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Meet Michael “Misha”...

Hometown: Middlesex, Massachusetts
Entering Year: 2005
Undergrad: Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Degree: B.A. Biology
Thesis Advisor: Undecided
Email: mhorowitz@student.uchc.edu

I grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts, and attended Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania for my undergraduate education. I am currently in my second year of medical school, and am undecided about both my M.D. and Ph.D. specialties. I am, however, working with the Ben Mamoun group in Microbial Pathogenesis on potential new therapies for malaria.

My interest in a dual degree comes mostly from working at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC with Dr. Cindy Tifft, who is herself an M.D./Ph.D. Seeing her multidisciplinary approach (i.e., seeing new angles and approaches for therapy, taking them to the bench to develop assays or new drugs, and bringing those back to her patients) really helped me understand the point of the program – having more control over the entire research/clinical process – and I could see clearly that while I want to work in a clinical setting, research is also something I want to pursue heavily.

My time at UConn thus far has been great; I enjoy my classes with engaging faculty, my classmates are supportive, intelligent and engaging, and I have a wonderful group of close friends. While the idea of going through a 7-year, intensive program is daunting and overwhelming at times, I have no regrets about my decision and am only getting more confident that this is what I want to do.