How does a teenager in Maleny go on to be a brain researcher at Harvard Medical School?

According to UniSC alumnus Dr Dashiell Sacks, the answer is equal parts curiosity, persistence and being in the right place at the right time.

Dr Sacks is now a Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School, based at Boston Children’s Hospital. His work focuses on understanding how early patterns of brain development may help predict children’s later mental health.

But not so long ago, he was a nervous first-year psychology student stepping onto UniSC’s Sunshine Coast campus for the first time. And before that, he was simply another Maleny High School kid trying to work out what he wanted to do with his life.

“I think I was like most high school students. You have some idea about the things you're interested in, but do you know what you want to do for the rest of your life? Not really,” he said.

His university preferences reflected that uncertainty. 

“My first preference was Psychology, my second was Sport and Exercise Science and my third preference was Drama,” Dr Sacks said.

“If I hadn’t got that first preference, this could be a very different story right now.”

Starting his university studies at just 16, Dr Sacks found himself drawn to the research side of psychology, particularly questions around mental health and wellbeing.

In his third year, as he was preparing to begin honours, he learned that the Thompson Institute (TI) was opening and decided to reach out about undertaking his honours research there.

His timing couldn’t have been better – the move would be career-defining.

“I completed my honours research with Professor Daniel (Dan) Hermens, and my loose plan was to apply to do a PhD in Melbourne after that,” he said.

“But over the course of the year, Dan kept talking about his plans for what is now the Longitudinal Adolescent Brain Study. And by the end he’d also talked me into doing a PhD at the TI too.”

While completing his honours and PhD at the TI, Dr Sacks was able to examine how differences in brain structure relate to stages of mental illness in young people, contribute to pioneering research into "brain fingerprinting", and a number of other major research projects.

He said the importance of that work, and its impact on him, cannot be overstated.

“It was a privilege to be involved in that kind of innovation. There’s a lot of amazing research going on at the TI – the researchers and infrastructure are world class,” he said.

That experience, was ultimately what brought him into Harvard’s orbit.

On the other side of the world, their researchers were working on their own major longitudinal studies, including the landmark HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD) study, which aims to track early brain development in 7,500 children across the United States from pregnancy through childhood.

The work shared striking similarities with projects at the Thompson Institute.

“I was reading about the work they were doing, and saw they had a position advertised. I thought, ‘Wow there are a lot of similarities to what’s going on at the TI’. So I sent an email to Professor Charles Nelson, which ultimately led to my current position – thanks in part to that overlap,” he said.

Dr Sacks’s move to the other side of the world wasn’t all smooth sailing.

“My flight had a ten-hour delay, the airline lost my luggage, and I arrived in Boston with nothing. The next morning I went out to buy clothes, got lost, and instead wound up helping strangers haul a mattress up four flights of stairs,” he said.

“I really needed clothes after that. I was coated in sweat.”

Dr Sacks said the challenges he faces today are more consequential. Over the past year, funding instability has disrupted research programs across the United States, creating significant uncertainty for many laboratories and researchers.

“I’m extremely fortunate to be in a position where I can continue conducting this research, especially at a time when many colleagues are facing significant uncertainty,” he said.

Dr Sacks said he feels lucky to be doing work that is both scientifically satisfying and impactful, in one of the world’s most famous scientific institutions.

“Boston is an incredible city. You've got Harvard, MIT and so many other universities nearby – there’s an incredible density of scientists doing important work. I’m proud to be able to contribute to the research being done here in Boston, and the important research being done back home in Australia at the Thompson Institute too,” he said.

For students wondering how far a UniSC degree can take them, Dr Sacks is quick to reassure.

“It’s definitely achievable, but you do have to put a lot of work in. There are lots of different pathways you can take to get where you want to go. But the more you do of something, the more you figure out if it’s for you.

“And that could be in your third year of a psychology degree at UniSC.”