Dagny Reese | Master of Medical Sciences in Immunology

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical sciences, Dagny Reese was ready to dive deeper into immunology. The journey wasn’t an easy one. Reese says, “Almost every person I spoke to during my bachelor’s degree told me that I shouldn’t pursue immunology unless I was sure about it. Everyone told me it was too difficult of a field, that it was too competitive, and that if I took immunology courses, I’d probably fail them.” Reese wasn’t to be deterred. “I decided to ignore them and continued studying.”

Now a second-year student in the Master of Medical Sciences in Immunology program at Harvard Medical School, Reese is happy that she pursued her interest in developing technical skills related to immune-related diseases in the context of a lab. Between the high-profile faculty and the uniqueness of the curriculum, the master’s program was the perfect fit. “The Harvard program was the only one I found that was specifically geared toward immunology, and that’s what I wanted to do,” Reese says.

With a year of foundational classes under her belt, Reese is now working on her thesis, a requirement for all Immunology students. With the help of her primary mentor, Wilfredo García Beltrán, MD, PhD, Reese is focused on improving the homing of immune cells to solid tumors.

When she’s not developing her thesis, Reese works on side projects in her lab, including investigating immune cell receptors in Mpox and exploring the immunization mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 through co-cultures, blocking antibodies, bulk mRNA analysis, and single-cell analysis.

For Reese, the work has been exciting, though it hasn’t been as surprising as her classmates. “I was expecting a lot more students here to go into medical school after graduation, but it seems like more people are focused on doing PhDs, which is refreshing. I like it when people want to stay in academia.”

The Master of Medical Sciences in Immunology program encourages all its students to explore classes that interest them, including those at different Harvard schools. Reese says, “It was a surprise when I was choosing my electives that I realized I could pick anything I wanted, including the cool computational courses I’d heard about.”

Another program highlight is the Wednesday Seminar Series, which brings guest lecturers from around the world to speak with students. Reese says, “The seminars have been a real highlight for me. It’s always very exciting. It keeps you up to date with current research, and afterward, you have a good opportunity to build connections. I’ve even met people who have helped me with my research.”

With just a few months before graduation, Reese hopes that those who are passionate about immunology will pursue the Master of Medical Sciences in Immunology program. She advises current and prospective students to “take your time and figure out what you like. A lot of my classmates ended up researching topics that they didn’t know existed at the beginning of the program. If people have tunnel vision when they enter, they might miss out on things that could have been interesting for them.”

Learn more about the Master of Medical Sciences in Immunology program.

Written by Bailey Merlin