The University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine
What is your hometown?
I have been fortunate to have lived in many different countries around the world. But I consider my hometown to Umuahia, the capital city of Abia State in Nigeria. That is where my family is from.
How or when did you become interested in science?
In my high school biology class, we had a brief section on the many possibilities within biotechnology and I was immediately very interested. I decided that was what I wanted to study as an undergraduate. That interest has since been refined somewhat to learning about diseases processes and how we can use drugs to improve quality of life.
How or why did you choose the University of Iowa to complete your doctorate degree?
I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of Northern Iowa, and after spending four years in Iowa, I decided that I was not ready to leave. I explored options to continue my education in Iowa and started considering the University of Iowa. I had always heard very complimentary things about the institution so I applied to the Biosciences Program. During my interview weekend, I was impressed by the facilities and the research opportunities here. It was then I realized that it would be a privilege to study at an institution such as this one.
Is there a teacher, mentor or University of Iowa faculty member who has helped shape your education?
There are two individuals who come to mind. First is my research mentor, Dr. Johannes Hell. He has been instrumental in teaching me the ins and outs of properly testing and evaluating a research hypothesis. The fact that I am getting more comfortable in my role as a graduate student can be attributed in no small part to his patience, and his desire to ensure that I truly understand the many nuances of the projects I work on. It also helps that he is an expert in his field, since I have a tendency to ask questions that may seem to come out of left field. I have also had the privilege of working with Dr. Donna Hammond. I was struck by how thorough she is in her experiment designs, leaving no stone unturned, and also by how she notices things in data would probably slip by others However, I am most appreciative by how much she works to help students succeed. As a graduate student, I am happy to have the opportunity to learn from both of them.
What kinds of opportunities or advantages does being a doctoral student at Iowa provide? What about challenges?
A huge advantage of being a doctoral student at Iowa is the diversity of expertise here on campus. Whatever subject you want to study, or whatever techniques you are interested in, there will be people on campus who know enough to guide your learning. The range of topics being studied on campus is vast to say the least. Related to this was the opportunity that I had to come in through the Biosciences Program, an umbrella program that afforded me the chance to try different labs and projects before having to make a choice as important as my thesis department and advisor.
As for challenges, the first couple years spent balancing classes and research are pretty taxing. There have been many evenings when I have gone home and just couldn’t bring myself to open another book or read another paper.
Please describe your professional goals and interests?
My goals are pretty fluid. As of right now, my ideal situation would be working as a research scientist at a pharmaceutical company where I’d have the opportunity to develop new drugs and alternative therapies for the treatment and or management of diseases. I also have learned that things hardly ever work out the way you envision. I wouldn’t be surprised if I ended up doing something completely different.
What are some of your outside interests?
When I do have the time, I enjoy spending it with my family, watching movies, reading fiction and playing basketball. Unfortunately, spare time has been very hard to come by these past two years. I can only hope that changes in the near future.
Do you have an insight or philosophy that guides you in your work?
My mentality has always been that there is always something else I can learn about my work, about my specific project, about the way I approach my research. As a graduate student, I have to take advantage of the fact that I am around researchers a lot and use that as a learning opportunity to help me become the best researcher that I can be.
If you could change one thing about the world (or the world of science), what would it be?"
It would be great if more scientists could take their findings and develop them so that they would be of more utility to patients and people around the world. Of course, it takes a lot of money and effort, both of which are scarce. As unrealistic as this sounds, what I would change is that money and effort are no longer limiting factors in translational research.
What one piece of advice would you give to students who are interested in applying to a PhD program?
Be ready to work and have an open mind. You never know what will spark your interest.
What do you see as "the future" of medicine and medical research?
I see medical research becoming more streamlined and more efficient. We are already starting to see that with systems set up where you can test hundreds of compounds simultaneously, or with microarrays for DNA research. Some of these are still prohibitively expensive, but I see that improving with time. Hopefully medical research can continue down this sort of path.