Harvard PhD Graduates To Propel Scientific Discovery at a Pivotal Moment

Forward momentum, focus, and freedom were among the themes that students and faculty expressed as 147 scholars emerged from years of intensive study to receive their doctoral hoods at Harvard Medical School’s Division of Medical Sciences (DMS) PhD Hooding Ceremony on May 29.

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The ceremony celebrates students who earned their doctorates from nine HMS-based programs — six of which are co-administered by DMS — and have begun launching careers that apply their knowledge and skills to advance science, discover new paths for combating disease, and lead in other types of service to the world. The degrees are officially awarded by Harvard University’s Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

This year’s graduates have conducted research in fields ranging from immunology to quantitative biology to virology. They’ve investigated how to improve CAR T-cell therapies for pancreatic cancer, studied the molecular underpinnings of ulcerative colitis, explored the role of the motor system in speech and language in autism spectrum disorder, and developed machine-learning tools to study the inner ear.

The ceremony, while celebratory, carried undertones of uncertainty. Dramatically reduced federal support for science at Harvard and nationwide has disrupted and halted basic research — the kind of work that is eventually taken up by the pharmaceutical industry and translated into treatments. Harvard PhD graduates, many of whom will soon become postdoctoral researchers, face unclear career trajectories partly because of this precarious funding situation.

HMS Dean for Graduate Education and Professor of Neurobiology Rosalind Segal, who led the proceedings in the Joseph B. Martin Conference Center, commended the graduates for staying fiercely committed to their work despite challenges both today and during their years of study, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In the face of these external forces, our students have persevered and continued with their groundbreaking discoveries,” she said. “The scientific research done here at Harvard and throughout the world has, and will, continue to make the world a better and safer place.”

Investments in science and people

HMS Dean George Q. Daley applauded the graduates for remaining dedicated to the pursuit of truth and extolled the value of basic science conducted at academic institutions like HMS.

“As a scientist now for more than 40 years, I’ve witnessed how the university scientific environment can ignite creativity and catalyze discoveries,” he said.

However, he called it a “bitter irony” that these promising early-career researchers are entering the workforce just as nationwide threats to NIH and NSF funding are destabilizing the U.S. research enterprise.

Daley emphasized that scientific discovery is a form of freedom that must be balanced with the responsibility to act in the public interest. For example, he said, government funding is a payment in earnest for work that will benefit society at large.

“As a nation, we are better able to flourish when the government invests in science,” he said. “Investments in science — investments in your freedom to explore and inquire — have long propelled this country to the forefront of biomedicine.”

“I can say for certain: Each of you is an extraordinarily invaluable return on those investments,” he said.

Restoring public trust

Student speaker Ya’el C. Courtney, who earned her PhD in neuroscience, spoke about the long journey she endured before arriving at HMS. Having left home at a young age, she developed complex post-traumatic stress disorder and struggled to find the support she needed to heal.

“It became clear that the experts either didn’t believe the brain could heal or didn’t care to find out,” she said. “I decided if they weren’t going to ask how the brain could heal, I would.”

When she wasn’t working long shifts at Wendy’s, she pored over books on psychology and genetics. One book on neuroplasticity convinced her to become a neuroscientist. With help from Pell Grants and programs such as BP-ENDURE, an initiative of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (part of the National Institutes of Health), she was able to pursue a college degree and full-time scientific research.

In Harvard’s Program in Neuroscience, she pursued her own big questions about how the mind works. Her dissertation focused on a molecular mechanism that helps regulate cerebrospinal fluid and the development of the brain’s cerebral cortex.

Courtney thanked her fellow graduates, who stayed in close communication even at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We leaned on each other through fellowship deadlines, troubleshooting calls, and late-night Slack messages,” she said. “Everyone here earned this moment, and the persistence, creativity, and grit behind it deserve to be seen.”

Courtney urged her peers to treat public trust in science as something to be earned. She asked them to engage in grassroots science communication, prioritize transparency when speaking with members of the press, and stay connected with policymakers and others outside academia.

To restore public trust, she said, “let’s carry the wonder of discovery beyond this Quad.”

Looking forward

Many of the graduates shared that one lesson they took from their training at HMS and from the day’s celebrations was that science needs to serve the common good.

“Yes, we’ve accomplished a lot, but what do we do with it going forward?” asked Natalie Ferris, who received her PhD in biophysics.

For his dissertation, Juntao Yu, who received his PhD in biological and biomedical sciences, investigated how epigenetic memory in cells is maintained through inheritance of histone proteins. This area of research explores how cells preserve their specialized functions throughout a person’s lifetime and why sometimes this system breaks down in diseases such as cancer.

Now that he has received his PhD, Yu will pursue a postdoctoral fellowship at MIT’s Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research to tackle whatever relevant research problem awaits him next.

“The goal of the PhD training is to be capable of independently working on any kind of problem,” he said. He hopes that diving into a different scientific question for his postdoc will allow him to combine disciplines and start his own research program someday.

Despite the difficulties facing Harvard and academia at large, Yu noted that he has faith in higher education and in the country. Meanwhile, he says, “I can set my own example by doing excellent research and focusing on my mission.”

Some graduates noted that science isn’t always easy.

“Doing research is 99 percent failure, but you still try to make progress,” said Ji Wook Kim, who received his PhD in biological and biomedical sciences. “The little successes really matter.”

But notably, throughout their training, the graduates kept their heads up and eyes on the horizon.

“Our generation went through the pandemic and post-pandemic — we’ve seen a lot,” said David Zimmerman, who earned his PhD in biophysics. “But we’re still thriving.”

Images: Channing Johnson