“You’d be surprised how applicable what you learn here is. These knowledge skills I think will apply to almost any profession.”
John Bozeman shared how the hands-on component of the MSc Genomic Medicine at the National Heart and Lung Institute is a perfect match for his passion in cancer biology. After completing the MSc Genomic Medicine programme, he is now pursuing further research study at Imperial College London.
Lovely to meet you. And thanks for joining us today.
Nice to meet you, too.
What were you doing before you came to Imperial?
I graduated from my undergrad in 2019 from Montana State University. I did two degrees there. Cell biology and neuroscience, and microbiology, two different ones with a minor in genetics. After that, COVID happened in 2020, wasn’t really sure what to do, but I felt I needed to continue my education, and Imperial just seemed like the perfect place.
Why did you want to do a postgraduate course? You’ve done two undergrad programs, why post-grad off the back?
The thing about post-grad is you get to expand your critical thinking and you get to explore new areas that you might not have in your undergrad. The education system is a bit different here versus in America. But I felt like here is a bit more hands on. Obviously we have the research project, so we get to actually do some real science work with some top people who have been in the field a long time. So I was really looking for that hands on applied experience, which now I have.
Fantastic. And specifically, why did you choose Imperial?
It’s kind of a funny coincidence. My friend, he’s doing a PhD and he recommended Imperial because they’re doing really amazing science here. So I took his word for it. I started looking into the school. I came to London in 2020, and I just fell in love with the idea of going to school here and merging science with the lifestyle and everything.
And why did you choose the course specifically? And building on that, what did you actually expect before joining it?
It’s interesting. I was really interested in cancer biology and then I looked into genomic medicine and how the sequencing is becoming so powerful now that you can really look at tissues from cancer to just really anything. Bacteria, fungi, parasites, viruses, all of these things, it comes down to the DNA and the RNA. I thought about medical school, so that was like the next logical step to go into something genomic and then apply it to the clinical side of things. Combining all those things, it just fit perfect in genomic medicine.
Talking about the course. Who inspired you during your time here, whether that be peers, students or, academic faculty?
So many. I mean, really it’s hard to say. I think some of those who have been there from the very beginning was obviously Professor Mike Lovett from the interview. He asked really great questions. I really have to commend him for always being like a supportive mentor throughout my experience, as well as Laura Collopy, she did a great job just being a senior teacher, and there’s been so many of my peers, I’ve learned many things from them. I’m so excited to see where they go personally. And these connections, I think will last a lifetime.
What was your favourite module or part of the programme?
I had a couple. The Omics Technologies was really interesting because science is becoming, as Mike Lovett says, you have the red tube and the blue tube and you mix them and then you send them off, but you don’t really know what’s going on in those tubes.
So here he really explained in detail what is in the red tube, what’s in the blue tube, and how that works so that we know what we’re doing and we can take that information and that knowledge and sort of apply it in a new way. So I think that was my favourite. And the second one would probably be Genomics and the Patient, because you got to work with genetic counsellors and really see what the human side is like.
How have you found studying and living in London?
I think this has been probably the best experience I’ve had. London is an amazing place. Everywhere you go, something’s happening. Just walking down the street, I’ll get swept away into doing one thing or another. It’s so much fun. Also, the South Kensington campus is a great location. I’ve been to all the other or most of the other campuses and Imperial has a really nice setup with different locations. So, yeah, I really like it.
Sounds like you’ve been making the most of it.
Absolutely.
What advice would you give to someone either starting the course or considering applying to it?
I think you’d be surprised how applicable what you learn here is, because we have people from many different backgrounds. We had clinicians, business minded people, even like a math and physics major. So it’s really something. These knowledge skills I think will apply to almost any profession. And another thing is that it’s definitely worthwhile and that you feel like this is meaningful.
Moving on to the future plan. What are you planning on doing?
There has been a really good project that I’ve been working on. I’m really happy with how that’s going. My supervisor has offered to help me continue that research further, so I’m kind of excited to see where that will go. At the moment, I don’t know for sure, but I think I’ll be staying here and working in the lab and continuing it.
It’s great to have you.
Thank you.
Now some silly question. What three words will your friends use to describe you?
I guess maybe I’ll say kind, probably funny and maybe random.
And what would surprise your course colleagues?
One thing that I play guitar that surprised them.
How long have you been?
About ten years or so. I just self-taught. Nothing crazy.
Back onto the music thing. What would be your study soundtrack or your recent listening on Spotify?
I like to do a lot of work in blocks. I’ll need something that kind of keeps me going. So I like metal music. It’s fast, it’s intense, and it kind of helps with that mindset when you’re really working hard. I also like lo-fi hip hop, just kind of slow beats sometimes when you’re more just relaxing.
To learn more about the postgraduate programmes offered by the National Heart and Lung Institute, please visit our Postgraduate taught website.