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Profiles > Ralph Vatner
Meet Ralph...
 Hometown:
Wayland, Massachusetts
Entering Year: 2001
Undergrad: Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania
Degree: B.A. Chemistry
Thesis Advisor:
Pramod
Srivastava, Ph.D.
Area of Concentration: Immunology
Email:
vatner@student.uchc.edu
The M.D./Ph.D. program at UConn is great. It
gives me the opportunity to study two things that deeply
interest me, clinical medicine and basic biomedical research,
and it affords me the opportunity to pursue a career in almost
any aspect of medical science. I applied to UConn in a broad
sweep of Northeastern M.D./Ph.D. programs funded by an MSTP
training grant. While I had only twice previously set foot in
Connecticut before this (once for a high school wrestling camp,
and once for a college football game) I had deep ties to friends
and family in nearby Boston and New York. Upon learning more
about UConn, I was pleasantly surprised.
As an undergraduate I studied physical chemistry
at Haverford College with an interest in atmospheric chemistry
and molecular spectroscopy. Even though I only had one summer
school course in biology, I decided to move away from physical
science toward a research field more applicable to human health
and disease. I was somewhat hesitant to apply to medical school
after one too many stories about pre-med students, but I found
students here to be interesting, fun, and smart, yet
down-to-earth and genuinely interested in medicine and research.
I am currently finishing up my thesis work in
immunology, studying the role of molecular chaperones in priming
the adaptive immune system against cancer and intracellular
infections. I was initially attracted to working in the Center
for Immunotherapy of Cancer and Infectious Diseases, now a part
of the Department of Immunology, when I found that I could study
something that had both fundamental implications in
understanding the immune system at a basic level and direct
applications to vaccines and immunotherapy for cancer and
infectious pathogens.
When I am outside of the lab, you can find me
running on the trails of the West Hartford Reservoir, cooking
for my roommates, or enjoying a beer at one of the local
hangouts. Email me if you want to find out more about the
program. I like talking to applicants and just about anyone
else, and I am candid about the pros and cons of the UConn MSTP. |
