Name: Aaron R. Morawski       

Job Title and Current Employer: Scientist II, NextCure, Inc.

Home Town: Chicago, IL

Current Location: Gaithersburg, MD

Short Description of your time in the Bacteriology MS Program:

I had a wonderful opportunity and experience to work as a Student Contractor with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) at the National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) in Madison as a student, in cooperation with the Bacteriology MS program. I choose the research-track of which I was primarily focused on investigating biochemical characteristics of the Prion protein. I also completed the course requirements and contributed to a manuscript (published 2013) describing our work.

MS Degree Received in: 2011

Describe your career path from graduate school to your current position.

After earning my graduate degree I took a position with the US Government as a Biological Science Technician in Buffalo, NY at the Veterans Health Administration. 2 years later I transferred to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD where I worked as a Biologist for approximately 6 years. In 2020 I transitioned to the private sector where I am currently employed within the bio-tech industry at a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company.

Describe a “day in the life” of your current job.

Overall, my responsibilities are primarily focused on developing next-generation therapeutics and advancing them to the clinic. A typical work day in my current position as a Scientist II consists of working at the bench. This typically involves working in-vitro, in-vivo and, ex-vivo on pre-clinical translational studies.