My MCW Story: Paul Martino
"Graduate School: It prepared me immensely for my career"
Published: May, 2016
Paul Martino, PhD, had an amazing experience as an MCW employee and later as a physiology PhD student in the MCW Graduate School. So much so that he continues to encourage his own students at Carthage College to apply for MCW’s Summer Program for Undergraduate Research (SPUR) and continues to collaborate with some of his grad school mentors.
“The faculty at MCW are amazing, and I can’t image a better place to do graduate work,” Paul said. “When I attended national conferences, I would see other people flock to the MCW faculty to talk to them, and I’d think, ‘How cool is this? People all over the country want to talk to these people, and I get to work with them every day and interact with them in the halls.’”
Paul graduated in 2006 and is an associate professor of biology at Carthage College, and is conducting anxiety and grip strength research with a neuroscientist and biology collaborators at Carthage College. During the summer, he comes back to MCW to work with Bert Forster, PhD, professor of physiology, who Paul worked with for almost five years before working in his lab as a student, and Matthew Hodges, PhD, assistant professor of physiology.
“My time at MCW was so important to my development as a teacher and researcher,” Paul said. “I was able to work with faculty who conducted their work at the absolute highest level and were amazing mentors, and I had the opportunity to mentor undergrad students and medical school students. It prepared me immensely for my career.”