05/14/2026
"Build relationships before you need them." π
Cortney Gensemer, Ph.D., '22, shares her wisdom for the Class of 2026 today.
1. Your whole self belongs in your work.
During my graduate studies and now in my career, I work in the disease area I'm personally affected by. For a long time, I worried that being a patient in the same space I was researching would undermine my credibility, but it didn't.
It turned out to be one of the most valuable things I brought to my work. It kept my research grounded, expanded who I could reach, and gave me a perspective that training alone could not have provided.
2. Build relationships before you need them.
The relationships I invested in during my Ph.D. and after (the collaborators I stayed in touch with, the colleagues I checked in with) are the reason I have the job I have today. My CV or publication list didnβt matter. What mattered was that people knew my work, trusted my integrity, and thought of me when something exciting was happening and wanted me to be a part of it.
You are leaving MUSC with a network of people. Check in without an agenda. Celebrate each other's wins. The colleague you grab coffee with today might be your collaborator, your reference, your hiring manager, or your best friend a decade from now.
3. Protect your capacity to keep going.
I'm a scientist, but I'm a mom, a wife, a family member, and a friend first. I've had to get very honest about what I can and can't do, especially when you layer health conditions on top of it.
The people I admire most in my field are the ones still doing meaningful work ten, twenty years in, because they figured out how to protect their energy. That looks different for everyone. Maybe it's a hobby you refuse to give up. Maybe it's a hard stop on your evenings or weekends. Maybe it's learning to say "I can't take that on right now" without guilt.
The goal isn't to survive your career, but to build one you actually want to be living twenty years from now.