A Ph.D. dissertation is a huge accomplishment, resulting from four, five or more years of intense research and training. To become a Ph.D. is a remarkable challenge both scientifically and intellectually that requires a deep personal and emotional commitment. A doctoral defense is not only the culmination of years of hard work, but it also raises the question of “what’s next for me?” after years on the schooling and training track.
On March 22, 2021, Ahmed Malik defended his Ph.D. thesis in Dr. Barmada’s lab, Department of Neurology, University of Michigan Medical School. For him, the “what’s next?” question finds answers in his passionate quest for knowledge and bioscience exploration. “There is so much to learn in school, and there is nothing else I’d rather be doing,” he said only a few days after defending his Ph.D.
“There is so much to learn in school, and there is nothing else I’d rather be doing.”
Malik is enrolled in the combined M.D.-Ph.D. program of the University of Michigan (U-M), one of the longest trainings offered at the university. When he joined U-M in 2014, he first did two years of classwork in the medical school as part of his M.D. training. Then he focused on the science behind neurodegenerative diseases and did his Ph.D. dissertation on an RNA-binding protein, Matrin-3, that plays a particular role in neurological diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). He is now getting ready to resume his M.D. training, while he is still debating between a specialization in neurology, psychiatry, or another clinical specialty. [Read more…] about Connecting neuronal activity to RNA and bench to bedside