Zoe Malchiodi (’19)

PhD Candidate, Tumor Biology, Georgetown University

I joined the Biochemistry & Molecular Biology MS program in Fall 2018, and it was one of the best decisions I ever made! I wanted to enhance my research background to pursue a PhD and this program definitely put me on the right track. I thought the curriculum had a great blend of required courses and elective offerings which is what initially drew me to apply. There are so many different courses that allowed me to explore what I was interested in while also providing me a deeper dive into research, biochemistry, and lab techniques. I was able to enhance my biochemistry & molecular biology background, but also take electives in tumor biology to further my understanding of cancer and cancer research, which allowed me to feel more confident in pursuing cancer research as a career. 

Despite being a large program, it felt very inclusive as we participated in many events as a program and got to know the faculty and other students really well, which was great to harbor great connections, both personally and professionally. Also, all of the faculty members were always willing to help students in any way they could, which was great in such an intensive program. I definitely learned how to manage my time better, which is an essential skill in any career aside from the scientific knowledge gained in this program.

The most rewarding part of this experience was to do a research internship. I did my project in Dr. Yi’s lab where I worked on a project in pancreatic cancer. This experience was great because I was able to build upon my past research skills, but also learned how to communicate my project efficiently to people during our poster presentations. This experience absolutely helped pave my path to be a PhD student because my current thesis project will be focused on pancreatic cancer. Overall, I highly recommend this program to anyone interested in research or industry!