My name is Kristin and I have a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Biology from Cleveland State University. It was starting in 7th grade when I first got interested in Biology, it was my first class in Biology and we got to look at organisms under a simple light microscope. I thought it was so amazing and interesting! During high school and early college I felt like I wanted to become a geneticist. Then I found out from a friend who later graduated with a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from University of Michigan that I should look into neuroscience moreso than genetics for what I wanted to accomplish in science. So I think for the rest of my years at Cleveland State I felt that becoming a Neuroscientist was suitable. Psychology I got interested in high school, I wanted to understand human behavior. Then two professors suggested I should look into healthcare so I started looking into that as well. I went to Cuyahoga Community College and became a State Tested Nursing Assistant. The first and only job I applied to was at a Brookdale facility near where I live currently. I have been there for more than 3 years now. Last Sunday, my Assistant Director of Nursing gave me my 3 years of service plaque, she also said it’s been sitting on her desk for a while haha. While working as a STNA and exploring my options in a career in healthcare I decided it was not for me. People recommended Pharmacology to me and I did take a Pharmacology class that really intrigued me. As a result, I started looking for Pharmacology programs and found out about this Master’s program in Clinical and Preclinical Research with a specialization in Clinical Pharmacology.
I feel like that’s what I have been wanting to do the entire time I was in college, but I just did not know what it was. The combination of the clinical setting and research was what I really wanted to do all along. I remember when I was doing Honors Research under Dr. Dean, it was clear to him and me that my interests lied in clinical research. I’m really glad I didn’t go into a PhD program in neuroscience right away because I probably would not have found out what I really wanted to do. Going into and working in healthcare helped me. I want to first gain some clinical research experience working as either a clinical research data coordinator or a clinical research coordinator for a few years. My goals are to become a clinical and translational pharmacologist doing research on neuropsychopharmacology and pharmacogenomics of psychiatric disorders. I want to learn as much as I can in my favorite academic subjects which are genetics, pharmacology, neuroscience, and psychology. These four subjects will be crucial in doing the research I want to do and I will utilize them as tools to the best of my abilities.