Maria Cecília Parrula
“The Fulbright award I received to study in the US between 2004/2005 open the door for me into a world I only could dream of. It allowed me to start a combined PhD/residency program at The Ohio State University.
During the execution of this program, I had the chance to do interdisciplinary research spanning the areas of oncology, virology and immunology and simultaneously train as a veterinary clinical pathologist. I finished my program by passing the certification in Veterinary Clinical Pathology by the American College of Veterinary Pathologists (ACVP) in September 2009 and defending the thesis of my PhD in Veterinary Biosciences in December 2009.
Would I do it again? Yes, of course. It was an extraordinary opportunity.
Was it easy? No. Doing a PhD is a formidable task by itself that involves a lot of work and commitment; because in biosciences research we can consider ourselves luck if 1/3 of our hypotheses are correct. Moreover, doing residency training in parallel with the PhD requires a double effort and sacrifice. But, I would do it again, because I had the chance of a life time.
I learned to be a scientist and a clinical pathologist at an amazing University which prepared me to start an exciting new career.”
FLAD/Fulbright PhD Student at Ohio State University, AY 2004/2005