Mark Bio

Well hello there...

My name is Mark Long.  I am originally from Buffalo, NY (a great place by the way) and have lived there most of my life.  I graduated from SUNY Geneseo with a Bachelors of Science in Biology in 2008.  After graduating, I took a year off and moved back to Buffalo where I worked out of the field, just earning money towards my next move.  I originally was thinking dental school and applied to several, along with my application at Roswell Park Cancer Inst.  I had heard of the program from an acquaintance who has been at Roswell for many years. He spoke very highly of the program, claiming it as both a well respected academic institution and as an opportunity to participate in fascinating research that could someday lead to a rewarding career.  After viewing my options (and lots of personal thought), I chose the program at Roswell Park.

At the time I was living in Allentown in downtown Buffalo, not too far from the Institute.  I enjoyed my first semester there, and found the material to be very interesting and stimulating.  Cancer biology is a fascinating field and is one in which there is still much to be learned and understood.  I was looking forward to joining a lab, and expected it to be a welcome, albeit new, addition to my education and life.  However, something unexpected happened.  I heard about the CanSYS program through Roswell Park, the University of Luxembourg, and the Free University of Amsterdam, a new program just developed.  After some research into the program, I knew that it was something that I had to be a part of.

I did not expect to be in Luxembourg in just a few short months, yet here I am, and I could not be more excited about the opportunity that Roswell Park has offered to me.  Integrated Systems biology is a budding field, and one which I still know little about. However, I find myself in a unique position to learn about it, along with cancer biology, in a way that no one has before.

Even as excited I am about the academic implications of the program, it is the experience itself that excites me the most.  I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to do a bit of traveling in my life, and have found that experiencing other people and cultures really has opened my mind in so many ways.  Having this chance to live in Luxembourg and Amsterdam (not to mention all of the other places I will get to see while in Europe) will without a doubt be a time that I will remember fondly and never regret.  The experience will not only make me a better scientist, but more importantly, a better person.

Honestly, I am not sure what I want to do as a career, and I am not sure what my future holds.  However, I know that this program will give me an incredible chance to explore the world, meet new people, learn new things, and have a lot of fun doing it.  What more could I possibly ask out of a Masters Program?