Duy Ha: Sharing a love of science

Duy Ha has always loved science.

The graduate student association president, an M.D./Ph.D. scholar in the departments of cellular & integrative physiology and surgery, enjoys sharing his passion, as well.

Graduate Posts spoke to Ha to ask about his interests, his love of science and his commitment to serving as a role model to other students who share his passion for science.

What sparked your interest in physiology and your current biomedical research?
During the first two years of medical school, my favorite topics were physiology and pathophysiology, because I could often predict how the human body changes with disease and dysfunction based on the knowledge of how it normally works. During my research rotation through cellular and integrative physiology, I experienced firsthand the excellent research and training that I had heard about from fellow graduate students, and I knew that in such an environment I would thrive as a budding physiologist.

The integrative nature of the scientific discussions aimed at solving clinical problems that I have participated in has deepened my understanding of how we arrived at many of the current clinical practices, which has made me even more appreciative of the importance of physiology and translational research. I think this mindset is what attracted me to Drs. Iraklis Pipinos and George Casale, who have taken a unique approach to studying peripheral arterial disease.

Starting at the patient level, we examine pathological changes occurring in the skeletal muscle with early disease, and how they change following the standard treatments of revascularization and exercise therapy. Using rigorous experimental techniques developed by our laboratory, we examine biomarkers associated with detrimental pathological processes such as oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and in my case, fibrosis.

From these associative clues in patients, we propose mechanisms to study how the disease arose in cellular and animal models, and ultimately, how we can target these mechanisms to prevent or slow these pathological changes in patients. I am sincerely thankful to my mentors, Dr. Pipinos and Casale, for exposing me to such an approach, which has sparked a lifelong interest in translational research.

Talk about your commitment to student outreach.
This is personally very close to me, since I would not be where I am today if others hadn’t reached out to me. So I have always wanted to give back, and it’s great that UNMC has so many opportunities to do so! The Biomedical Research Course that graduate students design and teach to students in the High School Alliance (HSA) program and our inaugural participation in the annual UNMC Health Careers Day are events that are especially dear to me.

I am in awe at how graduate students team with public school instructors to hone teaching and communication skills through curriculum development, lectures, and laboratory demonstrations in the Biomedical Research Course. Having participated previously, I am also in awe at how far we are able to intellectually challenge high school students with complex materials, such as how antibodies are used in a variety of techniques, including western blot and immunohistochemistry. I was most in awe, however, when one of the high school students asked me if she could spend a whole summer working in my lab after shadowing a couple of times.

We are fortunate to have administrators and researchers, such as my mentors, who are willing to make this a reality financially. I am excited to plan out a research project for my high school summer student and see how far she can go with it! I would love to see these experiences be expanded out to all students in Nebraska, in addition to those in the metro area who are able to participate in HSA.

I discovered this need while coordinating the information session on biomedical research careers to rural junior and senior high school students and their parents. It was great to get many of those students excited about science, and some of them already are. But they and their parents just did not know of any opportunities, even those that would be available to their students during college, such as the Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) that UNMC offers. Overall, I think graduate students can play a pivotal role in introducing young people to these opportunities and our profession, since they relate to us. This could be though providing information on research opportunities for an hour once a year or an eight-week summer lab experience.

What do you see as the mission of the Graduate Student Association?

Beyond what is stated in our constitution, I personally believe the role of GSA is to understand the challenges that our fellow graduate students face on multiple levels, such as social, academic and career, and find ways to best address them. In the past year, GSA has worked very hard to identify some of the issues concerning students, identify best practices on campus and nationwide, and formulate a cohesive proposal that we can take to Graduate Council or Student Senate, so that administrators, faculty, and peers from all professions can begin having conversations about these issues with us.

Two prime accomplishments that I am very proud of this year are improvements to the UNMC fellowship process and the Holi Festival of Colors. As a result of students’ concerns, the Graduate Council systematically re-examined the whole UNMC fellowship process from the judging criteria, to how review committees were formed, to when and how students would be notified of their comments and funding, all of which were aimed at the students’ desire for the process to mirror national fellowships so that they can use their UNMC Fellowship experience to be more competitive during their applications for extramural funding.

Similarly, graduate students wanted to increase diversity awareness and cultural exchange, not just among ourselves but also professional students from other colleges. The GSA successfully applied for Student Senate funds dedicated to such interprofessional efforts, which resulted in Holi, where students, faculty and staff were able to bond with each other during this cultural celebration.

I highly encourage graduate students who have ideas on how to improve any aspect of graduate student life at UNMC to come talk to the newly elected GSA officers. While we cannot guarantee what is asked for will happen, we will initiate a conversation among students to strategize towards a solid proposal that can be presented to the appropriate outlets and fight for change. Finally, another hope is for GSA to dispel the graduate student myth that “nothing ever changes, so we just shouldn’t bother,” and encourage our peers to become actively involved in projects meaningful to them that better the experience of all of us here at UNMC.

Tell us three things people may not know about you.

• I have tried over 250 restaurants in Omaha since arriving here five years ago
• I spent one summer each interning at a fashion magazine and music recording company
• As an avid fan of tennis and traveling, my dream is to see live matches at all four Grand Slams.