Salim's journey with us started as an intern, continued with his master's thesis, and led all the way to today's PhD defense. “It has been very rewarding to see him grow over these years,” says Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. Rebekka Schneider-Kramann PHD. “He has been incredibly dedicated, hardworking, curious, and always a true team player — I can't remember a time when he said ‘no’ when asked for help, and he even entertained my kids in the lab when they came to visit and I had a meeting.”
Today's defense really showed all the different nuances of this journey: the science, definitely resilience, the scientific growth, and a full audience — in person and online — of friends joining from around the world.
With two manuscripts prepared, Salim is ready for the next chapter: a postdoc position in New York with Prof. Ulrich (Uli) Steidl.
And because no PhD defense in Aachen should end too quietly, the celebration continued with the traditional Uniklinik RWTH Aachen “doctoral wagon” — with the honor of steering Salim from the defense to the celebration going to his supervisor, arguably her most important supervisory task of the day.
“Salim, I am so proud of you. Cheers to many more scientific interactions, many more good discussions, and everything that comes next,” says Prof. Schneider-Kramann.
