USC PhD graduate and The Offspring singer Bryan “Dexter” Holland was the speaker at one of the commencement ceremonies at the Keck School of Medicine at USC in Los Angeles earlier this month. While speaking to PhD, MPH, and MS graduate students, Holland said that he has always maintained his two loves — music and science. He explained, “As foolish as it sounds I decided to pursue both. I believe that there's an intersection between art and science. And that even in our scientific field we draw upon our creativity.”
Holland performed his research at the Keck School of Medicine, where the lyrics to one of the band's most popular songs was inspired. He said that while working with flasks and trying to cool them down, he realized, “You gotta keep 'em separated.” Of course, that made its way into The Offspring's 1994 hit “Come Out And Play.”
Holland received his Ph.D. in molecular biology in 2017 and wrote his thesis on microRNA in HIV genomes.