Indiana Wesleyan University congratulates senior Michael Gongwer, a Biochemistry major, who scored in the 100th percentile on the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) and will be pursuing a Doctorate of Medicine and of Philosophy (MD-PhD) clinical research path.
The goal of MD-PhD programs is to train individuals to work as both physicians and scientists to make advances in medicine based on the basic science research they are doing. These highly competitive programs provide full tuition for both medical school and graduate school and provide a stipend to cover cost of living expenses.
Gongwer has been accepted into four MD-PhD programs at University of California, Los Angeles; Yale; Washington University in St. Louis and Vanderbilt. After graduation from one of these programs, Gongwer’s goal is to run a neuroscience research lab and work as a physician seeing patients, likely in a neuroscience-related medical field such as neurology. He hopes to make scientific discoveries that will improve the lives of patients with untreatable neurological or psychiatric disorders.
“My [IWU] science courses have done a great job at not only preparing me for the MCAT to get into medical school, but also for medical school itself,” said Gongwer, who is from Wakarusa, Indiana.
Throughout his time in IWU’s Division of Natural Sciences, Gongwer has experienced specialized STEM training, faculty mentoring and unique research experiences. Through IWU’s Hodson Research Institute, he had the opportunity to conduct original research over a two-year period that resulted in two journal publications and numerous presentations.
“Because we only have undergraduates, I was able to play a much more prominent role in the [research] project than if I was simply working under a graduate student or postdoc,” said Gongwer. “Overall, my research experiences at IWU have prepared me quite well to enter graduate school and take on a project of my own.”
Gongwer expects to make a decision soon on which medical school he will attend.
“Michael has been an outstanding part of my undergraduate neuroscience research team over the past three years,” said Dr. Matthew Kreitzer, professor of Biology at IWU. “My time with Michael has clearly shown me that he is an exceptional student and person. I was not surprised when some of the best schools in the world recognized Michael’s distinctives as well!”
For more information about IWU’s Division of Natural Sciences, visit www.indwes.edu/undergraduate/division-of-natural-sciences/.