For the first time in the program’s history, there are now two Tri-Institutional MD-PhD students who have been named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Alexendar Pérez, who created a software package for DNA researchers, joins this year’s list. Pérez and 2017 list honoree Kevin O’Rourke, who studies the genetic causes of colon cancer, discussed their experiences with the program and how it contributed to their success.
“My training here has made me really not fearful to take risks,” said Pérez, who took a less traditional path of combining a software engineering Ph.D. with the research realm. He said having the three institutions available allowed him to survey future users for his CRISPR software and he was able to modify the software based on what they needed (suggestions varied from Sloan Kettering including cancer genes and Weill Cornell suggesting Zebrafish). was Pérez’s Ph.D. project involved creating software to generalize and allow for the custom generation of CRISPR guide RNA databases. It took about nine months to code.
“The expectations that are set here to move to the next step are quite high,” Pérez said. “When you’re done, you are a physician-scientist that is going to choose his or her final career. You have the capability of being both and that is an amazing transformation and I think that is best done here.”
Kevin O’Rourke was named to the list in 2017 for his research on colon cancer. He focused on making a new laboratory mouse model that recapitulated the key aspects of colon cancer in humans – namely the progression from primary to metastatic disease. Then, he used the model to determine the genetic drivers of colon cancer, pointing researchers towards a target for personalized therapies. O’Rourke’s project dramatically reduced the time it takes to make a customized mouse models of colon cancer, as a tailor-made mouse model can now be ready in as little as eight weeks.
O’Rourke also reflected on his time as a mentor in the Gateways to the Laboratory Summer Program. In the 10-week program, students learn about becoming a physician-scientist and take full ownership of their own research project for the summer. For example, they are expected to write an abstract within days of arriving, and present a journal club article to their peers. O’Rourke was a “big sib” for five years, meeting and mentoring students once a week.
“(The training program) demands you to be self-starting and attentive to detail,” O’Rourke said. “You need to wake up every single day in this program ready to attack whatever job it is you have, whether you go to lab or rounding on the wards. (You learn) skills that constantly cross over (from bench to bedside) and they’re encouraged from day one.”
The Forbes 30 Under 30 list features entrepreneurs and innovators in 20 industries, including Science and Enterprise Technology, with 30 winners on each list. The list was founded in 2011 and has expanded to Asia, Europe and Africa. Pérez was honored in the Science category, and O’Rourke was honored in the Healthcare category.
Category:
- Awards