Graduate Research Assistant
Penn State College of Medicine
Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
My name is Laura Odom and I am a 2nd-year Anatomy Ph.D. student at the Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Prior to graduate school, I received a B.S. in Neuroscience from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). For 3 years, I worked as a teaching assistant in the undergraduate human anatomy course at UAB. It was through this position that I discovered my passion for anatomy and teaching, and this prompted me to seek a future in anatomy education. At Penn State, I work as a teaching assistant with a team of other Ph.D. students. We TAs deliver lectures, facilitate gross anatomical dissection, formulate assessments, and hold interactive imaging and review sessions with physician assistant students, medical students, and residents.
In addition to teaching, I work as a graduate research assistant in the lab of Dr. Patricia McLaughlin where we study the neurodegenerative disease Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in human patients and in a mouse model of the disease. My current research focuses on the relationships between the psychiatric, cognitive, and sensorimotor manifestations of the disease and related biomarkers. Upon completion of my Ph.D., I plan to establish a career as an anatomist and educator, and continue my involvement in academic research.
