SPOTLIGHT 1999: SUSAN FINK

One of the Honors students who graduated in May of 1999 was Regents Scholar Susan L. Fink. Susan earned a B.S. degree in Biology with Highest Honors. Her Senior Honors Project is entitled "A Novel Reporter System for the Isolation of Legionella pneumophila Virulence Genes." The research and preparation of her project for over a year taught the Biology major something about herself as well as about the bacteria that cause Legionnaires' disease.

In an interview just as she was about to graduate, Susan said, "I knew that UH had a strong biology department, and I knew that I could do research here as an undergraduate. I also knew I was interested in diseases as well as genetics." The Honors Program's unique opportunity to conduct undergraduate research allowed her to combine both subjects. What she didn't know, the Kalaheo High School graduate explained in the interview, is that she would find research so interesting. "I really love it."

In Fall of 1999, Susan began graduate work at the University of Washington, where she has been accepted into a combined MD/PhD program. That challenging program generally requires eight years to complete, Susan says, "depending on how long it takes you to write your thesis." And after that? "It sounds funny to say it, but I'd like to be sort of a part-time doctor," Susan told her interviewer. "That is, I'd like to have some clinical involvement, but I also want to be able to do clinically relevant research."