Annual Retreat

The BU MD/PhD program organizes a student retreat every year, providing an opportunity for the entire student body to come together and discuss the year’s events. The retreat starts off with an icebreaker, followed by an address from the program directors to welcome the incoming M1 students. A keynote address, given by a prominent member of the scientific community, will discuss their career paths, research, and other topics relevant to physician scientists in training. Current students are also provided an opportunity to present their research progress through poster presentations. Finally, a series of workshops presented by program directors and MD/PhD faculty provide students opportunity to give feedback on the program as well as practice skills necessary for the career, including scientific speaking and critical literature review.

Current year retreat

Date: September 20th, 2025

Keynote speaker: Dr. Elisabeth Battinelli, MD, PhD

Dr. Battinelli is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Chief of Hematology Division Research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Clinical Director MGB Integrated Special Coagulation Laboratory Service, Director of the Basic and Translational Research Program for Disorders of Platelets and Coagulation, and Director of the Platelet Disorder Clinic. Her career has been focused on both research and clinical care with an expertise in platelet disorders. Her clinical responsibilities are centered in Hemostasis and Thrombosis Clinic, which enables her to care for patients with clotting disorders and platelet abnormalities, while her research focuses on how platelets differentially release angiogenesis regulatory proteins in the setting of malignancy.

Past retreat keynote speakers

2024 – Aly Elezaby, MD, PhD – Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, Member of Maternal & Child Health Research Institute – Stanford University School of Medicine

2023 – Laura Ngwenya, MD, PhD – Associate Professor of Neurosurgery, Director of Neurotrauma – University of Cincinnati

2019 – Hao G. Nguyen, MD, PhD – Goldberg-Benioff Endowed Professorship in Cancer Biology – UCSF

2018 – Christine Iacobuzio-Donahue, MD, PhD – David M. Rubenstein Center Chair for Pancreatic Cancer Research; Director, Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research – Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

2016 – Mohit Jain, MD, PhD – Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Medicine – UCSD

2015 – Michael Mansour, MD,PhD – Associate Professor of Medicine – Harvard