Doctor ² Newsletter

This year's Folkers Lecturer was a colleague of Dr. K's in the Tri-Institutional MSTP program in New York -- Dr. Joel Blankson, Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) and of Molecular & Comparative Pathobiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Blankson shared stories about his experiences as an intern treating patients with HIV in the earliest days of the AIDS epidemic when patient care was focused on managing the life-threatening complications of what was essentially a death sentence fraught with stigma and fear. Fast forward to today, when advancements in antiretroviral therapy have turned HIV from a fatal disease to a manageable chronic condition treatable with one pill per day with minimal side effects. Dr. Blankson's research is focused on a cohort of patients known as elite controllers or elite suppressors who are HIV-1 seropositive but maintain viral loads below the limits of detection by standard clinical assays without antiretroviral therapy. Elite controllers have longer symptom-free intervals or never develop symptoms at all and are a model of a functional cure of HIV. By studying host and viral factors, Dr. Blankson is trying to understand the mechanisms of immune control in these extraordinary patients with the goal of developing a therapeutic HIV vaccine.

The 2025 MD-PhD Program Retreat was held on a beautiful fall weekend in Greenwich, CT at the Hyatt Hotel where a record number of students, faculty and staff gathered catch up on science, mentorship, allyship and friendship over meals, drinks and lots of laughter. The Folkers lecture was highlighted in the feedback survey as a favorite aspect of the retreat, and as always, the opportunity to socialize, reconnect with peers, and meet students from different cohorts was a critical part of building a cohesive community.

The breadth, creativity and impact of the research done by students was on full display during the three-minute-thesis competitions. Joanna Chen used AI voices to simulate a laid back “conversation” about her innovative computational approaches to prostate cancer biomarker research, while Elizabeth Woo used her own crystal clear voice to sing about the role of glyoxalase 1 (GLO1) in Alzheimer’s disease. Anush Swaminathan used every color of marker to illustrate calcium wave propagation through endothelial cells and skin vasculature, Daniel Colón-Ríos’s TMT on DNA repair and PARP inhibitors elicited lots of interest and questions from the crowd, and Matthew Yuen taught us about the connectivity of cortical subplate neurons. Jane Abbottsmith’s research as a graduate student in religious studies on grief, loss and sadness touched all our hearts and gave us much to think about professionally and personally.

Carli Gaughf, Associate Director for DEI Training in the YSM Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, used her background in the dramatic arts to have students and faculty act out difficult, realistic scenarios requiring allyship. What would you do to advocate for a colleague in the face of discriminatory or bullying behavior? How can we learn to challenge biased assumptions, hold colleagues accountable, and actively support and uplift marginalized colleagues? So many students willingly shared their perspectives, concerns, and experiences, sending us all home with food for thought and action.

Janae McMillian joined the MD-PhD Program Administrative staff as our new Registrar in October, just shortly before the Retreat, and has already become an indispensable member of our team and community! She has worked in higher education since 2008, and brings enthusiasm and an infectious smile with the goal to "always be a light that guides each student to one of their greatest accomplishments--the completion of their dual degree." We're so happy to have her join us in this journey!

The Yale Biomedical Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows (“BioMed SURF”) Program is a research-intensive summer training program for undergraduates that lets them engage in hands-on laboratory experiences supplemented by didactic activities during a 9-week residency at Yale School of Medicine. Currently co-directed by Drs. Faye Rogers and Barbara Kazmierczak, the program attracted funding from the Amgen Foundation in 2019 and the American Cancer Society in 2022. The Yale BioMed SURF program is one of very few summer undergraduate research programs nationally that focuses on recruiting students from diverse backgrounds and experiences. As leaders of graduate training programs, we recognize that systemic barriers to students from marginalized and underrepresented groups in medicine (URiM) entering highly competitive MD-PhD and PhD programs persist. Students, particularly if they are first-generation or from low-income families, may not have the resources to prepare for application to graduate or medical school and lack exposure to the breadth of careers available after PhD training. Explicit disparities in pre-health advising at the undergraduate level may limit the pool of qualified applicants, while a dearth of role models from similar backgrounds among faculty, researchers and trainees undermine perceptions that such a career path is attainable.

The goals of the Biomed SURF Program are to 1) make an early impact, 2) provide an entry point into research 3) introduce MD-PhD and PhD role models, 4) demystify graduate school preparation, 5) build a network of peer and near-peer mentors, and 6) engage family support. Weekly didactic activities include journal club, faculty research talks, career development workshops and clinical opportunities such as anatomy lab and shadowing MD-PhD students in a student-run clinics. In addition to mentorship by the faculty Principal Investigator and a trained graduate student or postdoc in their laboratory, program participants are matched with a peer mentor “family” and participate in community building activities on the weekend such as kayaking in the Connecticut Sound, hiking, barbecues, and other fun experiences. Finally, the program covers the expenses for a family member to attend the final closing symposium, allowing them to celebrate the summer accomplishments of the student and learn more about PhD training and the careers this enables.

October 24-25, 2025
Mystic Marriott Hotel
625 North Road (Route 117)
Groton, CT 06340