You know how a lot of the times when you look at someone very successful you imagine that they must have always known what they wanted to do, had a detailed plan of how they were going to do it, and simply did it. Well recently I have been realizing that in reality, this isn’t how the narrative goes, and I was able to see this yet again through mi PI’s story. Dr. Ru-Rong Ji never initially imagined there was a possibility of him going to college. Being from China in a time where there was a lot of political turmoil, he says it was not part of his foreseeable future until Deng Xiaoping opened the country to the rest of the world and the US said that they would allow half a million Chinese students to come study in the states. Dr. Ji earned a bachelor’s degree in biology in China and did research on acupuncture analgesia with a professor in acupuncture for 2 years. This marked the beginning of his interest in pain and neuroscience research, which later led him to get his Ph.D. in neuroscience in Shanghai. Continuing his academic career, Dr. Ji went to Johns Hopkins as a Neuroscience fellow in the school of medicine for 3 years, spent 2 years in Stockholm studying gene regeneration in animal models, and then went to Harvard Medical school which he considers was a turning point in his career as he took on the role of Instructor and got his first NIH funding. After a total of 14 years there he came to Duke, has been here for 10 years, and is currently the chief of pain research.
Despite not initially picturing his future to evolve into what it has, it is what he now considers to be his dream job. One of the things he enjoys most about it is the new discoveries you can make when doing research, always new and exciting projects, and how creative the job requires you to be. Not to mention the amount of traveling he has been able to do as part of business trips and the like. He says you get to see the world and often be shown around the area by colleagues. Although working in the lab can involve many hours per week, he also enjoys the flexibility that also comes with it.
It has been so wonderful seeing how much his research means to him and his dedication towards it. From what I can tell, Dr. Ji is also always attentive to the people in his lab and comes in to check on things in the bench lab area at least once a day. A healthy lifestyle and good mentality are things he considers have helped him also get where he is today and says that he sees himself continuing with his research for many more years to come. With this in mind, there are a few key things he considers critically important for being successful which include having a good attitude, being patient, and being persistent. These are things I will keep in mind as I embark on my own career journey and use Dr. Ru-Rong Ji as an exceptional role model in the field that I am profoundly interested in.
