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Featured Student: November 2009

Kristina DeSmet

This December, Kristina DeSmet will be awarded UWM’s first Ph.D. in Health Sciences.

Her doctoral research using near-infrared light could lead to better treatment for Parkinson’s Disease. Kristina has also studied retinal dysfunction and non-invasive toxicity therapy in zebrafish. As a postdoctoral associate in North Carolina, she will study drug-induced liver injury.

Aided by her undergraduate double major in physiological science and criminology and law studies, Kristina helped develop and facilitate a forensic science program for local high school students during her UWM master’s studies.

Her advisor, Professor Janis Eells in Clinical Laboratory Sciences, calls DeSmet “an exceptional graduate student who combines wonderful outgoing personality with an outstanding aptitude for research.”

Eells’ assessment is borne out in Kristina’s long list of awards and honors, which includes two awards recognizing young researchers from the Midwest Regional Chapter Society of Toxicology, a Quantum Devices Scholarship, a student research grant and poster presentation award from the College of Health Sciences, a UWM Chancellor’s Graduate Student Award, two Fight for Sight Student Fellowships, and UWM teaching and program assistantships.

Kristina's undergraduate studies at Marquette University were funded by a Chick Evans Scholarship, awarded to deserving caddies from the Western Golf Association.

1) How would you describe your field of study/research to a friend who is not in your graduate program?

My research focuses on the use of near-infrared light as a complementary treatment option for Parkinson’s disease. Near-infrared light is thought to stimulate mitochondria, the power house of the cell. PD has underlying mitochondrial dysfunction. Near-infrared light may be able to enhance mitochondrial function in PD and attenuate symptom progression in patients.

2) What brought you to UWM for your graduate studies?

I attended Marquette University for my undergraduate degree and had really wanted to pursue my graduate education in Milwaukee. I had started as a MS student in Clinical Laboratory Sciences and transitioned into the Health Sciences PhD program after the completion of my MS.

3) What's been your best experience so far?

The interaction with my faculty advisor, Dr. Janis Eells, has been my best experience at UWM. Dr. Eells has not only been an advisor but a mentor and a friend. She is receptive to my ideas, offers constructive criticism of our work and has helped to make me the scientist that I am now.

4) If you were able to merge another discipline with yours, what would that be and why?

For my project, a merge between Health Sciences and Biomedical Engineering would make for a great pairing. My research has shown that near-infrared light can be effective in animal models of PD. Being able to produce a device that can deliver near-infrared light at an effective energy density to the base of the brain in humans would result in the great translation of basic research to clinical practice.

5) What is your favorite stress-reduction activity?

Exercise is my activity of choice. After a long day I always find myself at the gym. It allows me time to relax and recoup.

6) What do you most enjoy about Milwaukee?

I enjoy the city life Milwaukee has to offer. When I first came to Milwaukee in 1998 for my undergraduate education Milwaukee definitely had a small town feel to me. Since then the city has really been reborn. I love the restaurants, shopping and nightlife.

7) Is there anything that you've had to "give up" as a graduate student?

The only tangible thing that I had to give up in graduate school is sleep. But I think that is normal for undergraduate and graduate students.

8) What are your plans for after graduate school?

I have started a postdoctoral fellow position at The Hamner Institutes for Health Science in the Institute for Drug Safety Sciences (Research Triangle Park, NC). I will be performing research that will investigate the genetic component involved in drug-induced liver injury under the direction of Dr. Paul Watkins, a leading authority on drug-induced liver injury.

9) What trait do you find most necessary to succeed in graduate school?

Persistence and patience. Basic research is often difficult. You need to have a lot of patience. One week all your experiments may be going well and the next nothing is working. You have to continue on.

10) Do you have any advice that you would give to a new graduate student in your program?

Get to know all the professors early on in the program—within the first semester. This will allow you to make the best choice as to what laboratory you want to work with.