General Surgery Specialist Registrar

Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland

I undertook the Price Fellowship between 2017 and 2019, and was awarded a PhD in Physiology. I am currently a second year General Surgery Specialist Registrar working in Ireland.  The experience I gained not only in performing basic science research and writing manuscripts, but also in critical thinking has been invaluable in my career to date.

The work ethos in the Price Institute is unique and is fostered from the experienced mentorship from Dr. Galandiuk and Dr. Polk. I had limited lab skills when starting, and by the end of my fellowship I was confident in designing and running complex experiments. The PhD coursework is comprehensive and helps with creating a solid foundation for the development of a research hypothesis. There is ample opportunity to mentor students, write grants, and work with a number of expert collaborators. I was encouraged to present my work at local, national, and international academic meetings.

Louisville is an excellent place to live with a number of great sports teams and food culture, and is somewhere I have made lifelong friends.

Since returning to Ireland, the skills gained at the Price Institute have helped me with establishing a multisite research project. Over the course of a summer at the Price Institute, the fellow would be responsible for mentoring and coordinating experiments for 6 to 10 students. The team management skills I gained from the lab have been essential in progressing to senior surgical training.

I could not recommend the Price Fellowship highly enough, as it has had a major springboard effect for my career in both clinical practice and academic research in the field of general surgery.