 Alumni Interviews:
Rita Shiang, Ph.D.
Iowa provided career-building connections
"I didn't know anything about Iowa since
I had grown up in California, but after my interview, I came away
with a good impression of the faculty, the University and Iowa
City. The decision to do my graduate work at Iowa turned out to
be an excellent decision for me. I was well trained so I could
be successful in my postdoctoral career, which helped me to find
my first faculty position."
Hailing from California, Rita Shiang didn't know much about
the University of Iowa but came away from her educational experience
with a firm grasp of what it meant to graduate from the University
of Iowa Carver College of Medicine.
"I knew I wanted to do research in human genetics and found
professors at the UI Carver College of Medicine in the Department
of Pediatrics I was interested in working
with," said Shiang. "I didn't know anything about Iowa since
I had grown up in California, but after my interview, I came away with a good
impression of the faculty, the University and Iowa City. The decision to do
my graduate work at Iowa turned out to be an excellent decision for me. I was
well
trained so I could be successful in my postdoctoral career, which helped me
to find my first faculty position."
As an assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University,
Shiang has seen other genetics programs across the country and
comments that the UI's genetics
program measures up incredibly well with other programs.
"Its strength is in the interdisciplinary nature of the program. Students
get a good didactic education in a variety of model systems, from viruses to
humans and everything in between." Because the UI program draws together
faculty from the UI Carver College of Medicine, the Department of Biology and
the College of Engineering, Shiang also feels that students receive a first-class
education, which makes for a very positive graduate school experience.
Shiang found that her education at the UI allowed her to experience
disciplines that she might not have pursued otherwise. She was
allowed to be a graduate
student in the Department of Pediatrics and was exposed to the clinical
side of human
genetics, which she said helps her today in her current position as faculty
in the Department of Human Genetics at VA Commonwealth University.
Because she discovered so much about her field, her profession
and herself while at the UI, Shiang believes it is important to
give back to her
alma mater. For
this reason, she volunteered her home to two medical students last
year as part of the UI's HOST (Help Our Students Travel) program.
"I feel the most important aspect of this program is for the students to
have a friendly face in an unknown environment and at a very stressful time in
their lives. It feels great to be able to help current students at Iowa, and
I feel connected to the UI. Once you have gone to a school, you are always part
of it, and it's always part of you." For more information:
 Support our Faculty, Staff, and Students
|
view
read
alumni interviews
view
photo albums
Back
to Alumni Interviews Page