Back to life

It's crazy how quickly the years go by, but I am reviving this blog in anticipation of travels abroad and being motivated to document my thoughts.

Big life stuff has been happening, which can be best summarized as below.

1. I got this PhD in neuroscience.
   You know, I thought maybe my PhD was going to my last hurrah in science.  When I was going in, I was mentally prepared to say "that was fun but no more" at the end of the experience.  However, I ended up having an amazing time learning and discovering (and making mistakes) in the lab.  It's strange to be on the other end of a 8-year journey and realize that I still want to make research a significant part of my future.  All that advising where I told people it's okay to decide that two-hats is not for you (still true!) and now I feel so lucky to be in a position where I am still looking forward to a way to do both research and clinical work.

2. I am applying into (and interviewing for) psychiatry residency.
   Boy did I not think this was going to be the one going into medical school although in hindsight there were so many hints along the way to today.  Third year clerkships definitely was the deciding factor.  I actually enjoyed many of my rotations, especially general surgery, psychiatry, and family medicine.  I did preceptorships in both Neurology and General Surgery to get a better sense if I would like those paths.  At the end of the day, what I liked most was the ability to talk to a patient and learn about their experiences of life and reality and use that holistic understanding to do my best to improve their life. 

3. I am going abroad in the spring for a global health rotation in China.
   I am extremely excited to be getting the opportunity to see Eastern and Western medicine as practiced in China and for the opportunity to see that in both urban and rural settings.

First "full" day of clinic

Yesterday was the first day that I was in clinic all day.  By day I mean 9 to 5 pm, so the shortest clinic day for the rest of my career.

Thesis lab decision

Now that it's been a few months since my second rotation, I can say that I have made my decision.

Now I feel like a M2

It hadn't sunk in that I am on to my second year till having dinner with the new MSTP M1s.  There are so few of them next year.  I can only hope that they make friends with each other...

MSTP Applicant Recruitment

It's hard to believe, but more than a year has passed since I was in the throes of putting together my applications to MD/PhD programs.  Now, I am experiencing the interview process from the perspective of a first-year student.  In fact, I am helping to organize all of our pre-interview casual get-togethers between the applicants and first years. 

After having successfully hosted three of the five sessions, I have learned a few things about myself.

Neurology Mixer

Last night, the Neurology and Neurosurgery interest groups hosted a joint mixer for students and UCLA neurologists.  The chair of the neurology department was there briefly at the beginning and seems like a person who loves his job and has personal flair (read: charisma).  The two MD neurologists I talked to were both spending significant time doing research.  One was an ALS specialist and the other worked on neuromuscular disease therapy.  There was a third neurologist who was working part-time that I didn't get a chance to talk to before the evening was over. 

The ALS specialist received her MD training in Germany and then came to the UCLA to do research.  It was through that research project on ALS that she found her niche.  From then out, she did a residency in neurology.  Now, she sees patients about 20% of the time in her ALS clinic and does research on better understanding the range of ALS progression and on therapies to improve prognosis.  The neuromuscular neurologist spent more time in the clinic.  He researches the mechanisims of how Botulinum toxin improves muscular spasms at the neuromuscular junction.  He considered ophthalmology and neurology residencies but settled on neurology after clinical rotations.

The tone of the group was quite different from that of the Geriatics interest group meeting.  The neurologist were more hip.  However, they also seemed much more stressed.  I didn't find this session as helpful since these neurologists were so far removed from where I am in the process of figuring out specialization.  In addition, the neurologists I talked to were both in the neuromuscular subdepartment of neurology, which gave me an idea of what that particular niche is like at UCLA but not much a big picture.

Politics

The beginning of the first year of medical school is not just about finding your place in a new social group or figuring how much studying is necessary.  It is politics.  Now that we have completed elections for the MD class, which was a decent enough balance between a popularity contest (do I even know and like this person?) and competency (do I trust them to do their job and promote our agenda), the MSTP class is in government mode.

Geriatric Interest Group Meeting

Today was the first meeting for the Geriatric Interest Group.

Picking a speciality

So, there is this Careers in Medicine website that we are suppose to find useful.  It was.  First of all, I learned that Geriatric Medicine falls under Family Practice.  Uh...so no research, so no.

Then, I did all these personality/skills/values/etc tests.  It turns out that maybe I won't go into Neurology after all...