Dr. Shoumita Dasgupta, Director of Graduate Studies

The scientific advances that led to the sequencing of the human genome underscore the necessity to combine the scholarly approaches derived from classical fields such as genetics with those rapidly developing fields in the arena of genomics. The ultimate objective of these efforts is to train scientists to take full advantage of the publicly available genomic data to make rapid and ingenious advances in biomedical research. Bringing these combined approaches to the practice of modern science and medicine will have an enormous impact on shaping the development of new fields, but before this can occur, the specialized disciplines need to be introduced into a framework in which they are juxtaposed. Scientists with expertise in genetic methods, molecular problems, and computational approaches must interact in productive ways and train a new generation of scientists to utilize cross-disciplinary tools in scientific research.

The creation of a graduate program in the Department of Genetics and Genomics aims to bring scientists in these fields together in an atmosphere of intellectual endeavor.

The program was established through the efforts of many faculty in Genetics and Genomics and other departments at BUSM. Special credit goes to Dr. Shoumita Dasgupta, Assistant Professor of Genetics and Genomics, for her outstanding efforts to organize, plan and coordinate the establishment of this novel educational program.