Michael Sikorski
Michael is embarking on an exciting microbiology research rotation in Apia, Samoa with the support of the Kean Fellowship. He recently completed his second year of medical school at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and is beginning his first year of graduate school as part of an MD-PhD dual-degree program in molecular microbiology and immunology. His focus is on determining the role of Salmonella Typhi chronic carriers in perpetuating typhoid fever endemic to many regions of the world. Over the past two years Michael has worked primarily on a typhoid fever project based in Santiago, Chile. His upcoming doctoral research will complement a new typhoid surveillance program beginning this fall in Samoa. Prior to medical school, Michael earned his bachelor’s degree in bioengineering at the University of Maryland - College Park and spent four years working on hemostatic and tissue adhesive polymer-based biomaterials for the control of traumatic and surgical bleeding. He then completed one year of skin engineering research in Madrid, Spain, through concurrent Fulbright and Whitaker International research awards. Outside of medicine and research, Michael is a bluegrass musician, an avid outdoorsman and a lover of world cultures and languages.
Project: "Environmental surveillance using Moore swabs for the detection of Salmonella Typhi in Upolu, Samoa"
7/01/2018 - 8/26/2018
Samoa
What does the Kean Fellowship mean to you?
It was very challenging for me to find mentorship and a viable research project focused on solving problems in a tropical region of the world. It was especially difficult to find a project that is suitable as the basis for my doctoral dissertation. Receiving this fellowship helped validate my professional interests in global health and tropical medicine at a pivotal moment in my early medical and scientific career. It will help me demonstrate to myself and my peers that the challenges of international projects should not prevent the pursuit of answers to complex international questions. On a personal level, I have always found myself to grow the most when immersed in a culture different from my own. I feel enormous gratitude to scientists before me, like Dr. Kean, who believed in that growth enough to make this trip possible for students like me.
What do you anticipate learning?
I imagine that very few students, especially MD-PhD students, have the chance to complete a research rotation abroad in a distant region of the world. With this unique opportunity, I expect to learn not only how to perform the basic techniques necessary to answer my research question, but also how research, culture and society relate and influence one another. I am just beginning graduate school and this experience in Samoa will serve as the foundation of my doctoral dissertation. The time I spend in the field prior to starting classes in the fall will give me context and primary experience that will inform the direction of my thesis proposal and, ultimately, the trajectory of my scientific career into tropical infectious diseases and global health.
What interests you about tropical medicine and what problems are you interested in solving?
The field of tropical medicine involves the intersection of a clinical diagnosis with the application of quantitative molecular and microbiological principles to prevent, understand and ultimately mitigate the driving mechanisms behind complicated human infections. Much like the essence of this field, I believe my future in infectious diseases lies in a similar intersection of diverse ideas and perspectives, specifically those of multiple disciplines and cultures. I want to understand how cultural practices and geographical conditions influence the spread of disease and the efficacy, or inefficacy, of interventions. I envision myself participating in collaborative research programs compatible with the needs and goals of a society that will address the harm caused by tropical disease.
For example, over the next three years the Samoan Ministry of Health our team will be synthesizing information on the mechanisms of endemicity of typhoid fever. This requires a working knowledge of current clinical practices, modes of transmission and mechanisms of resistance as well as the geography, water systems, eating practices and waste disposal systems of Samoa. Once surveillance is strengthened, such as through the environmental bacteriology techniques that I will study with the support of the Kean Fellowship, a program for typhoid control can be implemented. All of these steps require collaboration and appreciation around culture and science.