Saurabh Trikha is currently a post-doctoral research fellow at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He obtained his PhD from George Washington University in 2013. His research focuses on Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. For two years, he also served as a graduate teaching assistant, where he taught undergraduate biology labs and developed innovative teaching strategies to motivate students and encourage creative thinking. Through his teaching experience, he realized the importance of an interactive learning environment and strives to involve students in hands-on scientific thinking. His goal is to prepare students for success through an open classroom where they can challenge themselves and confront weaknesses.

1. SAURABH TRIKHA, PhD
saurabh.trikha@childrens.harvard.edu
(202)-304-0007
I am currently working as a post-doctoral research fellow in the division of endocrinology at Boston
children hospital, Harvard medical school. Before joining Harvard medical school as a post-doctoral
research fellow, I obtained my PhD in July 2013 from the dept. of biological sciences at the George
Washington University, Washington DC. Apart from experiments pertaining to my projects, I was
responsible for training undergraduate students and visiting scholars in my lab, both from academic and
industry, demonstrating them various laboratory techniques ranging from cell and molecular biology to
protein biochemistry, data collection and their analysis. My research also allowed me to participate in
collaborations with other laboratories in dept. of biological sciences at George Washington University and
other institutions exploring topics of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. I was also given the opportunity to present
my work to both scientific and community audiences raising their awareness about Type 2 Diabetes.
These experiences helped me to develop strong technical writing skills and the ability to present details of
my research to various audiences.
In addition to developing my research and analytical skills, I was also a Graduate Teaching Assistant in
the dept. of biological sciences for two years. My duties and responsibilities included teaching
undergraduate biology laboratory courses three times a week with more than 30 students in each class;
conducting discussion and laboratory sessions, holding regular student office hours, and proctoring and
grading exams for the professors hence demonstrating my organizational and management skills. My
experience of teaching at the university level was phenomenal and I have learnt a lot from it. I have
basically developed two main philosophies as a teacher. These are: trying to impart an innovative
approach to my students, to enable them to think outside of the box, to challenge their own mind and
drive those ideas out of that box. The other is to conceptualize and materialize whatever they learn in the
classroom to the real world environment. My main emphasis whenever I go to teach is to motivate my
students, urge them to think about the very basic questions they have and to challenge the facts stated in
the textbook. This makes sure that my students are really engaging with me at an intellectual level and are
not stuck with the routine textbook scenario. Progressing through my teaching classes, I defined a way of
learning as a measure to enhance the personal process and growth of ideas.
My teaching experience also enabled me to realize that an interactive, intellectually challenging and
motivating environment was missing when I took most of my courses at the college level. I understood
the importance of these only when I myself started to teach as a graduate teaching assistant at the
university level. I never took my students casually; I was very meticulous in my teaching approach in
imparting a creative and intellectual mindset to them, to provide them with opportunities they are most
likely to benefit from. Since the first days of my teaching, I have realized how important my time with
students is. I continuously strive to build hands-on methods of learning in my classroom, by involving
students to understand the process of scientific thinking rather than learning facts from the textbook
without any real connection from the outside world.
The approach of innovating and motivating students in the classroom is filled with challenges as every
student is different, but my goal is to create an open and barrier free classroom environment where
students can ask whatever doubts they have, freely make mistakes while also challenging their own
potential at the same time. By doing this, students can learn about their own limitation and shortcomings.

2. This will help them to resurrect their failures to achieve success in both their professional and personal
life.
In order to keep students motivated throughout the lecture, it is important to build and develop innovative
and creative strategies as a teacher, by utilizing various methods of learning like group discussion, case
studies, video conferencing, and power-point presentations and getting feedback at the end of every class,
where the students can state what exactly they did not understand. Using these methods will help students
to confront their shortcomings and misconceptions so as to make them aware. This will also allow me to
establish a rapport with my students by making it a point to get to know more about them, not just by
their name but by asking them to think about their own personal goals and what they expect from their
future and by making them a sound and responsible individual. I have finally understood the power of
effective teaching and learning as these two things when combined will help the students extend beyond
the classroom session into the areas which are important for becoming a good and responsible citizen.
The classroom is a dynamic space where each teacher can do whatever he/she wishes to enhance student’s
life, by enlightening them with all the knowledge outside of the textbook. The classroom is a place where
anyone can struggle, fail, learn and excel. Classroom is a place where I started as a student, the place that
taught me so much in ways more than one. Classroom is a place, where I hope to bring a change in our
society. Years after struggling as an undergraduate college student, as a teacher and as a researcher,I have
learnt how to rise above my failures and how to excel in life. It is with this philosophy that I want to go to
classroom to teach my students by making them independent, powerful, creative thinkers who can
challenge any problem at hand. I want to make my students powerful but at the same time respectful,
obedient citizens of the society.
These teaching qualities combined with my dedication to scientific discovery and tireless work ethic
should enable me to make a positive impact at your organization. Thank you for your time and
consideration.