On Friday, April 2nd Annie defended her thesis. By Friday afternoon, Annie had her PhD. It sounds like it happened so quick, like she wrote out a thesis the week before and then talked about it, convinced 7 people that it was legit and walked away with a few letters to put behind her name....if only.
6 years ago, Annie started her graduate program at OHSU. 6 years is a long time and for all of it, Annie worked tirelessly to make gains in her research. She has been studying some peculiar aspects of colon cancer and its relation to bone marrow transplants. Her research has been on the edge of science and she has convinced many established researchers that her science speaks truth. This alone proves that Annie has an ability to not only perform research science but change research science. This has been a long and hard road, Annie makes it looks easy and Annie has shown more grit and determination than I have ever seen someone display. Graduate school leads to an anticlimactic end. A random Friday with a talk and a defense and a PhD doesn’t seem to sum up all the effort, frustration, long hours, thankless mediocre tasks, asking questions that none can answer, acquiring data that none have ever interpreted, writing it all down in hopes that some will “deem” it novel, and mental investment. Maybe the best reward is that graduate school is over and she can move on.
With her great effort at OHSU, Annie now has a research opportunity at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. She is going to continue working on colon cancer although a different aspect. There will be new challenges, but the years of grinding out her PhD are behind her and we are all glad for that, especially Annie.
Congratulations Annie, I love you!
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