Dean's Message - January 15, 2024
Dear Members of the GSBS Community,
Welcome to 2024 and the start of a new semester. Classes and seminars are now back at full speed and we are once again enjoying each other’s company. The next admissions cycle for PhD applications is well underway, and we are looking forward to hosting and interviewing candidates for next year’s class. Our admissions directors and admissions committees are working hard to screen the large pools of applicants and invite the most promising candidates for in person interviews. MD-PhD candidate interviewing has been completed and the first offers of admission have been sent. Applications for the new two-year Master’s Program in Biomedical Research continue to increase in number, and we look forward to selecting our first class. Applications for BDBS, PREP and PDD programs are now open and continue to attract strong and diverse applicants.
As the year begins, I look forward to what we will accomplish in GSBS over the next few months. Already we have heard good news about fellowship applications. Congratulations to Xinru Chen, Erin Sanders and Alec Stepanian for their successful American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship Award applications. Successful fellowship grants often correlate with successful mentors, so congratulations also to Athan Kuliopulos, Pilar Alcaide and Iris Jaffe for mentoring these successful students. For those faculty interested in improving their mentoring skills, spots are still available to participate in the GSBS-sponsored mentor training session with facilitators from the Center for Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER) on March 26, 2024. Please fill out the Qualtrics signup poll soon.
As we celebrate MLK day this month, I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes from MLK: "We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there "is" such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action." These are words to live by, not only for social justice but for everything we do.
Michael Chin, MD, PhD, Dean ad interim