Weekend in Durham, NC

I had the wonderful opportunity to spend this past weekend in Durham, NC at Duke University School of Medicine for the National Leadership Institute (organized by the Student National Medical Association). This conference was a mini AMEC (American Medical Education Conference). AMEC is held every year in different cities. Students, physicians, and other healthcare professionals come from all over the nation to convene, discuss health issues affecting our communities, and to connect with each other.

This year, AMEC 2015 was in New Orleans, LA. Last year, it was in Washington DC, and the year before that, it was in Louisville, KY. I’m blessed to have been able to attend all three through the generous support of funding programs. This upcoming spring (2016), it will be in Austin, TX.

The National Leadership Institute (NLI) is a smaller AMEC also held within different regions and hosted by different schools. It takes place a few times throughout the year. I was fortunate to be able to attend the one hosted by Duke this past weekend.

I left from DC early on Friday to arrive by the early afternoon. We stopped in Richmond, VA before my final destination in Durham. The ride was about 4 and a half hours.

On Friday evening, we had dinner and listened to a talk given by Dr. Brenda Armstrong, the Associate Dean for Admissions at the Duke School of Medicine. The following day, we attended more talks and workshops. In the morning, we listened to a fourth year student engage us in discussion about race, the policing riots, and the Black Lives Matter Movement. She emphasized the critical importance of racial harmony in the compassionate, respectful care of a patient by practitioners. Our workshops allowed us a glimpse into the life of a medical student (specifically a student at Duke, as their curriculum structure is and has been different from most other schools since 1965), a mastery (sort of) of suturing, an opportunity to network with Duke alumni, and an understanding of how to deliver a pristine oral presentation of research and our personal stories (to large and small audiences, such as in an interview).

Duke is different from most medical schools in their curriculum design (which only a few others have adopted, including Vanderbilt). Typically, medical students learn the basic sciences in the first two years. At Duke, however, these two years are condensed into one. Clinical rotations begin second year, and during the third year, students are given the opportunity to do with it as they wish, such as research, pursuing a second degree, etc. Fourth year is the same as most schools: clinical electives. Another unique and wonderful thing I learned about Duke this weekend is that, along with the historically black medical schools (Howard, Meharry, and Morehouse), Duke Medical School is one the institutions most dedicated to retaining, educating, and graduating disadvantaged, underrepresented young medical students in this nation.

The pre-medical and medical students present at the conference came from all over the country, including Hampton, VA, Radford, VA, Pittsburgh, California, Iowa, Alaska, etc. The diversity was wonderful! Following this conference, I’ve realized even more so that one of my greatest passions in life is meeting others from a multitude of backgrounds, cultures, geographic locations, and universities.

I’m very much looking forward to continuing this passion throughout my experience as a post-bac fellow at the NIH, where the door is wide open to meeting other post-bacs, post-docs, staff scientists, PIs, clinicians, support staff who are from all across the globe.

~*~

I have completed my secondary applications to medical school, and am now in the waiting stage for interview invites. I’m praying and hoping for the best this cycle. I also wish the best to everyone else who is in the same boat.

From Harvard to the NIH

This past week, I finished my 10-week research experience at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) through the Harvard Catalyst Summer Clinical & Translational Research Program. It was a humbling experience, and I was blessed to spend my summer with other amazing pre-medical undergraduates.

MGH

My project strove to understand the associations between residential mobility and risk for depression among ethnic minority youth in the United States. My findings may advance our understanding of the roots and prevention of depression, as well as help to clarify the barriers that exist to service access within a population suffering from disparities in care.

I wasn’t able to explore as much of Boston as I’d have liked (or even take a trip down to Cape Cod like I originally planned) because of medical school secondary applications and other responsibilities, but I’m grateful for what I was able to see and visit. Here are a few examples:

• 4th of July by the Charles River. Amazing fireworks show. 

• Museum of Medical History & Innovation: MGH has a very rich history. Founded in 1811, it was the first hospital to be established in the U.S., and now it boasts over 50 research and care centers and services. Just recently it was named the number one hospital in the nation by US News and World Report’s latest rankings. 

• I had the opportunity to shadow a neurologist in the NeuroICU, and observe the critical care fellows during their rounds.

Harvard Summer Clinical & Translational Program Interns after our

closing ceremony

I had a phenomenal time here, working alongside world-class researchers and getting to know other talented undergraduates from across the country.

Tomorrow (Monday), I will delve right into my fellowship at the NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health) through the Post-baccalaureate Intramural Research Training Award Program.

National Institutes of Health

I’m excited to join a community of post-bac fellows, and I’m eager to take advantage of the endless opportunities that are offered to the Post-bac research community, including service projects, lectures by world-class investigators, and biomedical coursework at the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences (FAES) Graduate School at the NIH.

I have quite a few good friends down here in the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) area, as well as my own sister, who I’m looking forward to living nearby for the next year.

Advantages of a gap year

I planned to take time off after college to gain real-world experience by engaging with diverse groups of people within programs that would broaden my horizons on a professional, educational, and interpersonal level. After speaking with a few mentors and other individuals who took gap years themselves, I gained a deeper understanding of the value of taking time off prior to graduate or professional school to grow, develop intellectually, self-reflect, and perhaps explore other aspirations.

I encourage anyone considering a career in Medicine to also consider taking a gap year (or more) after college for self-discovery, and to determine if this profession is truly what you plan to pursue.

Spring 2015 – Last semester at Cornell

Schoellkopf Field, Cornell University

My final semester at Cornell University has proven to be the most stressful and challenging time of my life (thus far). As I finished up my pre-medical studies and Spanish degree, I also faced the difficult tasks of preparing for the new MCAT, writing an honors thesis, and of course staying on top of an 18-credit workload. I am more than blessed to say that I made it! Graduation was about a month ago (May 25). I received my undergraduate degree at Cornell University alongside several hundred amazing peers.

One of the craziest things that happened to me this past semester was losing my USB flash drive. Actually, I have reason to believe that it was stolen, but that’s another story. I lost years of important information, including a portion of my thesis, past applications to summer programs and activities that would have been useful now, MCAT study materials, letters to friends and family, ALL of my assignments since the sixth grade, and so much more. All of this was saved on my computer, but the hard drive ended up crashing the week prior, and I lost this same information on it. For a month, I searched relentlessly for the flash drive. I created a flier and posted it in the computer lab where I last had it, stopped by the service desk in that particular dorm every day, checked the Lost & Found incessantly, and asked around. It never showed up. It was such a burden to overcome and it took me a long time to accept the fact that I wouldn’t be getting that information back. It was very painful. I have no idea why this happened, but I do believe that everything happens for a reason.

There were many ups and downs this past year since I’ve written in this blog. The most wonderful thing to happen to me to date is seeing my hard work as an undergraduate culminate into my diploma. I graduated magna cum laude from an Ivy league institution. I never thought I would have made it this far. There is no way I would have succeeded without the grace of God, and the immense support of family, friends, and my mentors during my time at Cornell.

Gap Year Plans
This summer, I am in Boston as an intern for the Harvard Catalyst Summer Clinical & Translational Research Program. I have the opportunity to engage in a 10-week mentored research experience at the Center for Human Genetic Research at Massachusetts General Hospital. My project aims to understand the associations between certain environmental and economic factors with the on-set of depression among ethnic minority youth in the U.S. I’m passionate about this area of study, and I’m looking forward to seeing what I find at the end of this experience.

Starting in mid-August, I will begin my post-bac fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). My research will focus on studying the circuit connections between different cortical areas in the brain. I am excited and nervous to engage in such work (I have not completed any biomedical research during my undergrad), as I know this will be a challenging but rewarding experience. My goal remains to pursue a career in medicine, and I am currently applying to schools this cycle.

I plan to post more updates about my experience here in Boston for the summer. Stay tuned!