You can find dates and times for all GCC-sponsored programs in Handshake. Be sure to sign in when you arrive so your attendance is properly recorded. Include here a reflection piece on your experience.
Jackson Laboratory Career Trek (10/25/2022)
On this career trek, I and nine other students visited the Jackson Laboratory in Farmington, CT. The main focus of the Jackson Labs is to study the genetics of human-centered diseases and to create the basic tools necessary for further research in such fields. As someone who is interested in a career in research and possibly earning an MD/PhD, I was intrigued by this lab that focuses on clinical research and works closely with the UConn hospital and some of its professors and students. We heard from the director of education about how the lab runs, its mission, and some of the research programs that it offers. I was intrigued by all of the opportunities it provides for students in high school to scientists with advanced degrees. I was also interested in all of the ways that the lab provides resources to spread the education of genomics to local schools.
We then heard from a panel of 4 researchers at the Jackson Labs about their work and their journey to get there. Some things that stood out for me was how important it is to find a mentor and lab environment that works for you, not just a research topic that interests you. The panelists also talked about the differences in their motivations to earn an MD, PhD, or MD/PhD. One thing that stuck with me was something Alex said: he convinced himself that he wanted to be a physician and a researcher, but once he started doing some serious reflection, he realized that only one of those things really got him up in the morning. He talked about burn out and how being a doctor is draining, and if you are going to go to school for that long, you better know that that’s what you really want to do. He mentioned that just because you don’t get an MD doesn’t mean that you can’t do clinical research or ever interact with patients, and that MDs do research without PhDs. This advice is definitely much needed as I am trying to figure out what my path is after undergrad, and it is most likely my biggest takeaway from the visit. We also got to hear about the different careers at the Jackson Labs, and I was reminded of the possibility of being a scientific writer. Finally, we took a tour of the facility which was very modern and exciting. Seeing all the labs and meeting spaces made me only more excited about research and science. The trek allowed me to learn more about what a career as a research scientist looks like, and it definitely gave me more to think about in terms of further education.
