Kathryn Bowman (Katy)
MS1, MD Candidate
The College of William and Mary, B.S. Biology 2008

Past Research Experience
My first research experience involved studying hypothalamic thermoregulation in Dr.John Griffin's electrophysiology lab at the College of William and Mary, from the end of my sophomore year of college through the rest of college. Realizing that I wanted research to play a major role in my career, I struggled with the decision of whether to pursue an MD or an MD/PhD and wanted more experience. This question, along with my increasing interest in immunology and infectious disease, led me to spend a year as part of the NIH Academy. I spent the year working in Dr. Richard Koup's lab at the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institutes of Health, analyzing cellular immune responses to a therapeutic HIV vaccine trial. Any undergraduate students interested in participating in the NIH Academy (1-2 years) between college and graduate/medical school, please feel free to contact me. I will be returning there again this summer.

Current Areas of interest/ research
I continue to be interested in immunology and infectious disease research, especially the pathogenesis of HIV infection. I have enjoyed learning more about vaccine development and I hope to explore this field more thoroughly in the future.

Abstracts/ Posters
KA Bowman, S Adzaku, ME Enama, M Roederer, R Bailer, BS Graham, JP Casazza, and RA Koup. "Boosting HIV-specific responses using therapeteutic vaccination in HIV-infected individuals on HAART." Poster: UT Southwestern 48th Annual Medical Student Research Forum, Jan 2010.

JP Casazza, KA Bowman, DR Ambrozak, IJ Gordon, M Roederer, ME Enama, M Nason, JE Ledgerwood, BS Graham1 and RA Koup. "Increased HIV-specific Immunity in HIV-infected Individuals Vaccinated with a DNA Prime, rAd5 Boost Regimen." Poster: Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, San Francisco, CA, Feb 2010.
JP Casazza, KA Bowman, S Adzaku, DA Ambrozak, IJ Gordon, AM Wiegand, MF Kearney, J Spindler, F Maldarelli, M Roederer, RT Bailer, ME Enama, M Nason, JE Ledgerwood, BS Graham and RA Koup. "Increased HIV-specific Immunity in HIV-infected Individuals Vaccinated with a DNA Prime, rAd5 Boost Regimen." Poster: 4th International Workshop on HIV Persistance during Therapy, St.Martin, West Indies. Dec 2009.
JP Casazza, KA Bowman, S Adzaku, DA Ambrozak, M Roederer, R Bailer, M Enama, M Nason, BS Graham and RA Koup. "Increased HIV-specific Immunity in HIV-infected Individuals Vaccinated with a DNA Prime, rAd5 Boost Regimen." Poster: AIDS Vaccine Conference. Oct 2009.
KA Bowman, S Adzaku, ME Enama, M Roederer, R Bailer, BS Graham, JP Casazza, and RA Koup. "Boosting HIV-specific responses using therapeteutic vaccination in HIV-infected individuals on HAART." Poster: NIH Post-Baccalaureate Summer Research Festival. July 2009.

General Suggestions/ Advice:
My best advice is to get involved as early as you can (it's never too late!) and to not be discouraged if you think you 'don't know enough yet'. The learning curve in any lab is very steep and nobody knows how to do research without actually doing it. The idea that you have to understand everything a lab does before starting to work in it can be overwhelming (and it isn't true!); the process of research will deepen your understanding (and often your interest) as you go. Many basic science labs explore very narrow questions and you may not understand its implications or import until you have worked in the lab for a little while. A few considerations about choosing a lab:

1. Choose a general area that piques your interest (e.g. immunology) or a disease/pathology that intrigues you.
2. If you have worked in a lab before and have a particular skill set, it can be valuable to enter a lab where you might use those technical skills you already have, especially if you will be working for a limited time (the MS1-MS2 summer). This way you can spend less of your time learning new techniques and more time accumulating usable data. The down side is that you are trading the opportunity to learn new techniques that could serve you well later.
3. Make sure you get along with your mentor and have similar goals for your involvement (e.g. if you really want to get an abstract out of your experience, ask how realistic that expectation is).

Finally, I found that writing and submitting your work is a critical part of the learning experience. Aside from the obvious benefits of having something to put on your CV/residency application, writing a paper, abstract, poster, or grant application will force you to develop a much more thorough understanding of your own research and will lead you to develop further questions. The Medical Student Research Forum is an excellent opportunity to present your research. Research is a wonderful opportunity to ask questions, enrich your learning experience, and contribute to biomedical understanding!