Thread by @DrZadKhan, Hey @BlackinNeuro here’s my #BlackJourneyToNeuroLet’s start in Miami around early 2006. I [...]

Hey @BlackinNeuro here’s my #BlackJourneyToNeuro
Let’s start in Miami around early 2006. I wasn’t a great student. I was all into music, and that passion led me to become a drum major: (I'm on your right). No one had set any expectations for me. 1/15

I met this ray of sunshine (now my wife!) who challenged me to think past music. She was supportive (ya boy had bars lol), but wanted me to explore options. I’m forever thankful she didn’t let me coast along. I discovered I was really fascinated by the brain. 2/15

Ya’ll I’d never been more motivated to apply myself in school. I took six AP classes. I was on the superintendent’s honor roll throughout senior year. My mom cursed my name every report card that year because I had the capability the whole time! 3/15

My weighted GPA shot up a whole integer, and that along with my music skills earned me a full scholarship offer from THE Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University, where I was admitted to the Honors Program. Go Rattlers! 4/15

When I got there I hit a fork in the road. Music was a full-time commitment. There wasn’t a straightforward way for me to stay on track with pre-med requirements and keep the scholarship. I made a difficult decision and quit marching band to make time for those lab courses. 5/15

I retained my love for music. I had this really cheap keyboard I brought with me to college and would occasionally do covers of song I heard on the radio by ear. Here’s a grainy example: #BlackNeuroArt
@BlackinNeuro! 6/15

In need of funding, I stumbled onto research opportunities and was accepted to a summer REU at the University of Florida. Needless to say I rocked it. My mentor at UF helped me realize that I really just wanted a PhD. 7/15

Another tough decision happened. After two years at FAMU, I knew I wanted to do biomedical research. My physics advisor told me I’d be better off doing biomedical research at FSU. In retrospect he probably didn’t mean to be taken seriously. I listened and transferred. 8/15

This was my first experience being truly marginalized. I remember after a lecture I went to shake a professor’s hand to introduce myself and he was completely dismissive. I never did that again and it took time for me to regain confidence and visit a prof for office hours. 9/15

I was an undergraduate researcher in the Biochemistry department for most of my time at FSU. I felt much more comfortable in my lab than I did any where else on campus, so that’s where I spent the most time and that’s how my love for science grew. I was hooked. 10/15

I worked at a calling center fundraising for FSU. One of my calls was to a then neuroscience postdoc at UVA. He raved about the program. It was already on the short list (my Biochem mentor also gushed about it) so that sealed the deal. I applied and was accepted! 11/15

Grad school was tough for me at first. I had no formal neuroscience knowledge because neither FAMU nor FSU had neuroscience undergrad programs. I was scared to ask questions for my first 3-years. This is where I credit @UAB_NeuroRMS they gave me all the confidence 12/15

During my final years at UVA I got an F31, could “talk science”, but didn’t have the confidence to advocate for myself. I mention this to encourage others to speak up. From my experience no one can do it for you. Get feedback regularly, don’t avoid your committee, etc. 13/15

Thinking about the future, I took a chance and applied to a postdoc recruitment initiative at Stanford. I loved the postdoc community. So many gifted minds, and they were all much more chill than I expected. Here are more details on the program: https://postdocs.stanford.edu/PRISM 14/15

I can go into more details but this about sums it up. No one (including myself) thought I’d be here. Along the way I learned to advocate for myself, and I’m still learning new things about myself everyday. Fin! 15/15

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