pass future students my knowledge,
experience, and passion for science, as our professors are doing it for
me now.
5th year
graduate student at the Cellular Physiology and Molecular Biophysics
program.
I received my M.S.
degree in Physics from Saratov State University, Saratov, Russia.
I am 30 year old
Russian female.
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Ting Wang
Graduated
May 2004
 My
desire to become a biomedical scientist began
several years before that sizzling hot summer
day when I arrived in Galveston to begin
graduate school. Before joining UTMB, I attended
Beijing Medical University in China. As my
medical school advanced, I realized that my true
heart laid in biomedical science. I therefore
decided to come to the United States to pursue
the best training available in science.
I applied for a couple of graduate schools and
primarily focused on Physiology because of my
interest in cellular functions. I first heard of
UTMB from someone who worked at UTMB for about
two years. He has high regards for UTMB and
thinks that UTMB offers a highly professional
and friendly environment. This was also
confirmed through my personal interactions with
the CPMB graduate program during my application.
I was very pleased and honored to be accepted by
the CPMB program.
I greatly enjoyed my year in BBSC. The
comprehensive courses were excellent and
provided me with the basic background knowledge
to prepare for the hands-on laboratory research.
The lectures were very well organized and
stimulating. The class I enjoyed most in the
BBSC curriculum was Cell Biology, mostly because
of my personal interest. I also had a
satisfactory time taking the BBSC modules. I
came into the class, for example “infectious
disease and microorganism”, with very little
knowledge on the subject. Upon finishing the
course, I had a good general understanding about
the topic and it certainly broadened my horizon.
I started laboratory rotations in the CPMB
program at the end of my first year. One of my
rotations was in the laboratory of Dr. Steven
Weinman. My rotation project was to initialize
the investigation of the role of ClC chloride
channels in hepatic copper metabolism. I was
intrigued by this novel idea and very interested
in this subject that fitted perfectly with my
interest in cell biology. Dr. Weinman not only
discussed my project with me, but also took time
to teach me how to think as a scientist. This is
another important reason I chose him as my
mentor. No matter what subject I was working on,
I would always learn a great deal from him and
walk away with a positive research training
experience.
I entered the doctoral candidacy in July 2002,
approximately two years after I started working
on my Ph.D. project. In my proposal meeting, my
committee members shared their insights and
provided helpful suggestions. Most importantly,
they asked me to start my research from
answering a fundamental question before
continuing to explore other specific aims. This
suggestion was such a great help for me to
develop a successful project. I always had very
pleasurable and effective committee meetings
throughout my graduate study. My committee
members were critical yet supportive. I wish I
had entered the candidacy earlier so that I
could discuss my work with my committee at an
earlier stage in the graduate school to help me
focus on my research.
In the beginning of my study, I obtained some
evidence supporting our initial hypothesis and
presented my work as an oral presentation at the
Annual Meeting of the American
Gastroenterological Association in 2001.
Everything seemed to be going well at first.
However, as the study was carried forward, I
began to suspect our initial hypothesis. I was
forced to re-examine my project. This happened
at the end of my third year in the graduate
school. To be honest, I had a moment of panic
and frustration. This, though, was a turning
point for me, my first big challenge! After a
period of re-evaluation, careful reading of the
literature, development of new techniques, and
vigorous discussions with my mentor and my
committee members, I redirected my research
project. From that point on things started to
fall into place.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank
my mentor. It was his insightful advice and
guidance, never-ending encouragement and
persistent support that held me on the ground
and made my Ph.D. work possible. He also helped
tremendously improve my scientific thinking,
writing and public speaking. I would also like
to acknowledge my colleagues who have been
helpful in every way and often offered good
suggestions. We have worked together to keep the
laboratory a very open and friendly environment.
We would coordinate on the usage of the common
equipments and reagents. All these maximized my
productivity in the lab and made my work less
stressful. I greatly appreciate the help and
support from everyone in our lab.
The techniques I used in my Ph.D. work were
mainly in the field of cell biology, which our
lab had limited experience in when I first
started. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to
interact with experienced people in other labs,
especially those in the labs of Drs. Stanley
Lemon and Shinji Makino in the Department of
Microbiology and Immunology. They offered me not
only many pieces of valuable technical
information, but also useful scientific
discussions. Interactions with them often
inspired new ideas and perspectives about my
research.
Halfway into the fifth year of graduate school,
after years of work, I was getting close to
finishing my specific aims. In October 2003, to
my great pleasure, my work was one of 18 out of
1297 abstracts selected for presentation at the
Presidential Plenary Session of the Annual
Meeting of the American Association for the
Study of Liver Disease. The presentation
received enthusiastic feedback from the people
working in our field. Shortly afterward, this
work was accepted for publication in
Gastroenterology.
I am grateful to the help and support from the
administrative staff in our program and
department, especially Cynthia Cheatham who was
our program coordinator. The GSBS office was
helpful and informative as well. They made my
graduate life less disruptive and much easier.
I have found that keeping some balance in my
life helps me to keep refreshed and enthused in
my work. I served as a laboratory mentor in the
UTMB Bench Tutorial project for a high school
student and treasurer for the Chinese Student
Association (CSA). Regular exercise helps me
keep focused on my work as well.
The further my work has progressed, the stronger
my desire to have a career in research grows and
the more I appreciate the challenges and joys of
being a scientist. I have learned that, in
science, it is always important to ask the right
question. In an effort to make the right move,
always think smartly and thoroughly and
anticipate the potential outcomes of your
experiments in advance. Never be dispirited by
mistakes or temporary failures. They can often
take you closer to the truth if you don’t allow
them to hold you back. I am grateful to my
mentor, Dr. Weinman, who made my graduate
training an enriching and rewarding experience.
I also thank the Department of Physiology for
creating an inspiring and stimulating
environment. I would like to further my training
towards growing into an independent scientist
and definitely envision myself in a career in
research and educating people about science.
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