After hating undergraduate general chemistry and organic chemistry, Dr. Suzanna Logan had no interest in going into the science field until she took biochemistry. Then, something just clicked.

“I fell in love with how amazing the human body is down to the finest detail,” says Logan, M.S., Ph.D. and a fourth-year medicine student at Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED).

It was a love for biochemistry that encouraged her to apply to medical school, but she also wanted to earn a Ph.D., which NEOMED was able to offer.

“When I first came to NEOMED, it had just switched from a college to a University and started a College of Graduate Studies,” says Dr. Logan. “When they offered a Ph.D. in integrated pharmaceutical medicine, I knew that was the program for me.”

She became so intrigued that she put her medical studies as an M2 on hold to become one of the first students to earn a Ph.D. in integrated pharmaceutical medicine. This field can be described as combining the different strengths of medicine and pharmacology while also treating the signs and symptoms of a disease with a chemical approach. It’s a natural extension of NEOMED’s emphasis on interprofessional training.

Dr. Logan is interested in pathology: the study of disease on a cellular and molecular level. She decided that earning a Ph.D. in integrated pharmaceutical medicine would give her the skills and background necessary to answer scientific questions.

Now a fourth-year medical student, Dr. Logan recently matched for a residency in pathology at Emory University School of Medicine. According to her, matching is kind of like applying to college. It includes going on interviews at various medical schools where the programs a student wants are offered and the interviews are ranked based on where a student best thinks they fit.

“If a student is high enough on the ranking list with a program they ranked, then they match,” said Dr. Logan. “The only frustrating part comes when you have to wait four months to find out if you matched at all.”

Dr. Logan says that NEOMED prepared her for her upcoming residency by laying the foundation for learning on the job. She also credits NEOMED with teaching her the importance and emphasis of treating patients as humans instead just a set of symptoms.

“With pathology, there is no direct contact with patients, but if I don’ t look at the specimens I receive as human, then I won’t be able to give families the results they need in a timely manner,” said Dr. Logan. She expects to receive a Doctor of Medicine in May 2016. From there, she’s open to seeing where her love of biochemistry will lead.