David Kedeme, C’25, entered college interested in the brain and how it works. “There’s kind of a mystery behind the brain that I haven’t found in any other organ,” he says. The summer before he started at Penn, Kedeme participated in the Pre-First Year Program (PFP), during which he met with Marc Schmidt, Professor of Biology. Schmidt agreed to let Kedeme work in his lab, which focused on understanding songbirds and their reproductive, motor, and song behaviors. This experience, along with courses taught by Michael Kane, Senior Lecturer in the undergraduate Neuroscience Program, inspired Kedeme to pursue Neuroscience as a major.
In his sophomore year, Kedeme took Madness and Madmen in Russian Culture, taught by Molly Peeney, a lecturer in the Russia and East European Studies department. “I signed up for [the class] because I saw how it kind of delineates 'crazy' versus having a psychiatric disorder,” Kedeme says, adding that the course was unique as “it was a mix of literature and history of Russian culture, tied in with psychology and neuroscience.”
In addition to his academic pursuits, Kedeme is involved with the Student Harm Reduction Coalition (SHaRC), a student organization that seeks to acknowledge and confront the substance abuse crisis in Philadelphia through education and clinical volunteer outreach. After graduation, Kedeme plans to pursue an M.D./Ph.D. with the goal of becoming a general neurologist concentrating on neuroendocrinology and psychiatric disorders.
Pathways is a student series from Penn Arts & Sciences that highlights the academic journeys of students in the College of Arts & Sciences and the transformational moments that have shaped their intellectual experiences.
