 Alumni Interviews:
Christina Gurnett, M.D., Ph.D.
"Although there are certainly other routes
to becoming a physician scientist, the M.D./Ph.D. gives you complete
exposure to research and clinical medicine at the onset. As
with all careers, you must make choices how to spend your time,
and my training in the MSTP at Iowa has opened many
doors for me."
According to Christina Gurnett, M.D., Ph.D., about five percent
of the population will have a seizure during their lifetime. To
help this group of people, the UI Carver College of Medicine alumna
is currently researching the molecular and genetic basis for seizures
and epilepsy.
Gurnett, a child neurology fellow at Washington University in
St Louis, will begin another fellowship training period this month
in pediatric epilepsy at the St Louis Children's Hospital.
She will specialize in taking care of pediatric patients with epilepsy
and learn to analyze electroencephalograms (EEG). An EEG tracks
electrical signals coming from the brain, as well as the changes
that occur during wakefulness and sleep, and during seizures.
"
I like child neurology because it is a challenging field with a
significant number of patients who have neurological problems without
any current explanation, including patients with autism and attention
deficit/hyperactivity disorder," Gurnett said. "Although
we can see the manifestations of these disorders clinically, we
lag behind many other areas of medicine in explaining the mechanism
of brain dysfunction that results in these symptoms."
As a child neurology fellow, Gurnett typically divides her clinical
time between inpatient and outpatient care. She often cares for
inpatients with significant brain injury, epilepsy and stroke in
the intensive care unit, while treating patients with chronic medical
conditions - like cerebral palsy, headache and epilepsy - in
an outpatient setting. She also spends time researching the causes
of seizure and epilepsy.
Gurnett is a graduate of the Medical Scientist Training Program
(MSTP) at the UI, which awards a combined M.D. and Ph.D. degree
and trains students in both graduate research training and clinical
studies. Being a physician scientist has provided a lot of flexibility
to her career, Gurnett said.
"
Although there are certainly other routes to becoming a physician
scientist, the M.D./Ph.D. gives you complete exposure to research
and clinical medicine at the onset," she said. "As with
all careers, you must make choices how to spend your time, and
my training in the MSTP at Iowa has opened many doors for me."
Gurnett grew up in Iowa City-her father, Donald, is a renowned
UI physics and astronomy professor-but she left home to do
her undergraduate work in biology at the University of Notre Dame.
After finishing the MSTP program, she completed a pediatrics residency
at the UI before leaving for her fellowship in St. Louis.
"
Having spent time at institutions outside of Iowa, I have been
impressed with the level of excellence in all areas at the UI," she
said. "Perhaps because the UI is located in a small community
where students live and interact with faculty and staff at all
levels, there is a sense of accessibility that is absent at institutions
in larger cities. The sense of community between Iowa City and
the University is a unique and valuable asset."
Gurnett and her husband, Matt Dobbs, also a UI Carver College
of Medicine alumnus, participate in the HOST program, opening their
home to medical students who have residency interviews in the
St.
Louis area.
In her free time, Gurnett enjoys taking care of her six-year-old
son, Ellison, and her two-month-old twins, Kathleen and Thomas.
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