Exploring Unknown Territory: Krisna Maddy’s Passion for Neuroscience

For Krisna Maddy, 2024 Match Day will be a chance to celebrate with family, classmates and neuroscience mentors and learn where her passion for neuroscience will take her for residency.

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What was it like to have parents who are also physicians?

They were the reason I got into medicine! Both my parents were foreign-trained physicians in Mexico, where I was born. They were in residency as I was growing up and we later came to the U.S., where they were able to build their practice. Their efforts made me realize that medicine was worth fighting for and worth continuing to pursue.

Talk a bit about your passion for neuroscience.

There’s something exciting about exploring unknown territory. For me, neuroscience is an opportunity to think about how our brain affects how we present ourselves in the world. It’s a beautiful organ system and it’s really philosophical. The hard science of the brain is interesting, too, especially thinking about how it evolves and grows throughout life with us.

Why did you want to pursue a dual M.D. and M.S. in Human Genomics degree?

The master’s in human genomics is special because it lets you explore the clinical research side at a very basic science level and its clinical applications. We always say that science doesn’t operate in a bubble. It works in the context of humans and people. This degree perfectly combines my love for the sciences and research, how to put that into clinical context and how to help people. The dual degree gave me a good balance of wanting to be a great clinician as a medical doctor while using research to support my goals as a clinician.

You are part of the inaugural NextGenMD curriculum. What was that like?

Anytime that you get to be a pioneer in medical education, there are so many good things to look forward to. I love the idea of being in charge of my own learning, making sure that I was coming prepared for class and engaging with my classmates in these smaller group sessions.

What was it like being in the Summer Scholarship in Neurosurgery program?

This was a life-changing opportunity and I feel fortunate the Miller School set the foundation for me to see myself in neurosurgery and imagine my life in neurosurgery. It’s a challenging specialty and there are a lot of aspects to it, but that program gave me an opportunity to find mentorship, which I’ve had these past years. Those mentors will be at Match Day to celebrate me and I’m really excited about that. So, it really launched me off into my career in neurosurgery and I’m grateful that I got to be a part of it.

How are you approaching Match Day?

I’m applying to neurosurgery as the specialty, which combines my love for research, clinical rigor and compassionate care. Match Day is the most exciting time in a medical student’s life. It’s a time where you get to celebrate with your friends you’ve been working with for the past four years and with your family who’s been watching you work towards this goal for the past four years. This day is just a culmination of all that hard work and I can’t wait for it.

What kind of physician do you want to be?

I see myself as a future clinician-researcher or a surgeon-scientist. I want to combine my love for research, specifically genomics and computational genomics, and how we can use that to translate into better neurosurgical outcomes and plans for care. I hope to use that degree to be able to supplement some of the research that I do in the field.

Tags: Match Day, Match Day 2024, medical education