Greg Gallanis
Tumor Biology MD-PhD
There are so many unanswered questions in the understanding and treatment of cancer; to me, the great need for discovery is a calling toward which I feel driven to respond and dedicate my career.
About Greg
Greg is a student in the Tumor Biology MD-PhD program at Biomedical Graduate Education (BGE). He is originally from San Diego, California.
What made you choose Georgetown University for your MD-PhD degree?
I came to Georgetown for the opportunity to study medicine and science together at a university with a rich culture of student education and academic exploration in the context of steadfast religious foundation. Participating in the dual-degree program here at Georgetown both affords me the liberty to express myself as a learner and challenges me to work on my weaknesses. Just as the motto of our medical school is Cura personalis, which translates to “care of the whole person,” I believe that as a Georgetown student I am in an environment that champions provision of compassionate care according to the unique needs of each patient. This environment motivates me to achieve results at the highest level.
What do you hope to do with your degree?
I hope to become a physician-scientist oncologist who is able to treat my patients in the clinic as well as enroll them in the research studies in my laboratory. Upon graduation from Georgetown, I plan to continue my training by completing a residency program in Internal Medicine and a fellowship in Hematology and Oncology. In my career, I look forward to providing compassionate and evidence-based care through creative discovery.
What sparked your interest in the biomedical field?
When I decided to pursue medicine, my father told me to push myself to undertake the hardest task I think I am capable of achieving. After shadowing MD-PhD medical oncologists and working with cancer biologists in my pre-graduate years at the University of Southern California, I learned that the field of oncology has come so far within the lifetimes of my predecessors yet still contains vast room for advancement. There are so many unanswered questions in the understanding and treatment of cancer; to me, the great need for discovery is a calling toward which I feel driven to respond and dedicate my career.
If you were given money to open a small museum, what kind of museum would you create?
In a heartbeat, I would open a museum of food and cooking. Our name? “What’s Cooking!?” The feature exhibitions would chronicle the evolution of American cooking styles over the decades and correlate to the staples of American diet during those time periods. Rotating exhibitions would showcase culinary varieties from various parts of the country according to the harvest seasons. I would also love to dedicate space for an education center where we partner with local schools to teach interactive courses on sustainable and approachable cooking styles with the goal to help develop quality lifelong dietary habits.
When you are having a bad day, what do you do to make it better?
Success in medical and graduate school requires the student to make sacrifices that he or she never could have foreseen at the outset. When an experiment fails or the work is overwhelming, I take a minute to be mindful of the privilege it is even to be in such a position at all. It only takes a minute to pause, reset, and be grateful for all the blessings in my life, because one bad day cannot affect my positive momentum unless I let it.