By David Chiang (entering class of 2009)

On September 8, 2014, Dr. Yasmin Hurd officially stepped down as the Director of the MD/PhD program to move on towards a new position: innaugural Director of the Mount Sinai Center for Addictive Disorders. As much as she would have loved being a highly applauded and successful scientist, program director, and center director (all at the same time), it would have simply been too much for one person – even with a career track that has been marked with as many successes as hers.

As director of the program, Dr. Hurd oversaw a successful renewal of the T32 Training Grant funding the MD/PhD program, growth of the Clinical Refresher course for MD/PhDs re-entering their third year of medical school, the beginnings of a novel Clinical Experience program for PhD-phase MD/PhDs, regular meetings with students, and many other innovative and successful programs.

While this short paragraph cannot express our gratitude, we thank you, Dr. Hurd, for your years of serving and growing our great program to what it is today. We wish you the best in your new position and we hope you bring just as much love and passion to it as you did to us.