Seeing the Human Behind the Data
Graduating physician-scientist Deborah Plana combines passion for analysis, improving patient care
Deborah Plana, MD-PhD student in Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology program
As a high school student in Miami, Deborah Plana loved the quantitative sciences. Then her biology teacher talked about new drugs being tested to treat genetic diseases and the many questions that still weren’t answered in the life sciences, and Plana’s interests expanded.
“I love physics and statistics. I love working on research that has an important technical piece. But just as much, I love to do research that could meaningfully improve patients’ lives,” said Plana, who is graduating this year from the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology program as a physician-scientist with an MD to join her PhD.
Personal experience with cancer in her family cemented Plana’s determination to pursue a career that combines medicine and research.
“Human health problems impact people and their families so intimately,” she said.