Medical school students cite all sorts of reasons why they want to pursue a career in health care. Maybe a parent or sibling is a physician. Or they helped care for an ailing relative. Or they always did well in science classes.
For Samantha Verling, B.S. ’19, M.S. ’21, M.D. ’26, the path to medicine was a deliberate pursuit of curiosity.
Verling grew up in Liechtenstein, a tiny European principality about the size of the city of Miami. She took a year off after high school to explore Latin America and volunteer at a hospital in Guayaquil, Ecuador. As an expedition assistant, she observed surgeons triage children in need of heart surgery and was impressed by their “determination and adamant compassion” despite seemingly impossible challenges.
Verling began her quest to become a physician by earning a B.S. degree in neuroscience and an M.S. in biomedical sciences at the University of Miami, then she matriculated at the Miller School of Medicine.
As a student, Verling has explored therapies to prevent chemotherapy-induced alopecia under the mentorship of Ralf Paus, M.D., D.Sc., a research professor of dermatology and cutaneous surgery and Endowed Frost Scholar at the Miller School. “Seeing how the outcomes of basic science research can make a difference in how someone feels every day was inspiring,” Verling said.
"I’ve always been driven by the idea of transforming research into clinically meaningful care"
After her third year, she was accepted into the National Institutes of Health’s Medical Research Scholars Program, a highly selective 12-month research program for aspiring clinician-scientists. “I’ve always been driven by the idea of transforming research into clinically meaningful care,” she said. “I felt incredibly grateful for this opportunity.”
At NIH headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, Verling studied two rare genodermatoses: Proteus syndrome and tuberous sclerosis complex. “I led a study investigating how Proteus syndrome manifests on the hands and nails and how these features progress during childhood,” she said. “The idea is that if we better understand the natural history of Proteus syndrome, we can better distinguish it from other overgrowth disorders and better assess the effectiveness of targeted therapies.”
While presenting her research findings at the Proteus Syndrome Foundation, she met a woman with Proteus syndrome, which initiated “one of the most rewarding experiences that came out of my research year,” Verling said.
The two reconnected last year to co-author and self-publish a children’s book that Verling also illustrated. The Tree That Saw Me is about a young girl’s experience living with Proteus syndrome. “Our hope is that young readers who have Proteus syndrome or another rare disease can see themselves in the story and celebrate their unique features,” she said. “It’s basically a book about self-acceptance.”
As she finishes her final year of medical school, Verling is combining her background in hair research with her passion for genetic skin disorders to study the mechanisms of hair growth in hypertrichosis disorders. She recently matched with a preliminary year at the Miller School at Holy Cross Hospital, followed by a dermatology residency program at New York Medical College, and aspires to practice as a pediatric dermatologist.
“I want to treat children with chronic skin conditions and to be involved in all stages of research, from basic science to translational to clinical,” Verling said. She added that she hopes to inspire others to pursue medicine, “take the path less traveled, or create their own.”
