After a bit of a delay, we are continuing our series of interviews from Jubilee with a conversation with Jimmy Lin, an MD/PhD student at Johns Hopkins. Jimmy describes himself as “medical and scientific doxologist” — in fact, even his Twitter handle is @doxologist. At Jubilee, Jimmy presented several seminars about being a Christian in the sciences and medicine. I had met Jimmy online through ESN, so I was very happy to have the chance to meet him and his wife in person. Be sure to check out our previous interviews with Derek Melleby and David Naugle.
Update (3/26/2013): Read Meet Jimmy Lin, “Medical and Scientific Doxologistâ€Â (Emily Ruppel. BioLogos Forum. 3/25/2013) to learn more about Jimmy Lin’s current work.
Micheal Hickerson: You are doing a lot of different degrees. You are in an MD program, a PhD program, and you mentioned you are in seminary…
Jimmy Lin: I am doing four degrees concurrently, the MD/PhD [at Johns Hopkins], the masters in arts religion at Reformed Theological Seminary, and a masters in health sciences at the School of Public Health.
MH:Why did you decide to do so many different degrees at the same time, and how are you doing so many different degrees at the same time?
JL: It all started because I am very interested in bringing the discoveries of science and seeing it applied to the cure of human diseases or the welfare of humans in general. The MD/PhD is a very established program that I applied to and was accepted. It’s a great program. That’s where I started.
My research interest is computational biology specifically using the computer to do genomics work in cancer. That requires a lot of specific information which is in the field called bioinformatics. It’s not offered as part of the PhD program. My PhD is in pure biology, so that’s why I did the additional masters, to acquire those skills in bioinformatics.
In addition, the theology degree — I felt that I was very lacking in the field. I was reading so much about it anyway, but I was lacking formalized, systematic learning about these topics. That’s why I started in a seminary classes — and then got addicted. It was so much fun to have these top scholars come tell you what to read, teach you what they have learned. That’s why I pursued it, and my church was very supportive of it, so that’s why I do all that.
I think I do it out of love. I love learning and I love all the aspects of it.
How do I do it? That’s a good question. The medical degree is a very time intensive degree. Usually medical students spend 60 to 100 hours a week of studying and learning, whereas in graduate school [for the PhD], you are a lot more flexible. In terms of time, it’s less. The minimum is 40 hours, though people do spend a little bit more.
For example, during my PhD years, I could take [the theology courses]. Most of my weekends are free and I have a lab on weekends, and that’s when I take my seminary classes. During the PhD years, it was easier to take the additional classes then. Now I am going back to medical school, and I won’t be able to do that because the time commitments are so large for medical school.
MH: One of the things I was also very interested in, is you call yourself a doxologist. What’s the full term you used in your Jubilee bio?
JL: Medical and scientific doxologist.
MH: How did you decide on that term and what does it mean to you? [Read more…] about Interview: Jimmy Lin, Medical and Scientific Doxologist