I was born in Frederick, Maryland on March 17, 1979, and I have lived in Maryland my entire life. Actually I grew up near a small town called Boonsboro, but every time I tell someone that I get the same puzzled look and the same "Where is that?!" So, to keep everyone from asking, it is just easier to say I am from the Frederick area.

At Boonsboro High School I looked to the freshman football team as my ticket to greatness, which was a terrible mistake because, well in layman's terms, I wasn't very good. I spent the fall riding the bench. I thought about playing basketball, but had to face the obvious fact that I am vertically challenged - I am only 5'9", and I haven't seen too many pro-basketball players that are of my stature. I looked into track and field where I was immediately attracted to the pole vault. I used to love watching my friends running like maniacs down the paved runway and leaping over a crossbar 12 feet off the ground with a fiberglass pole that was no wider than a half-dollar. So I decided to try out for that event and wouldn't you know that the first time I tried it I got hurt. But I enjoyed it, so I stuck with it. Over the next two years I honed my skills and actually took 2nd and 3rd places in the Maryland state championships for my division during my junior and senior years respectively.

High school was also my first introduction to science, which has become my passion in life. My Chemistry teacher, Sam Lucas, was and remains the greatest teacher I have ever had. He is that one person that we all know who guides your life in such a way that you will always be in their debt for all they taught you. So if anyone from the Washington County Board of Education is reading this, make sure you give Mr. Lucas a raise, he definitely deserves it. He taught me that science is a discipline of logic and concepts, not just rote memorization, a fact that has stayed with me since and benefited me in both my coursework and research.

After graduating from high school I went to study Biology with a concentration in Pre-Medicine from Salisbury University in Salisbury, Maryland. I wanted to blend this love for science with my desire to better the lives of other people, so the most obvious choice for me was medicine. In between classes, studying, and the occasional opportunity to hang out with my friends I began two very different scientific research projects. One was on the characterization of an antioxidant enzyme from an organism that grows in volcanic vents at the bottom of the ocean! This project was under the direction of Edward Crane III my biochemistry professor. The other was the study of heart failure in rats induced by dietetic factors under the direction of Bud Chew. Both men were incredible mentors, not only as teacher-student, but as friends. Both men taught me how to think critically, and both were responsible for helping me to flourish as a young scientist. It was in their labs that I learned the thrill of making new discoveries, which in reality is one of the major reasons I love science and research.

After college I obtained a research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, one of the world's premier biomedical research facilities. I worked under Dr. Lee Burns on a rare endocrine cancer called Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 1. This is a cancer that affects several endocrine tissues in the body, but the most common are the anterior pituitary, the parathyroid glands, and the islet cells of the endocrine pancreas-the part of the pancreas that makes insulin. The people who are afflicted with this disease suffer the effects of hormone overproduction from the respective organ. We were interested in the molecular mechanisms underlying the function of the protein menin, which when this protein is lost, people develop the disease. Lee Burns was the constant encourager, and the definition of role model. Aside from my parents, he is one of the greatest people I have ever known, and I am still hoping he will do a leg of the bike trip with me.

It is because of Drs. Maitra and Burns that I have decided to pursue my dream of becoming a physician-scientist. I hope in the near future to enroll in an MD/PhD program, a program that trains physicians for a career in research.