Message from Norman Rosenblum, INMD Scientific Director
July 2021
Recently, I had the great pleasure to attend a celebration for students who graduated from the University of Toronto Temerty Faculty of Medicine MD/PhD Program. Previous to my appointment as Scientific Director, I served as Director of this MD/PhD Program. Having mentored the 2021 group of graduating students, I know them all very well. They are a truly inspiring group – gender and ethnically diverse, focused in their research on diverse ‘CIHR Pillars’, and committed to the generation of new knowledge and the improvement of health. They represent a vital part of our future health research workforce at a time when the need for, and impact of, health research is so clear. Moreover, among physician scientists at the early stages of career development, MD/PhD graduates constitute an enduring and highly competitive part of our workforce at a time when the proportion of MDs who are engaging in research as a major focus of their careers is decreasing, particularly in the fields of preclinical and laboratory-based translational research.
Engaging students in research at the early stages of development is critical. It has a particular impact on shaping students’ values and goals and inspiring and equipping them for the road that lies ahead, including both the excitement to pursue the road to research excellence and the perseverance and determination to endure the unpredictable and highly competitive path of research replete with its particular set of challenges and rewards.
To quote from the advice given by one of the graduating students, each of whom gave remarks at the celebration, “…Look outside and venture beyond your shores, read broadly and long, question often and learn to ask what really matters, fail often so you can dive deep and find those who spend 280 days and not just 280 characters, and learn to sift the wheat from the chaff. That is what this training is all about”. These words by Dr. Shrey Sindhwani are words to live by.
I wish you all a happy and healthy summer, with time for some rest, reflection, and fun. I look forward to the fall period of 2021 when we will have high rates of COVID-19 vaccination, much less illness, the possibility of interacting with colleagues in person, and the imagination of what our lives will be like in the post-pandemic period.
- Date modified: