marlene-canouiowaedu

Department

Pharmacology

Lab
Donna Hammond

Research Interests

Pain plays an important role in quality of life, it is something that most of the population will experience many times in their life and is one of the most common reasons why patients will visit a physician. I am interested in assessing the mechanism by which mu opioid receptor (MOR) agonists such as morphine produce antinociception in both naïve and hyperalgesic models. In addition, I am interested in differentiating the relevance of presynaptic and postsynaptic mechanistic pathways to antinociception produced via MOR agonists in these respective models.

Living in Iowa City

I grew up in El Paso, TX and received my undergraduate degree in San Antonio, TX. Both cities are different from Iowa City in many ways including culture, music, food, and size. To be honest, Iowa is not a state I had given any thought to for my graduate education. However, my senior year in college I attended the SUMR MSTP program here in Iowa City and I liked what I experienced. I noted that people were very friendly, I loved that nothing was out of reach and that there was no ‘rush hour’. The cost of living is such that even with a graduate student’s salary I have been able to purchase property. This place has four enjoyable seasons that make it possible for me to enjoy various activities. I play soccer, basketball, flag football, volleyball and softball which keep me busy athletically year round. City leagues or clubs are available for these sports and others but intramural leagues are also available so that you can play with and compete against your colleagues.

Community service and diversity are other aspects that are essential to my personal success and well-being. I am on the Executive Board of the Mobile Clinic, a student run organization that provides free medical care to surrounding communities in eastern Iowa. I was especially astonished at the diversity of communities in Iowa. I’m personally interested in working with Hispanic communities and was glad to find that they are not sparse in Iowa. In addition, I was happy to find that the University of Iowa is an institution that is committed to diversity. A more recent addition to the College of Medicine is the Office of Cultural Affairs and Diversity Initiatives. There are plenty of student groups addressing diversity throughout the University of Iowa campus but I am more familiar with those of the College of Medicine which include but are not limited to AMWA (women in medicine), SNMA (underrepresented minorities in medicine), GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender individuals in medicine) and others.

In general, as a fourth year MSTP student I can say that my experience with the University of Iowa MSTP and Neuroscience Program has been rich in all the areas I needed it to be for successful medical and graduate training.