It’s hard to believe that my 8 weeks of research have actually ended, and that I won’t see Duke’s campus again for several weeks. I came into this program with overblown expectations of what I would be able to accomplish, but I’ve learned so much in my short 8 weeks in the Blobe lab.
My time in the program has reaffirmed my desire to be a physician, as well as my interest in cancer. Furthermore, I am still interested in continuing in research, although it’s definitely still too early for me to decide whether I’m interested in pursuing an MD/PhD.
Science has always been my favorite subject, because it allows me to understand the underlying mechanisms that dictate how the world around me works. I enjoy biology in particular because it allows me to understand how I, myself, can be here at all- how I can think, how my body works to keep me alive, and how I came to be in the first place. But ultimately, taking classes and reading textbooks could only give me the results, with little elaboration on how we reached them. And the number one thing I’ve learned this summer is that as hard as it can be to learn facts, it is a thousand times harder to come up with them. My appreciation for science as a whole has grown so much. I’m very much convinced that no matter what I may end up ultimately pursuing in the far off future, I want to either keep learning about science or contribute to it.
I’m so thankful to the Blobe lab for taking me in for the past 8 weeks and allowing me to observe and learn so much, and I’m equally thankful to the people who run the HHRF program and allow us to have this opportunity in the first place. My time here this summer may be over, but I’m excited to see what the future holds!
