s c i e n c e
Lured by the lab, med student pauses to get Ph.D.
H
alfway through medical school,
‘When you kick me out.’ He never did.”
Stephanie Hurwitz took a two-year Most summer researchers wrap up their leave of absence to pursue a Ph.D. projects by the end of summer – then hit the directors of the graduate program to explore
Against the odds, she succeeded. books as second-year med students. Hurwitz, the possibilities of designing a dual degree. It
though, felt really at home in that lab. took her a full year to make that decision.
In fact, she’s the first student who has
pursued both degrees here at the College of
Medicine.
“I have, for a long time, been interested in the
“When I joined, the Meckes lab was quickly
Eventually, she and Meckes sat down with the
“Stephanie is the type of graduate student
growing, and there were multiple projects every professor hopes for,” Meckes said. “She is
to which I believed I could contribute hard-working, motivated and passionate about
intersection of clinical medicine and scientific meaningfully,” Hurwitz said. “It was the perfect science and discovery.”
discovery,” said Hurwitz, who has resumed her fit. And David is a young, enthusiastic scientist clinical training at the College of Medicine’s who is extremely hard-working, has high Hurwitz has acquired another claim to fame:
regional campus in her hometown of Sarasota. expectations and is passionate about research.” a prestigious P.E.O. Scholar Award. It’s a
“At Tulane University I studied neuroscience as Meckes’ lab works primarily on exosomes, a premedical student, and I worked in a research small vesicles that all cells secrete, containing from the U.S. and Canada who are pursuing a
lab for three years. At the end of my undergrad, proteins, lipids and nucleic acids. Hurwitz and doctoral-level degree. In all, 738 women were
I was considering grad programs and I was her lab colleagues are identifying the contents nominated, and only 100 were selected. It
considering M.D. programs. I eventually of those exosomes and how they’re made. includes a $15,000 stipend, which Hurwitz said
chose the M.D. route, knowing that I could The hope is to identify novel biomarkers that will certainly help with tuition.
do research with an M.D. but I couldn’t see may be secreted from cancer cells. Eventually, patients with a Ph.D. alone.” a blood test might tell your doctor you have a researcher who served on Hurwitz’s doctoral
certain type of cancer. committee, knows how many ways this Ph.D.
So she arrived at the FSU College of
assistant professor, David Meckes.
Medicine in 2013 and began her M.D. classes.
“I kept working in the lab 15 to 20 hours
In addition to picking up her Ph.D.,
competitive, merit-based recognition for women
Senior Associate Dean Myra Hurt, a longtime
detour could have gone wrong.
Everything went fine. The summer after her a week during my second year of medical first year, she secured a research fellowship school,” Hurwitz said. “Eventually David asked, it all came together,” Hurt said. “She’s done
here. She started working in the lab of a new ‘When are you going to leave?’ And I said, something she can be very proud of.”
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“It was almost astounding to see how well