Thinh Tran, Class of 2017
Major: Biology
Current Role: PhD student at Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
Current Location, New York City, USA
Home Country: Vietnam
Thinh Tran
Becoming a Cancer Researcher
PhD student Thinh Tran, Class of 2017, has always been fascinated with solving puzzles so it’s no surprise she’s conducting cancer data research at the prestigious Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York
NYUAD: Hi Thinh, nice to see you again.
Thinh Tran: Hello!
NYUAD: Tell us what you’re up to these days.
I’m a third year PhD student at Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in the computational and systems biology program. We’re located at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, a leader in cancer treatment and research.
NYUAD: What are you working on?
I’m interested in understanding why some cancer patients respond to treatment initially but then relapse. I work with patient data to identify certain changes to the genomes related to drug resistance.
NYUAD: How did you figure out this is what you wanted to do?
As a biology major at NYU Abu Dhabi I spent almost three years doing undergraduate research with Professor Claude Desplan in the fruit fly lab. (If it weren’t for him I probably wouldn’t have gone into research!) I picked up a few computer science courses but it wasn’t until I got into a master’s program in Toronto that I rotated/worked in a computational biology lab and completely fell in love with it. So I stopped doing science lab experiments, started buffing up my coding skills, and got into computational work.
There’s a temptation to go to grad school because it’s safe and sounds comfortable. The process is a lot easier if you have a goal in mind.
NYUAD: What’s the most challenging part of your day to day?
Staying disciplined. Being in graduate school is definitely a learning curve compared to undergrad. It’s a very different feeling to be in charge of your own learning. Nobody’s here to keep me accountable except myself.
NYUAD: What’s something you had to learn the hard way?
The transition between Abu Dhabi and the master’s program in Toronto was really difficult - two of the most difficult years of my life. I realized that I was in grad school for the sake of being in grad school. It took me a while to figure out why I was there. That was hard.
NYUAD: What’s your advice for other students considering grad school?
The best advice I can give is to make sure that this is what you want to do. There’s a temptation to go to grad school because it’s safe and sounds comfortable. Be honest with yourself and say, “This is what I want for these specific reasons.” The process is a lot easier if you have a goal in mind.
NYUAD: What do you miss most about Abu Dhabi?
I miss so many things! The city, adventurous people, the spontaneous spirit. We had so much freedom to try new things. I learned Italian, took a tango class on a whim and still do it today. I couldn’t imagine living my 20s in a better way. NYU Abu Dhabi makes life very fulfilling and colorful.