Featured Alumni Spotlight

Each Spring, we’ll interview a featured alumni of the Stony Brook MSTP about their time at Stony Brook, their career since, and any personal wisdom they were willing to share with our community. Our inaugural Featured Alumni is Dr. Oladapo Yeku, Class of 2012, who received doctorate in Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology researching with our own Dr. Mike Frohman. Dr. Yeku tells us about his choice to pursue a research-oriented residency, his transition to junior faculty, some personal hobbies outside of the program.

Career/Training:

Where did you complete residency training and what led you to choose that specialty?

I completed my residency training at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). I was part of the ABIM Research Pathway program (AKA short track). For those who might be considering a career in Internal Medicine or its related subspecialties, UPMC is a fantastic program. I ended up choosing medical oncology as my subspecialty because it represented an area where I could practice clinical medicine while synthesizing my expertise in cell biology, pharmacology and immunology in the lab. Medical oncology is one specialty (among several) that has served as a model for the “bench-to-bedside and back to the bench” model that attracted me to the MSTP program.

Who is a role model in your field (research or medical) and what makes them stand out to you?

For the same reasons I think it is helpful to have several different mentors, I also believe in having several difference role models. It’s rare that one single person encapsulates every ideal you aspire towards. That said, I have to say that Dr. Michael Frohman (SBU) is my research role model and my clinical role model is Dr. Greg Bump (UPMC). One thing they both have in common is being seasoned, savvy and well-respected problem-solvers. All with the approachability and humility that often challenges many accomplished scientists/physicians with their stature. My physician scientist mentors are too numerous to list.

What has been the hardest part of balancing clinical and medical work at the residency and fellowship level? What has been the easiest?

Sometimes, working hours could be harsh- very harsh. On paper, being in the clinic and the lab at the same time sounds awesome. In reality, it sometimes gets annoying when you’re trying to focus on patient care during your clinic days and you get calls from the animal facility because your animals are freaking out. It also works vice versa when you have to delay or modify your awesome multi-day experiment because one of the critical read-out days falls on a clinic day. Even as a fellow, this was a source of frustration for me. On the amazing side, there is no feeling like telling a patient that you were the scientific investigator behind a clinical protocol they are considering. Or when you rush clinical samples back to your lab and find that the mechanisms you predicted/ worked out in your preclinical models is what you are finding in patients. Those experiences make everything worth it.

What aspect(s) of your training at Stony Brook did you find the most useful for moving into residency and fellowship?
I learned a lot of resiliency at Stony Brook. Although not explicitly taught, I learned a lot of clinical reasoning from my Attendings and fellows while I was a medical student. During my training, I spent a lot of time at the VA hospital and Winthrop and many of the faculty I worked with were master clinicians. In the same way that I dove into all aspects of conducting research during my PhD training, I fully immersed myself in every rotation – even my 4th year Neurology and Anesthesiology rotations. Learning how to communicate, ask questions, take responsibility and lifelong learning, are core skills that I took away from Stony Brook.

As you move into your next academic faculty position, what challenges do you predict you will face? How do you think your training has prepared you for this?
Every time you complete one aspect of your training as a physician scientist, there is often an uncomfortable, anxiety-provoking, night sweat-inducing period. This happens when you transition to graduate school after step 1, it happens when you go back to medical school and even when you go from the clinical aspect of your fellowship to the research part of your fellowship. Transitioning to junior faculty brings out the worst of all those feelings. What research questions will you work on? Are they important questions? Does anyone care? How will you fund your work? Are your clinical skills up-to-date? Are you a good team manager? For me specifically, in addition to all the above, it will be getting my research program off the ground while building my clinical practice.

What advice would you give MS1s and MS2s to consider as they choose their PhD labs?
Pick a well-funded lab and a mentor who you like and think you can get along with (a mentor who likes and is invested in you is also a big deal). I once met a PI (at Stony Brook) who was convinced that it takes 10 years to properly train and educate a PhD candidate. That blew my mind. A lab like that is not where you need to be, even if it’s a Howards Hughes lab. Although not generally discussed, I think personality compatibility also is very important. If you like being micromanaged, you might not thrive in a lab with a hands-off PI who is more interested in big picture experiments and discussions. Also, don’t necessarily pick the field you think you will be working in for the rest of your life during graduate school if there are no suitable mentors in that department. Learning how to think, design experiments, and write are far more important than joining a lab in any particular discipline. For instance, I graduated from the Pharmacology program even though I wanted to be an Immunologist. I picked an immunology lab during fellowship and I have done well because I learned the fundamentals.

How did you decide on your fellowship topic area? Was this a difficult decision?

It was a methodical process that involved a lot of false-starts, dead ends and even mild disappointment. I started out by narrowing down the big subdivisions; I didn’t want to do Neurology, Anesthesiology, Pediatrics, OB/GYN, etc. Then I thought about what the clinical activity of each field was like; inpatient vs outpatient, acute vs chronic illnesses vs consults etc. Then I thought about which of those fields had questions/objectives that could be addressed by a cell biologist/immunologist. Medical oncology came into focus for me after that process.

If students are interested in pursuing your training pathway, what advice would you give them for after completing the MSTP?
Be persistent and settle in for a prolonged campaign. If you want to stay in academic medicine, go to residencies and fellowships at academic centers. Seek out mentors and get advice early and often. Regularly refine your professional goals and objectives to bring them in line with reality. Try to cultivate friends and colleagues in your department or field who are also interested in academic medicine and research.

Personal Interest

What top three things powered you through the program?
I used to have regular coffee breaks with my fellow MSTP classmate, Iehab Talukder. We would come to lab around 6-7 am, work till around 10 am and then have coffee at the back of the CMM building. It was always nice to sit and chat about our research/ politics/ hopes and dreams, etc. I was also into mixed martial arts and practiced seriously for about 3-4 years. I also started a book club and read a whole bunch of classic novels with my friend (1984, Brave New World, Rabbit Run).

What is your favorite Stony Brook study cafe, restaurant or bar?

There is (or used to be) a Starbucks on 347 road. I studied there almost exclusively during medical school. John Harvards was also a go-to place for after-hour hangouts. There was nothing magical about the place, I guess it was just convenient, and there was always a good chance you would run into somebody you knew from Stony Brook on any given night.

Did you develop any fun hobbies or go on any remarkable adventures during your MSTP years?
I got into some serious Kayaking during my MSTP years. I can’t swim so I always went with a friend, presumably to keep me from drowning, call for help or at least notify my next-of-kin. I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t tried.

What will you miss most about Long Island?

I think I will miss the people the most. I met some truly incredible and interesting people while I lived out there and I still keep in touch with many. I also formed a lot of connections with faculty members, some of whom I run into from time to time at meetings.