Advancing the boundaries of biomedical science requires a broad skillset. To make appreciable advances, medical scientists must have an intimate knowledge of how a body functions and be able to run a mechanism-based research lab. More and more students are turning to MD/PhD programs to blend these skills.
Balaji Sridhar, an MD/PhD student in the University of Colorado School of Medicine’s Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), is one of these students.
“The MSTP is a good way to tie both bedside and the bench together,” says Sridhar. “I can see both sides and know how to direct the science to the patient.”
Motivated by his squash-playing father’s knee problems, Sridhar joined 9 MSTP classmates in 2009. He took medical and chemical engineering classes and then completed his Ph.D. research under the guidance of Distinguished Professor Kristi Anseth earlier this year. Once he finishes his clinical work, Sridhar will look for a residency in orthopedic surgery or cranial facial reconstruction.
“I chose the MSTP because I wanted to work with Professor Anseth on cartilage regeneration,” he says. “My hope is to become an orthopedic surgeon while also running a research lab focused on regenerating knee/hip cartilage tissue. I want people to heal faster with little or no rehab.”
In lab, Sridhar developed polymeric hydrogel matrices that degrade in response to enzymes secreted by the encapsulated cartilage cells. The goal is for the cells to grow cartilage tissue at the same rate of matrix decay, thereby rebuilding tissue as the surrounding polymer dissolves.
In addition to working on his PhD and MD, Sridhar is also a co-founder and CEO of the start-up Nanoly Bioscience. The company stabilizes drugs using hydrogels so they can be transported without refrigeration; they hope to go to market in 2017.
MD/PhD programs are gaining in popularity, both because of the cutting-edge nature of biomedical research and also because students are fully funded and receive an annual stipend for the duration. Over 100 programs are listed on the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) MD/PhD website.
Sridhar is not the only ChBE student to participate in the MSTP as an Anseth lab student. Melinda (Cushing) Riter (ChemEngr PhD’06), McKinley Lawson (ChemEngr PhD’08) and Patrick Hume (ChemEngr PhD’11) all worked under the direction of Anseth, while Mariah Mason (ChemEngr BS’02, PhD’10) worked in the research lab of Melissa Mahoney. ChBE undergraduate students have also gone on to the MSTP, including Sarah Kolnik (ChemEngr’06) and Sarah Haeger (ChemBioEngr’11).
“I am going to pursue an MD/PhD program because I am very passionate about discovering and investigating but I want my research to be as informed as possible,” says ChBE junior Caitlin Ritz. “Ultimately, I want to be a pediatric hematologist/oncologist so I can treat children with cancer in a clinic and research their specific disease.”
For his part, Sridhar is excited to complete his medical training and continue his research.
“I believe MD/PhD programs make us better scientists and better doctors because we can see both sides as we work to advance the field,” says Sridhar. “The rewards are great even if the time commitment may seem daunting.”
>>For more in MD/PhD programs, go to the AAMC MD/PhD website