FEATURE

Sabha Ganai MD, Surgery Resident, Earns PhD from UMass—Amherst

First Person to Complete PhD Program While a Resident at Baystate Medical Center

Completing all of the requirements for the PhD while a resident is a challenging effort, and last month Dr. Sabha Ganai (Department of Surgery) successfully defended her dissertation in the Program in Molecular and Cellular Biology at University of Massachusetts—Amherst. As the first person to complete a PhD during the course of a residency program at BMC, Ganai says she couldn't have done it without the support of PVLSI, where she conducted all her research under the supervision of Neil Forbes (UMass, Chemical Engineering) and Rick Arenas (BMC, Surgery).

It wasn't until 1½ years into her research—she conducted a study entitled, "Targeting Bacteriolytic Therapy of Solid Tumors Using Attenuated Salmonella typhimurium"-—that Ganai made the decision to enter the PhD program with the encouragement of Drs. Richard Wait and Rick Arenas. She advises others not to wait so long and to plan ahead, explaining that although UMass waives some credits for those with MD degrees, it's still necessary to work with UMass scheduling to accelerate the program - it usually takes 5 - 6 years to complete the PhD.

All surgery residents are offered up to 2 years of dedicated research time and residents in other programs can apply to this program. Ganai encourages other residents to take advantage of the opportunity, claiming it was a valuable experience that has changed how she views clinical medicine, by examining evidence more critically, for example. She is confident that her PhD will help her pursue her goal of a career in surgical oncology and academia.

Dr Ganai's research, supported by PVLSI and the Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer Research, explores a novel strategy for treating tumors and has great potential for subsequent therapeutic intervention.