Grant Kern

MS in Systems Medicine

About Grant

Grant Kern is a recent graduate in the Master’s in Systems Medicine program at Biomedical Graduate Education (BGE). He is originally from The Woodlands, Texas and moved to DC in the Fall of 2017. After graduate school, Grant plans to apply to medical school.

What made you choose Georgetown University for your MS degree?

After graduating from college, I knew I wanted to do something more with my background in Biology and Chemistry. I have had a passion for genetics as long as I can remember. After learning about Georgetown’s Systems Medicine program, I knew it was going to be a great fit for me! The school’s location, history, and connections made coming here an easy choice.

What do you hope to do with your degree?

I am hoping to use my master’s degree to improve how we can prevent, detect, and treat diseases. Right now, I am applying to medical schools, and I think it would be great to be able to combine the skills an MD provides with the tools I gained earning my master’s degree from Georgetown. I think it would be great to improve how medical professionals can take care of patients using omics technologies.

What sparked your interest in the biomedical field?

Since elementary school, I have had an interest in using science to improve people’s lives. I thought it was fascinating how every cell with a nucleus has instructions to make anything we need. As I got older and studied how genetics influences health, I became more interested in understanding the biomedical mechanisms that affect disease.

If you could go back in time and change one thing, what would it be?

If I could go back in time, I think it would be neat to pick the brains of scientists who have made important contributions to our understanding of the world. I would love to visit Gregor Mendel, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Charles Darwin, Rosalind Franklin, and Albert Einstein. It would be fascinating to see the world through history and learn how each scientist’s background influenced their research and theories.

Which of the five senses would you consider to be your strongest?

I think I would consider my sense of sight to be the strongest. Our eyes take in so much information every day. I think it’s incredible how our brain works alongside them to analyze the world around us.