Alumni Spotlights

One of the most consequential lessons Dr. Daniel Chonde, an HST Medical Engineering and Medical Physics (MEMP), and HST MD graduate, and a third-year resident in radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, learned as an undergraduate at MIT was about attitude.

Jeff Behrens, course director for HST 590, has founded a few start-ups in his time, and has also studied the obstacles to starting and funding successful biotech companies as part of his doctoral research. “In tech, it is common for first-time entrepreneurs to launch companies and raise significant capital; however, in life sciences this is much more rare,” he says. “And I wanted to learn, why is that?”

If you ask Caroline Boudoux what influenced her most during her time as an HST student, she says her most meaningful takeaway was the importance of finding the right mentors. She emphasizes that multiple mentors are needed for different aspects of life. “You can’t expect one person to have all of the experiences that you need for your life.”

Towards the end of Biju Parekkadan’s tenure in HST’s Medical Engineering and Medical Physics (MEMP) PhD program, he received a wake-up call. He had traveled to India to observe medical practices and the healthcare system as a whole. During the visit, he presented his latest research about using cell therapy to reverse acute liver injury.

A local doctor asked, “When can I use this?” Parekkadan had no answer. “I realized there was more I could do to advance this technology. I was leaving a lot on the table.”

Meet Nina Menezes. Currently the Associate Director of Healthcare Strategy at Becton Dickinson (BD)—a global medical technology company that seeks to advance healthcare by improving medical discovery, diagnostics, and delivery of care—she admits that pursuing a medical career was never her dream. But with strong influences in her family and her own thoughtful consideration of the viability of such a career, she entered university intending to study medicine.