Aya Awwad presents her clinical investigation into biomarkers for kidney disease, a growing global burden. All images in story: Steve Lipofsky
While the Harvard Medical School master’s students and alumni who gathered near campus on April 5 couldn’t do much about the raw, early-spring New England weather, they made it clear they can do something to change the world for the better.
More than 150 students, alumni, faculty, and staff joined in person at the Inn at Longwood Medical or online from around the world for research presentations, a panel, and a virtual poster session at the 10th annual HMS Master’s Symposium.
Students and alumni spoke about the joy and the sometimes overwhelming responsibility of serving humanity, with the shared goal of alleviating suffering and improving human health.
In a first, HMS master’s program alumni held a panel session to share their post-graduation experiences and insights with current students.
In her welcome, Dean for Graduate Education Rosalind Segal said that presenters from all nine HMS master’s degree programs would touch on “exciting areas in the medical and natural sciences as they share the progress they’ve made on the most pressing issues in their fields.”
Segal added that the day was made even more exciting because the University had just approved two new master’s programs — one in therapeutics and one in clinical research. They will have their first cohort of students starting in fall 2025.
Progress in medical and natural sciences
Some presenters demonstrated how to improve patient care, such as Joshua Eyitemi, whose clinical service operations project focused on enhancing emergency care in a remote, mostly Indigenous, community in Canada. Naginder Singh’s health care quality and safety project aimed to increase use of a method for precisely monitoring general anesthesia.
Singh, who is from the U.K., said that as an HMS master’s student and visiting physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, he learned to use a state-of-the-art technology as well as the tools and structure for studying quality improvement.
“I’ll be glad to return home and apply it there for the care of my patients,” he said.
Two immunology-focused investigations looked at cellular activity, Qiyuan Zhou’s in rheumatoid arthritis and Dagny Reeses’ in triple negative breast cancer, that could contribute to better treatments or prevention of disease. Terry Cho’s biomedical informatics study looked at cellular waste disposal that could help scientists mitigate antimicrobial resistance.
For his project in media, medicine, and health, student Nadir Al-Saidi assessed the accuracy of online information about kidney stone prevention and included suggestions for urologists to improve the quality of information on social media.
Poster presenters shared scientific contributions in global health, such as an examination of childhood nutrition in the Philippines; medical education, such as a study of medical trainees’ national exam scores in Peru; and bioethics, including an investigation of advancing restorative justice through gene therapy for sickle cell disease.
Life’s work dedicated to improving health
Alumni panelists spoke about memorable moments at HMS, how the skills they learned in their degree programs apply to their careers, and how they get through difficult days.
“One thing I appreciate about these programs is their targeted skills acquisition,” said Mark Murakami, who graduated with a master in biomedical informatics in 2016 and is now HMS assistant professor of medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
A hematologist-oncologist, Murakami said he did not have any informatics skills when he entered, but during his first year in the program he and a classmate published a paper that had practical use and led to dozens of interactions with other investigators.
That kind of practical learning, combined with the networking provided through the programs, create transformative change, he said.
Haim Moore, who received an HMS master in immunology in 2022, said he enjoyed the opportunity to register in different Harvard schools and departments.
Experiences such as taking a class at Harvard Law School that looked at public health and immunology from a legal perspective, he said, “helped me build new perspectives and knowledge, but also connect with other Harvard students.”
Moore is now an MD student at UMass Chan Medical School.
Words of experience and encouragement
Be open. Practice cultural humility. Have a growth mindset. Alumni encouraged current students to find their calling, manage balance in their work and life, contribute to their field, and make change in the world.
“It’s really great to have the alumni back,” said Evan Walsh, career advisor for HMS graduate education. “What resonated with me most was that they all expressed resilience, connection, and community as three things that came out of their experience at HMS.”
In May, the students will graduate, and they will join the multitude of HMS master’s alumni who are working to make positive change in basic science, clinical care, medical education, global health, and the ethics and communication of health care — ensuring that beautiful days lie ahead.
