Jenna Kitz

Graduate Student PhD Candidate

Contact Info

jkitz@uwo.ca

What are you currently working on?

What are some of your goals, looking forward?

“I am gearing up for my PhD thesis defense, which is scheduled for next week. Thewaythat a thesistraditionally works is you have three published papersfrom your work whichbecome your three research chapters for your thesis. I'm working on submitting my last primary research article associated with the thesis to tie up loose ends associated with the project. My research looks at circulating tumor cells (CTCs), which are cells from a primary tumor that are using the bloodvesselsto move throughout the body. Theresearch focuses on how to detect them from the blood and how we can use these biomarkers for earlier diagnosis of metastasis, which ultimately is the number one leading cause of cancer related deaths. Also, I am in a full-time in a role as a medical communications writer for a Torontobased consulting company. The company works with pharmaceutical companies who are about to release drugs or have drugs in development. Specifically, wework with the companies that are in phase two clinical trials to create any scientific materials or strategic rollout plans which are associated with the launches of these drugs.”

“Research is great, but I felt that I needed to do something different from that, for now. When I started in the lab, I was already fairly certain that I was not interested in staying in academia forever, which is the typical course for someone who's in research. As I was getting on in the degree, I was set on working with a scientific company in Toronto. For a few years I have known that I wanted to go into industry use my scientific knowledgeand themany skills that we develop in grad school that are so applicable to both corporate jobs and jobs within the scientific community. There are so many uses for what we learn and I really wanted to make sure that I was in a career that utilized my skillset. So, my future goal is just to continue on the path that I am now. I don't like to close doors, so anything is possible. ”

“we’re in really close proximity to patients, which provides a lot of opportunity for impactful research”

What are some important steps you took to get to where you are?

What drove you to cancer biology?

What is your favourite thing about research?

“Obviously, when you're getting into research, having a fourth-year thesis project helps you to s develop some skills, but it's not the be-all and end-all. You can get into a master's program without having research experience. But for me, the biggest thing to get me to where I am now was pursuing extracurricular activities. Ultimately in the end, we're grad students for a short period of time in our life, but we are people beyond that. If you just get so siloed into your research, you can lose yourself and your passions. So, I joined clubs, organizations, and committees, and I developed interests beyond the lab. These interests and connections ultimately led me to where I am today.”

“In my undergrad, I spent a long time trying to figure out if I wanted to do a fourth-year thesis project. I ended up choosing cancer research because I thought it had a lot of potential impact on patient lives. I really wanted to do something that would help me develop skills that I could use later on, which ultimately led me to applying for ACB at Western. To be honest, I was mostly interested in working with Dr. Allan and I applied directly to her lab not the ACB program. What drew me to herwas her researchasit was in the field I was very interested in. I met with herand realized that we have very similar backgrounds. She went to Guelph, where I did my undergrad, anddid her PhD justa few benches over from where I did my research, small world! Also, her lab is a translational research lab located at the hospital with the cancer center downstairs. So, we're in really close proximity to patients, which provides a lot of opportunity for impactful research.

I would suggest to anyone who's looking to like apply to a lab to really make sure that the research is what you want to do first and foremost. You can do that in two ways: You can find anadvisor and apply directly to them, or you can find the program that has research that you're interested in and apply to the program. Make sure that what you're doing is what you're passionate about because there's always going to be these unforeseen roadblocks, which are hard to overcome.Then, make sure that the lab environment is right for you as well. There area million ways you can run a lab and some advisers are really hands-on or hands-off and have different expectations. Have these hard conversations and be picky.”

“There's a lot of amazing things about research. I would say that what I love about research is that every day is different. There are some jobs where you just do the same thing day in, and day out, and it gets kind of mundane. Research is always changing. From day to day, you are working on completely different aspects of a project, teaching, doing different experiments, or traveling to some otherpart of the worldand giving a talk.And you’re doing all of this, while you are potentially impacting patient lives. I really like that as itkeeps researchengaging, interesting and impactful. ”