My name is Tom Sanford, and I attended medical school at the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine. I had the extraordinary opportunity to pursue my interest in research through the Foundation for NIH’s Clinical Research Training Program (CRTP) in the 2008-2009 academic year.  I entered the CRTP with sparse research experience. I was simply hoping to gain exposure to well-conducted clinical and translational research and left with much, much more.

I worked with a true surgeon-scientist, Dr. Gennady Bratslavsky in the Urologic Oncology Branch of the National Cancer Institute at NIH.  Under Dr. Bratslavsky’s guidance, I learned to use microarray technology to identify potential biomarkers that could better sub-stratify different types of kidney cancer. I was encouraged to ask my own questions and design my own experiments. 

My role changed from a passive observer to an enthusiastic participant. I left the NIH with a strong sense of wanting to continue with academics in the future.  That is what I plan to do during my Urology residency at the University of California, San Francisco starting in July 2010.