Katerina Kasatkin aims for medical school with grace and grit

Biomedical engineering major Katerina Kasatkin understands the work required to reach lofty goals.  

For three years, the Fair Lawn, New Jersey, native awoke at 4 a.m. to practice every day on a rink in Toronto, where her coach and ice dancing partner lived. Focused and diligent, she poured herself into pursuing figure skating and her academics, suspending her social life to compete at a high national level until, at age 15, she told her parents she had had enough.  

An American outsider in the Canadian skating world, Kasatkin decided it was time to retire from the sport and find a new passion, one inspired by the limits and capabilities of her body. 

On May 6, the 21-year-old daughter of Russian immigrants will celebrate Commencement with her family and her classmates in the Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering, one academic step closer to a career in medicine. Accepted as a high schooler into Rowan’s unique, accelerated osteopathic physician-engineering training program, Kasatkin will spend the next four years studying medicine at the Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine, part of Virtua Health College of Medicine & Life Sciences in Stratford. 

With her formative years spent in grinding routines on and off the ice, Kasatkin appreciates the demands her goals require.  

“For me, it was all about the outcome, working hard little by little every single day, practicing, practicing and achieving a final result,” Kasatkin said. 

That formula has worked in other areas of her life. Fluent in two languages, she can speak and understand even more. As a child, she learned English as a second language after starting preschool. Her father, a cardiologist, and her mother, a former software engineer who manages the family-run practice, spoke only Russian at home. While living in Canada as an adolescent, she picked up French, which she continued to study formally after returning to the United States. She later added Italian “just for fun” and is now studying Spanish daily, so she can communicate with more patients.  

She has applied her work ethic into her schooling, demonstrating both grit and grace as a student, noted Mary Staehle, Ph.D., associate professor and interim head of the college’s Department of Biomedical Engineering. The accelerated biomedical engineering BS/DO program is “exceptionally difficult to get into,” Staehle added, and requires deeply motivated, self-driven students.

“Katerina has worked really hard to put her athletic, competitive spirit into working hard to get there and earning her way,” Staehle said. “I like to applaud that in our students. She learns from setbacks. She pushes through and she’s done very well.” 

During her second semester at Rowan, Kasatkin joined the lab of Mark Byrne, Ph.D., dean of the Rowan-Virtua School of Translational Biomedical Engineering & Sciences, professor of biomedical and chemical engineering, and founder of OcuMedic, Inc., a medical device company. Under Byrne’s guidance, she assists in the development of therapeutic contacts to improve the delivery of eye medications in children. 

“Katerina gravitated toward this research for not only the novel engineering of thin-film polymer networks, which is what these contact lenses are, but also for the enormous impact new technology can have on patients,” Byrne said. “She is an excellent biomedical engineer and I expect her to redefine the concept of what it means to be a physician-engineer as she obtains her medical degree. At Rowan, we have a number of accelerated dual-degree programs in these areas that offer exceptional opportunities for student training.”

In addition to her undergraduate research experience, Kasatkin is also pursuing the Bantivoglio Honors Concentration in the Martinson Honors College. This year, she served as a learning assistant in organic chemistry and as vice president for the college’s Biomedical Engineering Society. In 2023, she earned the Students’ Choice Award for “Most Likely to Impact Human Health.”  

Beyond her resume and background, Kasatkin exhibits selflessness, Staehle added.  

“She’s just really generous,” Staehle added. “She’s always looking to try to help the cohorts under her … she’s just a good human being.” 

Every spring, Rowan University highlights one graduating student from each school and college. Read more stories about this year’s featured graduates.