Noah Forrest, G3

Why did you choose to attend Northwestern MSTP?

Northwestern was conveniently located in an affordable city, which was easily accessible by my partner's family as well as my own. Additionally, investigators at Northwestern were conducting cutting-edge research in the field of health informatics and public health, both of which I wanted to break into during my training.

Tell us what you've enjoyed most about your current phase in the program.

In the graduate phase of my training, I have loved the freedom of creating my own schedule and slowing down to think about the problems I'm working on.

What has been the biggest challenge with starting medical school and navigating the MSTP curriculum?

The biggest challenge in starting medical school was finding a studying system that worked best for me. I tried several methods before settling on one that balanced having free time and performing at my desired academic level.

The biggest challenge in graduate school has been in maintaining self-drive. Things often get difficult in the laboratory when an experiment goes wrong or I feel like I don't know what I'm doing, but I thankfully have a solid support system in the lab that gets me back on the right path when these things happen.

Share your path to Feinberg – what interesting experiences did you have prior to enrolling?

For two years prior to enrolling in Feinberg, I worked for an organization dedicated to the health, education and wellbeing of youth in Latin America called Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos. In one of my roles there, I discovered my interest in clinical research that eventually led me to applying to MD-PhD programs.