Q. What aspects of your MCB degree program best helped you prepare for your career?
A. I felt very comfortable and safe going to Dr. Bautista and Dr. Lishko when deciding my career path. Dr. Lishko especially helped connect me to a researcher/professor in Japan, who ended up connecting me to my Master's advisor and research PI, which is how I ended up deciding to go to medical school. Also, Berkeley's MCB program is very difficult, and nothing, not even medical school, compares to how difficult it was. This made me more resilient as I moved across the world to live in Japan and then later back to CA for medical school.
Q. How did you decide on your current career path?
A. I was very confused as to what I wanted to do career-wise. As a Japanese double major, I thought that going to teach English in Japan was my first step. However, when I didn't get into that program, I was very unsure about what to do next. One of my Japanese Professors (Dr. Blum) encouraged me to apply to the Japanese Government Scholarship to do my Master's. I reached out to Dr. Bautista and explained my interest in Reproductive Biology. She recommended that I talk to Dr. Lishko, who connected me to Dr. Masaru Okabe, who then connected me to Dr. Masahito Ikawa, who became my PI. It was during my time in Japan that I realized as much as I like basic biology research, I needed more connection to people. After shadowing an OBGYN, I realized my calling and returned back to the US to pursue medical school with a focus in reproductive biology research. I really wasn't interested in medicine when I was at Berkeley, and honestly didn't have the grades for it. But I took Berkeley Extension postbacc courses to boost up my GPA. I am on track to becoming a physician-scientist in the Academic Research Careers for Medical Doctors program at UC Davis and am currently at UCSF doing a research year after receiving the Physician Scientist Support Foundation Medical Scholars Research Fellowship.
Q. Share your favorite Berkeley lunch place, coffee shop, landmark study spot...etc.
A. SF Soup Co (now known as Ladle & Leaf) - I loved their Split Pea Soup! I also have a lot of memories studying for Bio 1AL in the Unit 4 Foothill conference room