Dear Dr. <Name> and Prof. <Name>,
Thank you very much, both of you, for your time today to interview me for the PhD student position in Psychiatric Epidemiology at Karolinska Institutet, Department of Public Health Sciences. I would like to forward my special gratitude to Prof. Christina for your encouragement to wait and apply for this PhD position, and for seeing me again on the Skype interview.
I appreciate the opportunity to learn more about PhD in Karolinska Institutet, to meet you, and to hear about your research team, available big data, and international collaboration with the UK. After our conversation, I am confident that my research skills and experiences (top research master’s degree in Epidemiology and more than 15 papers published in a reputable journal) are a great match for this PhD position in Psychiatric Epidemiology at one of the world’s leading medical universities. Researchers from the Karolinska Institute are the headlines of the news and their studies are published in high-impact journals. This is captivating for young/junior researchers like me to follow in their footsteps.
As we discussed, I find analyzing big registry data using different statistical approaches fascinating and an amazing opportunity for future psychiatric researchers. The burden of psychiatric disorders is increasing dramatically, particularly in children with parental mental illness, and the risk factors are multidimensional and yet to be discovered. Investigating and characterizing health and social outcomes among children with parental mental illness is my top priority for my PhD project. I would love to dig deeper into the various socioeconomic, clinical, and psychological determinants of psychiatric disorders in children by applying different statistical and bioinformatic methodological approaches using big data.
I enjoyed talking with you and discussing very interesting issues including working in a team as well as independently.
I am very enthusiastic about this opportunity to join your research team at the Department of Public Health Sciences.
Best regards,
Tesfa Habtewold, MSc
University of Groningen
