Salonee Patel

What were key influences on your career?

“I went to the University of Toronto for both my undergraduate and graduate degrees, and I actually started at U of T in international relations. I wanted to work in the foreign service, and I was taking classes like French, Russian, philosophy, and political science. I also took an introductory psychology course called Psych 101. Within the course, there was a two-week section on neuroscience. It just blew my mind. I was just so fascinated by neurons, and this was the first I'd ever heard of them. So, I completely changed my degree. I went into the psychology program, and I did a double major in psychology and physiology. I volunteered over the summers with a professor named Dr. John Yeomans, and I worked with him all throughout my undergraduate career in the summers doing neuroscience research. I absolutely loved it. I got a couple of publications out of that. I always tell people when they're starting, especially in the first year, to not have a set goal in mind. Just take the courses you like and see what you really want to follow. Being open-minded is exactly why I am where I am now. I was exposed to a two-week lecture series on neuroscience, and I let it completely change the course of my career. You never know how things are going to turn out.”

What brought you to this area of research?

“I've had family members that have suffered from addiction. I lost a cousin to an opioid overdose. I also lost a good friend to schizophrenia, who ironically died of an opioid overdose. It is personal to me. At the same time, when I was working with John Yeomans – he was a schizophrenia researcher at the time – I was fascinated by digging into the underlying mechanisms that are causing these disorders. It's a combination of both scientificcuriosity andpersonal impacts in my life as well. You need be passionate about research because it's not the easiest career path.”

“I was exposed to a two-week lecture series on neuroscience, and I let it completely change the course of my career.”

What is your favourite thing about research?

“I can go into the lab and see something that nobody on the planet has ever seen before. There's something fundamentally new and remarkable to be seen every single day. There's the old saying, ‘if you find do a job that you love, you'll never work a day in your life’. With research, there's a lot of work involved, but there’s also that constant intellectual stimulation, a constant satisfaction of curiosity, that's always going on. You also get to work with really great people as well. You get to mentor a lot and watch students and trainees evolve in their careers. It's a very collaborative processandyou're never by yourself. I think it really is the most stimulating career you can have in terms of satisfying curiosity.”

What are you currently working on?

r “I'm currently co-supervised by Dr. Brian Allman and Dr. Shawn Whitehead focusing on the relationship between noise-induced hearing loss and how that relates to age-related cognitive decline. To investigate this, we use animal models and a variety of methodology such as cognitive behavioral testing, electrophysiology, and immunohistochemistry to see what's going on in the brain.” You're completing your MD/PhD currently, right? “Yes, I'm in the PhD portion of my degree, and there are two main structures of the program. The first way is you can keep the two degrees completely separate, which is what I did. First, you complete an accelerated PhD (PhDs are normally four years to six years depending on the program). For us, it's three years. This will befollowed by the traditional four of years of medical school. Other people can also choose to do the first two years of pre-clerkship, then a three-year PhD in the middle, and then finally move on to clerkship.”

“The MD/PhD program at Western has ultimately solidified my passion in both research and medicine. Individuals in this program are normally trained to be clinician scientists, which is what I want to be. However, I’m not so sure what that looks like. There are some individuals that are mainly researchers with a smaller component of clinical work, and vice versa. I know I want to do both, I’m just not sure what the combination will look like. Hopefully, in finishing my training, I will see more examples of clinician scientist careers in various specialties. Overall, I do know in a broad sense that I would like to do both.”

What does the path ahead look like for you?

Graduate Student MD/PhD Candidate

Contact Info spate382@uwo.ca

“You get to work with so many like-minded individuals that are passionate about the exact same thing that you are.”