In May of this year I was invited to the University of Illinois School of Medicine at the Chicago Campus to speak to their MD/PhD Program Students about research careers and my personal journey through science. It was an honor to address the group and learn from their program, but it also provided me an opportunity to reflect on those forces I found most important in shaping my own scientific career. After much consideration of the high and low points as I progressed from undergraduate and graduate researcher to PI, I recognized three guiding principles that seem worthy of sharing. There may be others, and of course, each person’s path is different, but three critical factors that shaped my “Opportunities for Research” include: