Van the Graduate!

Dear Family & Friends--                                                                           Sunday, November 4^th 2012

I decided that since Van is not inclined to brag about himself, that I'd brag about him and let you know about the wonderful things he's accomplishing and completing tomorrow. Since he won't have an “official” graduation here, I figured we wouldn't be sending out announcements, so an email/letter would be better. Van graduates and completes his 5 year long PhD tomorrow! He's written up his research in an approx. 150 page paper and will spend an hour presenting his findings to his committee and whoever else would like to listen. Although I'm not likely to understand most of what he's presenting, it's always exciting for me to hear him speak and realize how hard he has worked and how much wonderful knowledge he has about things so foreign to so many of us. After that, he gets to spend an hour or two answering any question his committee chooses to throw at him. I don't get to listen to that part and it is by far the more challenging portion of the day. He's been studying and preparing so that he can be ready and things can go smoothly. The title of his dissertation is "THE ROLE OF CITRULLINATION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MOUSE AND HUMAN INFLAMMATORY ARTHRITIS.” Basically, he's been investigating if a protein modification is involved in the initiation of Rheumatoid Arthritis. I'll let him answer any questions about it if you have them :)

In the evening, Van's boss and the head of the lab that he's been doing research in is throwing him a catered party at his home in Denver to celebrate his accomplishments. Van got to invite whoever he wanted to! I'm glad that he's doing so much to show Van how much he values his work. We wish you could all join us to celebrate this exciting time, but know that there are many things that make that an impossibility. A good friend of ours is taking the day off to be able to come to Van's talk. It's wonderful to have such wonderful friends when family is far away.

Hopefully in the next several days we'll also know what we're headed to next. There are 2 options and we're waiting to hear about one of them. Van has interviewed with a company in El Segundo, CA, just west of LA, called Pricespective. They do pricing and market access for drugs and medical devices both here in the states as well as internationally. They have offices on the east coast and in London as well and if they offer him a position it would be as a senior analyst. They were supposed to get back to us a week ago thursday, but the HR rep in Philly was out of town until monday when the hurricane hit and then out of power until wed. She said that she needed to get in touch with their executive vice president in London to see what the next steps in the process were, so we're hoping that's a good thing as it's unlikely she'd bother him if they weren't even considering Van. Maybe we'll get word tomorrow! We sure hope so.

The other option to which Van has already been accepted, is MORE SCHOOL! It would be pursing a masters degree in Biotech Management from Keck Graduate Institute in Claremont, CA, which is like an MBA specifically for PhD students heading from research into industry. Since he hasn't been given any specific training as part of his PhD, it's hard to get into a job in industry when there are so many others applying that do have business knowledge and expertise. He has done 2 different internships with both the Technology Transfer office on campus and most recently with a group called CID4 that have given him some experience, however, so we're hoping that that will influence heavily enough with Pricespective in considering him as a candidate for the job.

When we went out to the LA area a couple of weeks ago for the interview we got to check out the areas surrounding each and to have an introduction to the school. We feel really great about either option and don't feel like we'd be settling for school if we don't get the job. We know that we'll end up where we need to be, but are anxious to know! We'll be sure to keep you all posted on what ends up happening.

Anyway, thanks for letting me brag a bit. I've been desperately wanting to share our excitement with friends and family, and since you can't be here, I thought this would be the next best way to do it. We love and miss you all!                Love, Katie, Van, Daphne and growing baby girl :)