Learning about using biotechnology to develop drugs, becoming an MD/PhD and environmental engineering

   Our discussions during the penultimate week of our program involved three very successful individuals who are engaged in quite different careers.
    On Monday, the SURF students met with Dr. John Littleton.  Dr. Littleton first became interested in pharmaoclogy's interest in pharmacology began when he was a medical student.  Upon receiving his MD and PhD, he embarked on a research career studying alcohol dependence and neuroprotection.  When he arrived at the University of Kentucky, he became interested in using biotechnology to develop screening methods for identifying natural products to use as novel drugs.  This led to the establishment of his company, Naprogenix.
     The SURF and SURES students then met with Dr. Susan Smyth who is the Director of the Gill Heart Institute and Director of the MD/PhD program at the University of Kentucky.  Dr. Smyth's research focuses on cardiovascular disease.  She talked about her training experiences and how invaluable her mentors were to her career success.  She also discussed the MD/PhD program and the strategies that she uses to balance her career as a clinician and researcher with her family life.
     On Tuesday, the SURES students met with Dr. Kelly Pennell. Dr. Pennell talked about her interests in environmental engineering and her career path that led her from being an environmental consultant to her current activities studying the fate of environmental contaminants-http://kgpennell.engineering.uky.edu/.  She is particularly interested in vapor intrusion.