Malika Dosmagambetova (Kazakhstan)
“Travel is the traveler. What we see isn’t what we see, but what we are.” – Fernando Pessoa.
IMIM is an incredible career choice, but like any great program, it is what you make of it.
Before joining IMIM, I had two goals I wasn’t sure were achievable. The first was to continue specializing in forensic genetics—a field that is somewhat niche within innovative medicine. I worried that IMIM’s broad scope might pull me away from this path. Instead, IMIM enriched it. Exploring fields like structural cell biology, translational oncology, and AI in biomedicine, I learned to balance curiosity with productivity, picked programming skills through big data analysis, and practiced project management insights acquired during BBB modules. By the time my thesis at a forensic institute in Maastricht began, I could invest those skills to drive the project independently. IMIM not only allowed me to stay focused but expanded my expertise in ways I hadn’t imagined.
My second goal was to experience a variety of work environments, ideally including a Latin American university. Balancing travel with lab projects in a two-year program can be challenging. Yet knowing how organized the program is left me space to take an exchange semester in Brazil. At the Universidade de São Paulo (USP), I got immersed in a warm, collaborative setting that fueled curiosity and productivity of everyone involved. Working in the highly sterile conditions required by the humid climate exposed my lab skills that needed improvement. USP’s cancer institute showed me “translational oncology” in action, where patients directly benefited from cutting-edge research conducted within the same building. This experience was far more than an exciting exchange; it deepened my understanding of purpose-driven work and reinforced my belief that biomedical research impacts lives in real time—and that I can be part of this movement.
“Travel is the traveler.” After all, IMIM wasn’t about its high-quality education—it was about exploring my own interests with complete support to pursue them. It was about discovering new purposes to conduct biomedical research and about building lifelong friendships. IMIM was a life-changing exercise.