Michelle Rodriguez Garcia

Why FSU?

After graduating from Medical School in El Salvador, I decided to pursue a career in research. When deciding to pursue the Biomedical Sciences PhD Program at FSU, I met Dr. Jose Pinto (my now PI) and some of his graduate students. The different projects and techniques that they use in his lab to study cardiac molecular biology and mechanics helped me realize that this program would be a perfect fit for me as it would help me nourish and improve my knowledge in the cardiac field and guide me to become a physician-scientist.

Motivation to pursue a graduate degree

When I decided to pursue a PhD degree, I was looking to conduct more theoretical and technical training in research. I would like to contribute more to the cardiac field and the understanding of cardiac diseases. By learning the basic science of cardiac function, I believe we can move to create new techniques to personalize treatments.

Importance and/or impact of research and work

I am investigating the pathological changes in the cardiac system due to different cardiac sarcomere protein mutations. The main goal of my projects is to understand how some of these sarcomere proteins work and how they affect cardiac muscle functioning such as contraction, fibrosis, and hemodynamic functioning in the presence of mutations.

Career aspirations

I plan to begin my medical training in Internal Medicine and follow up with a fellowship in Cardiology. Overall, my scientific and medical training will allow me to achieve my long-term goal and be a physician-scientist. By following this path, I plan to work with personalized medicine and become a member of a cardiovascular research center, where I can provide my patients with the best quality and personalized care during their time of illness.

Advice for anyone considering graduate school

Follow your passions. A lot of people tried to discourage me from pursuing a PhD because I already had an MD degree, but I was interested in doing research, so if you feel that pursuing a degree in graduate school is what you want, do it! But do it for yourself. Graduate school is hard, but if you come to graduate school for somebody else wishes or opinions it is going to be twice as hard.

Accomplishments during graduate career

Contributions to Science Publications: Landim-Vieira, M., Childers, M. C., Wacker, A. L., Garcia, M. R., He, H., Singh, R., ... & Parvatiyar, M. S. (2022). Post-translational modification patterns on β-myosin heavy chain are altered in ischemic and nonischemic human hearts. Elife, 11, e74919.