Mentorship Leads to Life Passion of Research

Alexandria (Katie) Maurer (Class of 2007) knew from a very young age she wanted to be a doctor. But it wasn’t until her OSSM mentorship at the University of Oklahoma’s Health Sciences Institute (OUHSC) that she learned she could be both a medical doctor and a researcher.

One of the most unique opportunities I had at OSSM is the mentorship program, an immersive experience working in a real science lab,” said Katie. “Working in that lab was so much fun. Under the leadership of Dr. H. Anne Pereira, I learned to formulate hypotheses and test them in real time. This opened my eyes to the possibility of becoming a research scientist in addition to being a doctor since I can combine traditional medical training with a Ph.D. in a scientific field.”

After graduating from OSSM, Katie attended the University of Rochester in New York, where she earned a Bachelor of Science with honors in microbiology and immunology, with distinction in research. She then went on to complete the joint M.D./Ph.D. program at New York University school of medicine. She completed her Ph.D. in Immunology in 2016 and earned her M.D. in 2017.

Upon completion of her residency in 2019, Katie began her fellowship in medical oncology and hematology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Mass. where she is currently continuing her training as a medical oncologist and physician scientist. She resides in Cambridge, Mass., with her husband, Dr. Daniel Okin, also a physician-scientist at the Massachusetts General Hospital.