Alumni News

October 8, 2019 at 4:09 pm

Alumni News | Yihong Wang Gives Biology Graduate Students Advise on Careers

Dr. Wang and her Ph.D. mentor, Dr. Bob Colvin, professor and Chair, Biological Sciences during her recent visit to the Athens campus

Ohio University alum Dr. Yihong Wang recently returned to Athens to give a research seminar and meet with current Biological Sciences graduate students, providing her thoughts on making career choices after obtaining a Ph.D. degree.

Wang earned the MD/Ph.D. degree and is a highly skilled and successful pathologist with a specialty in Breast Cancer at Rhode Island Hospital and is affiliated with Brown University medical school.

She graduated from Ohio University with a Ph.D. degree in Biological Sciences from the College of Arts & Sciences in 2000.

Her advice to incoming graduate students is to find something you want to do and do it well. It is crucial to take full advantage of all the opportunities given to you here at Ohio University.

The Biological Sciences Department invites former graduate students to return to campus to describe their experiences in developing their own post graduation career path.

OHIO ‘Has No Shortcomings When Compared to Harvard and Brown University’

At OHIO, Wang performed her thesis research in the laboratory of Dr. Bob Colvin focused on the sodium calcium exchanger, which is an important transport protein critically involved in calcium homeostasis in the brain.

Athens, Ohio is the first place Wang came to in the United States from China. She did not have much knowledge about Ohio University before arriving, other than some information from books and literature articles.  Before attending Ohio University, she attended medical school in China at Shandong Medical University. Wang was thrilled to come to Ohio University for her research and Ph.D. training.

Ohio University is where Wang learned English, how to drive a car, and where she bought her first TV.  Athens, Ohio is a very special place and will always have a place in her heart.

“I don’t have a single thing I associate as bad here, I have all good memories,” Wang said. “Everyone here is so nice, the advisers and professors are so helpful and always ready to answer your questions.”

Ohio University prepared Wang with everything she needed to succeed as a graduate student. She was able to teach undergraduate courses, which taught her various skills that she carried on later in her career.

“Ohio University has no shortcomings when compared to Harvard and Brown University. The academic environment gave me everything I wanted and needed to prepare me for my current career as a pathologist.”

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