Day 5: Back with Dr. Bryant

Fridays for MS1 students aren't that interesting. They have a mentor meetings where 2 MS1 students, 2 MS2 students, some MS3-4 (in honestly don't remember the number of MS 3&4 students) along with two overseeing doctors meet and discuss the joys and pains of medical school. The point of group is form support groups for each medical students no matter what year they are. Afterward they have Microbiology and Physiology lectures and classes end for them at 2pm.

 So, I did some shadowing with Dr. Bryant and Dr. Joyce. Dr. Bryant includes obstertrics in her practice so I met her at St. Vincent's Women's Hospital as she made her rounds.  One mother was concerned about her baby spitting the up blood constantly. Dr. Bryant reassured the mother that this was normal for babies who had gone through vaginal birth with vacuum assistance. 



If you look closely, you can see the umbilical cord!

 After rounds, I got to shadow Family Physician Dr. Joyce until lunch. Afterward I shadowed some Family Practice residence. However, since I don't offically shadow residencies until next week. I'll give you more information on my shadowings next week. Keep following!!!

Quote of the day: " I liked doing everything....I have colleageus who ask me questions related to primary care such as pediatrics because their speciality doesn't require them to know it. As a Family Physician I know a little of everything"--From Dr. Joyce on why she became a Family Practice Physician

The rest of my interview with Dr. Cathy Bryant

*Warning, interview done on my phone so the images are grainy but the sound is great!*

Question #4: In your opinion, has  what  it means to be a doctor in the 21st century changed?
Question#5: What misconceptions do you think medical students have of medicine and being doctors?
Question #6: Looking back, was  it worth it? Are there any surprises? part1/part2

Days 3&4: First Year Medical student (MS1) @ IUSM

The second two days of medical school weren't that eventful. I mean I sat in on lectures and everything, but unless you want me to go in depth with what the classes were about, I figured it be best to just combine the two days together.

On Day 4 I sat in on a Microbiology lecture as well as another Physiology lesson (this time I understood 1/2 of what the professor said. Yay improvement).  Which was followed by Histology which led to Histology lab where I got to watch Jasmine look at slides of neuron cells for an hour. Not a bad experience, but I could have waited until I actually get into medical school to experience it.  However, I did get to see a slide with a interneuron in it (she showed me more but that's the only one that I remember probably because that was the last slide--primarcy-recency theory strikes again, lol.). In case you don't know, an interneuron, is a neuron that connects the afferent and efferent neurons together. In the centeral nervous system, these neurons are small and responsible for inhibition through the use of GABA and glycine neurotransmitters.

These are not picture that I took from the lab. The teardrop shaped neurons are interneurons.

On Day 5, I got to miss taking a Physiology quiz at 8am in the morning. You read right, 8AM. I actually wanted to take the quiz, but 1) I don't have my own car (yes my mom still drive me around, but, hey that's life) but more importantly 2) I didn't attend Monday's class with them  (I was with Dr. Bryant) and the quiz was over Monday and Tuesday's lectures. So at 9am I met Jasmine again in her Clinical Problem Solving Class. In this class we did not solve another case but reviewed the learning objectives from Tuesday. On Tuesday one of the things they had to write up were questions or learning objectives that they had with each piece of the case given. Then the class divided the objectives up and today are presenting them. This made me like the class even more. Because no matter if one student was able to know instantly the disease and/or treatment for the patient, in the end the class as a whole learns more about the disease, tests, and treatment that the patient should have received, everyone learns and everyone benefits from the information shared. The small and non-competitve nature of the class really helps harbor that feeling and atmosphere of the class.

After Physiology (again), the last class we had was called Health Policy and Economics class. This class, is a relatively new class offered at IUSM where in short, international politics and healthcare combine. The class (of roughly 100-150) was divided into groups of 8 representing 7 countries: Canda, Singapore, UK, Germany, France, Japan, and Switzerland.The professor of this class was a MD/MPH whose MPH study focused primarily on healthcare access in America (2-3 groups representing the same country). The main focus of this class was the fact that healthcare in general is comprised of three components:

--Access
--Cost
--Availability

and that each of the 8 countries had a healthcare system that tries balance all three components. However, he stressed the inevitable fact that no healthcare system is able to sucessfully balance to the fullest all three components, in "real life" one of the components is comprised. For instance, in America's healthcare system, everyone has access to insurance as well as availability to one (one just has to go to an insurance company), however, the cost of insurance that has roughly 5 million Americans uninsured, is what is making insurance inaccessible and unavailable. I really liked the class because it focused on world issues, issued that affected the people because at the end of the day, it's the people that we as future doctors are desiring to help.


Summary of MS1 

First-year medical school was eye opening. The classes were interesting and for once, I could actually see the importance of the class to my career as a doctor. For me the difference between college and first year medical school was just the bulk of information given. However, this is just like the transition between high school and college. I think I will suvive it once I get there. Concerning dress code, it is still very causal except on clinical days ( usually once or twice a month) when bussiness causal attire and the "all important short white coat" is required. So people like me who like dressing like a bum to class, med school will not ruin your fashion (or lack of) fashion sense, at least your freshman year.

However, one of the most interesting finding for me was the similarity between college and medical school first year students. Just like in college, in MS1 you have the quiet intelligent person, the slacker, the show off, the brown noser who asks irrelevant questions just to hear his own voice, the jokester. It's funny because while attending the classes, I kept on forgeting that I am not "one of them" (a medical student) yet. In Anthropologic terms, I struggled with my -emic and -etic perspectives on medical school (finally Anthro 151 became useful). I guess it makes sense since they are only 2 years ahead of me in education. Still, for me, I hear about the white coat ceremony that occurs before classes start (during orientation) and I guess I think there's a sudden change that occurs.  As if putting on the white coat transforms you from a college graduate to a doctor equipt with all the fancy lingo, stethoscope, and knowledge of all the diseases known to man. LOL.

The 3-day shadowing made realize that at the end of the day, first year students are just that, students with fancy short white coats. The experience reassured me that the transition from student to doctor is not going to be all of a sudden, or that medical school would be "survival of the fittest" and if I wasn't fit enough I'd be left behind. I'm not saying that medical school is going to be a breeze but, at least at IUSOM, it seems like it's  not going to be cut throat either.  This may be another "duh" statement for some of you, but it this helps me realize that yes, medical school is going to be difficult, but these students that I can relate to made it, maybe I will too.

  Okay you got me, the white coats aren't all that fancy :).


Medial vocab:
COPD-- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. This is a diagnosis is given to a patient that has upper respiratory destruction usually caused by smoking. Obviously that's not the only way to cause COPD but that's the most common. This usually causes medical conditions such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

Notice the empy seat? One of the perks of IUSOM in Indy is that all classes are video-taped then loaded online. So coming to class is voluntary.

Question and Answers with my IUSM MS1 Ambassador Jasmine Johnson

What college did you go to and what was your major and/or minor in College?

I graduated from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor in 2009, and majored in Brain, Behavior, & Cognitive Science. Go Blue!

Why did you choose IUSM? What set it a part from other medical schools?

I was accepted to Indiana University School of Medicine and Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta. I loved both schools for different reasons because they were both very different in student body size, hospital exposure, and location, but IUSM offered me a four-year full tuition scholarship, so that sweetened and sealed the deal

You are married and currently have a child, how have you been able to balance being a wife, mother and medical student? What you advise other pre-med students and medical students who are in the same situation?

I think that in order to balance you have to be VERY organized, be willing to ask for help, accept the fact that you can’t do everything, and have strict priorities. For example, family will always come before school for me. When my son is sick and needs me, I will be there for him. I am also very blessed to have a supportive husband and my mom and his mom always there to lend a hand – especially during exam blocks.  I consider myself a very independent person, so at first it was hard for me to not be able to do everything – such as cook dinner more or always be there to tuck in my son, but I have realized that the quality of time that I spend with him is more important than the quantity of time, so I try and make my free time memorable and meaningful – instead of just sitting around watching TV or something.

For those women who are in the same situation, I would advise you to never stop. If this is something that you really feel you are called to do, then go for it, and God will find a way. Don’t let anyone tell you that what you are doing is impossible or cannot be done. There are women doing this and way more, so keep pushing. It has its difficult days, but I wouldn’t trade it for anyone else’s situation.

What would you say has been the biggest challenge for you so far in medical school? Biggest accomplishment?

The biggest challenge would be studying so much and realizing that school has taken over my life in first semester. I would eat, breathe, sleep, and even dream about studying and the information we were required to know. It was so intense and draining. I think having my family to come home to is very therapeutic and grounding for me because it helps me to remember that there is a life outside of the craziness of school. So far my biggest accomplishment has been my semester one final grades, AND being able to get those grades without sacrificing my family/motherhood duties like everyone thought I would.

Your father is also a doctor.  Do you think that what being a medical student and doctor has changed from when he attended medical school? How?

My dad went to Wayne State University School of Medicine and graduated in 1989. He is a urologist. I would say that both medical school and the medical field have changed a ton since he was in school. Today, the Internet makes getting information for our curriculum such as lecture recordings and clinical information so much easier and faster. He may have had to spend hours in the library because that’s where all his study materials, guides, etc. were, but now, some students don’t even physically attend class because it is streamed over the internet so you can watch it wherever and whenever you want to. We still spend lots of time in the library, but it’s usually more for the environment and not because we have no choice. Second, the environment of medical school has changed. Our class is probably about 10% students of color, and the school places a HUGE importance on issues of ethnic and socioeconomic diversity with regards to treatment – which is reflective of our rapidly changing population of patients. Also, technology is continuously getting better and more amazing. For example, my dad was recently certified in DiVinici – a robotic surgical procedure that minimizes incision size and recovery time. The thing about medicine is, no matter how old you are or have been practicing, you are always learning so that you can keep up with the latest and best treatment information for your patients.

You went through the MSMS program at IUSM. What were some of the pros and cons of going through this program?

The Masters of Science in Medical Science program is a two-year Masters program that was developed to help students of underserved ethnic groups get into medical school. The curriculum consists of one that mimics the first and second year of medical school here at IUSM. In addition, there is a 10-week MCAT prep to help you increase your score so that your application is more competitive. Some students apply straight to the program and other students are recommended for the program because they are not accepted into the medical school. Students can either complete the two years of the program for their Masters or they can leave the program after the first year and enter medical school if they are accepted (and students have gotten into school all over the country, not just IUSM). I applied to 15 schools the first time around and got 15 rejections with a recommendation for the MSMS program. I have nothing but positive things to say about the program because not only was is instrument to me getting into medical school and brought my MCAT score up 5 points, but also in my great success once medical school started. The year I spent in the program showed me that I was not ready for the rigor of medical school the first time around. Also, having a 5 month old at the time, it was a great trial run of how I would be able to handle a medical school curriculum with my son.

If you could go back, would you still have completed the MSMS program, or attempted to do a 1 or 2 year Masters degree?

Yes, I would definitely do the MSMS program again! I think the curriculum benefitted me the more than a Masters program in a particular subject because it was so similar to how medical school was going to be in the fall. Plus I made a lot of great friends who went on to other medical schools and are in my medical school class now.

Was all the work and effort you put into getting into medical school worth it? Was it all you imagined it to be? Any surprises?

YES!, BETTER!, and YES! I think that this is a very subjective question because EVERYONE has a different story. But for me, when I got my acceptance letters I was so happy and joyful.  And when I put my white coat on for the first time this past August, WOW! It was better than I expected it to be. The biggest surprise has been the workload. It’s a lot better than how hard I expected it to be, and everyone says it will be, which has been great. Everyone makes it seem like when you get into medical school you are going to be under a rock for the next four years. Many of my classmates still indulge in their social life and extracurricular activities, and I am still able to be the mom I want to be. It’s just a matter of maintaining balance and doing what works best for you.

Admissions Advice

Meeting with Johnathan O'Neal, Associate Director of Admissions

      

Taiwo Ajumobi: What types of activities are highly looked upon? Is it better to work in a lab or volunteer in a hospital?

--what if no access to hospital

Johnathan O’Neal: Hospital shadowings, interviewing medical doctors, doing anything medically related is looked up. If there isn’t a nearby hospital or it is hard to have shadow, any extracurricular activity related towards medicine (i.e. Timmy Foundation,

American Blood Drive

) is looked highly upon

TA:Is it better to continuously volunteer in one hospital or switch hospitals often?

JO:  There is no preference for variability or consistency concerning hospitals volunteered and/or worked at

TA: Would you consider IUSM to be more research or clinical oriented or balanced? How?

JO:IUSM is more of a clinical based medical school. However recently they have tried to incorporate more research into the school. They recently have a nationally recognized MD/PhD program.

TA:If the GPA is lower than a 3.5 what can someone  do to make it up?

JO: Score well on the MCAT as well as have a lot of extracurricular activities. Basically show them that you have a passion for what you want to do. Also, doing well in the interview and providing good knowledgeable answers to their questions is also very beneficial.

TA: Is applying early advantageous or does the time not matter as long as it is turned in before the deadline

JO: Yes and no. Yes because you are able to get your interview done early and your package complete early. Also, there is a possibility that you can find out your results out by October, which is when the first round of acceptance letters go out. However, the waiting period is longer if you don’t get any notice in October and that doesn’t mean that you didn’t get accepted.

TA: What perks do students that are applying that are from Indiana get in the admission process?

JO: If a student has a 3.2 cGPA and sGPA as well as a 25 on the MCAT with no score lower than a 7, then they are guaranteed an interview.

TA: What types of scholarships are available for students upon acceptance into program ( let’s assume student has high GPA and/or MCAT score; any full rides?)

JO: There are full ride scholarships available for students. The med school does give scholarships based primarily on merit. Again the financial aid office would be the best assistance for this. Some organizations also give scholarships based on a student’s interest for instance, a student who knows that are interested in practicing medicine in a rural area could get a scholarship from a national organization. However, if that student later on doesn’t in the end practice in a rural area, then he/she has to pay the organization back WITH INTEREST.

TA: If a student is interested in a dual degrees  (MD/jD, MD/MPH, etc.) what opportunities/ programs do you have to accommodate that student’s desire

JO: IUSM have 3 dual degree programs: MD/PhD, MD/MBA, and MD/MPH. The MD/PhD is the only dual degree that works with the medical school. The other two degrees, one would have to fill out separate applications into the programs.

TA:  Which is better, to have a high GPA (3.9) but not so high MCAT (22) or to have a not so high GPA ( 3.5) but a high MCAT (42)?

JO: Stability is keep. The fluctuation of grades and/or MCAT doesn’t speak too well of a student. In general the GPA is looked at a little bit higher than the MCAT (like 1% difference), because it’s a record of your academic ability whereas the MCAT is just a standardized test that dictates how well prepared you are for medical school compared to students across the nation.

TA: What do you like to see in a personal statement? What are your turn ons and turn offs concerning “the essay”?

JO:A good personal essay has four parts to it. 1. Introduction: why do you want to be a doctor.  2. What are your strengths? 3. What are your weaknesses? 4. How did/do you plan to turn you weaknesses into strengths?

TA: Do you do deferred acceptance? What is it? Who is qualified for it? Pros/Cons?

JO: Yes. Deferred Acceptance is when an applicant that is already accepted into medical school  is allowed to not matriculate with his class but defer  his admission for 1 or 2 years. This is very rare to get and tends to be given to students doing big community based activities such as Teach for America, Fulbright, etc. An applicant can not ask for deferred acceptance until after accepted into the med school.

TA: Do you do Early Acceptance applications? Who is qualified for it? Pros/Cons? Would you advise in-state students to apply to IUSM under this application program?

JO: Yes. Students that have a cGPA and sGPA of 3.61 and above as well as a MCAT score of a 30 with no individual score lower than an 8, is allowed to apply whether in-state or out-of-state.  The advantage of this program, is that 1) application is complete and results are given by September. 2) You are given first choice to which of the 9 campuses you desire to live on whereas other residents will have to “cross their fingers” when selecting their top choices

TA: Can you name some pet peeves and  “pet hurrahs” that you tend to see med school applicants write in their applications, say, or do?

JO:Don’t

-lack of honesty on application (trouble with the law and didn’t say it)

--lack of openess (say got a little bit in trouble with the law but background check says otherwise)

--lack or remorse for wrong actions

--if you get published, sending  them a thick package with your publications in them instead of a simple notice

come into an interview overly nervous/under prepared

--send more than 1 page personal statement and/or resume

--send 15 recommendation letters when you only need max 5 (min of 3)

Do

--have strong GPA and MCAT (consistency is key)

--be active, do something during your breaks (fall, spring, thanksgiving, winter, AND summer) as well as during the school year

--interview/shadow a variety of doctors

Think before you do something (especially if it’s illegal). It may come back to haunt you during the applications and make you ineligible for med school. Certain misdemeanors cannot be overlooked by med schools for X-number of years making an applicant illegible for acceptance. Felonies are never overlooked

--send updates of what is going on in your life after the interview (particularly an accomplishment, or activity) to the admissions board even after the interview this

1) keeps you in their minds and helps pull out your file for them to consider for acceptance

2) shows that you are trying to meet their expectations and requirements for the med school

 3) you are genuinely interested in their medical school

Day 2: First Year med student (MS1) @ IUSM

Excited!!! That was the first emotion that I had when I arrived at Indiana University School of Medicine at 9am this morning to attend my first class as a medical student (unofficially). I met my "First Year medical student ambassador" (I'm making up the title)Jasmine Johnson in her Clinical Problem Solving class in the Medical Science building.  Here was this week's case we (really they) were figuring out:

Mr. Smith, a 45 year old male presents with nausea and vomiting after a vacation to south Florida for an Acrhitectural conference. After the conference he boarded the SS Staatenmdam for a cruise to St. Marten, and upon his return to Miami visted a famous seafood restaurant.  Upon landing in Indianapolis, patient felt nauseas and proceeded to vomit twice upon spending the night at home. Patient has a history of peptic ulcers, which have been well controlled by the use of medication and a mild diet. Patient claims to continue the medication and does not recall excessive drinking or eating any spicy foods. After initial meeting, patient returns complaining of muscle weakness, ice feeling hot to the touch, and loss of touch sensation of foot.

It turns out, that this patient had contacted ciguatera, a foodborne illness found in fish common in subtropical and tropical climates (such as Florida and St. Marten). What probably happened is that Mr. Smith ate a fish that had eaten toxic harmful dinoflagella such as Gambierdiscus toxicus which excretes a toxin called ciguatoxin. Below is a flow chart of the process. The caption contains links to give you more information about this disease. Who knows, this may be useful  in med school!



From top to bottom, snapper fish eats dinoflaggella that contains the toxin cinguatoxin. For more on the Ciguatera. On the microbe:Gaambierdiscus toxicus.  Don't eat the fish in Florida! :) I always love playing the detective so I loved this class. How the professor conducted this class is that he would give us one bit of information, such as the fact that Mr. Smith went on a cruise to St. Marten and ate fish at a restaurant in Miami. From this information, it was the class job to figure out as a group based on that information, what could have caused Mr. Smith's illness. Once we got on the right track, the professor gave us another fact until we could put the pieces together and get a good picture of what caused Mr. Smith's illness.  I also liked the class because it reinforces the idea that treating people is a process, not a one-time "miracle worker" thing.Although this a "duh" statement, I like that this class is a weekly reminder of it. It also emphasizes collaboration which is obviously important in the field. Not one student knew the answer and it took bits and pieces of everyone's knowledge to come up with the answer. If I come to IUSM, I know it's going to be one of my favorite classes! After this class was Physiology. In this class we learned about action potential within neurons. The class was interesting not because of the lecture but because it took an hour to understand the professor's thick Russian (or East. European, don't want to stereotype) accent.  I'm a neuro nerd and I couldn't enjoy the lecture much because it was too hard to understand. On a positive note, his notes were easy to understand so for visual learners such as myself, studying what he writes and not what he says would be our mode of survival. For you auditory learners, make friends with a Russian (or citizens from whatever E. European country he is from).  The last class of the day was called Introduction to Clinial Medicine. From what I could get from the class, the idea behind it was to dicuss medicine and a career in medicine in more social atmosphere. This was another small class (Clinical Problem Solving was also small, 8 people) that had two overseers, one was a doctor and the other was a PhD researcher. The class started out nicely. The doctor asked how everyone's break and commented on some of the essays written by the students. One student wrote about doctors being portrayed as "bags of douche" by the movies they watched and another commented on the attractiveness of the actress in the movie.  So as you probably figured, the class was lively until the doctor received a text from the PhD (who wasn't in class at the time) telling the doctor that "he would be late to class and if they had class". If you are confused about that statement, you should be. Anyway, this professor comes into class 30 minutes late asks and makes the same comments the doctor made on the essays then starts the main focus of the class with this statement: " I bet $5 that in 15 year half of you would be married, divorced and remarried." By the way, my ambassador Jasmine is married and the majority of the students in the class were either married, engaged or had girlfriends/boyfriends. Jasmine and another student in the class warned me of their PhD professor but DANG I was not ready for that. Now to his credit he did use statistics back up his claim, but the lack of subtlety that was apparent with everything he said even after this prediction, left me with a lasting impression to say the least. In the end I did enjoy the oddness yet comfortable feel of the class. Quote of the day: You understood the first half of the lecture, and I understood the last half, so let's put our halfs together and pass this class. -- quote from one MS1 after the Physiology lecture to another student

 

Day One: The House call

You know you were looking for these dance moves online :)

Yes, you read right, I went on a house call with Dr. Byrant today. How many of your thought that “house calls” went out with the funky chicken dance and bell-bottom jeans, or do you still do the funky chicken in your bell bottom jeans when no one is looking?

Although not common anymore with the emergence of hospitals in closer proximity to residencies, house calls are a rare but still alive part of the family practice physician’s job.

Dr. Bryant’s house call visit involved an elderly woman who said she was taking her medication daily but 1) based on pharmacy records had only refilled 4 times in 2010, when the medication required a monthly refill and 2) her thyroid readings continued to be very inconsistent with one month reading below average, then the next month way above average. Dr. Bryant’s goal was to go over to her house and figure out whether the patient had all of her medication (which in all honesty was a lot, 6 different medications she has to take a day) as well as if she was taking her medication correctly. What we found was a completely unexpected.

The patient did have all of her needed medication; in fact she had a surplus of medication. One medication that she was half-filled and recorded on the label to have been filled in early October, however, she had another half-filled bottle of the same medication that was filled in December. This was a definite sign that  either the patient was not taking her medication every day like she was suppose to, or she was taking her medication from two different bottles unknowingly which is why they weren’t empty. Honestly, I think it was a little of both since her pharmacy records would have shown her having 6 refills instead of 4 refills if she was taking the medication from two different bottle.

This visit made me aware of the conflicting feelings a doctor may encounter when trying to do their job. Dr. Bryant obviously cared about her patient to go above and beyond the call of her job duties by taking the time to visit her patient at her home. At the same time, the fustration of the patient's choice to not follow her directions for the patient's own good was also very evident. Although I knew this was part of the job, actually seeing this in Dr. Bryant was eyeopening. What added to the fustration was that we left the house with more questions that answers.

--Why is her husband giving her refills on medication even though she is not done with her current one?

--Why are the refills infrequent and irregular?

--Why is it so hard for the patient to be compliant with the instructions given to her by Dr. Byrant, although it is evident by the patient’s actions that she likes Dr. Byrant and has no problems with her?

--Most importantly, what to do next to help the patient?

This experience reminded me that Doctors are in essencse, medical advisors and not miracle workers. Doctors can only advise and to the best of their training help patients better their health, however the patients in the end are responsible for making possiblity of better health a reality. Sometimes I wonder if patients understand this fact completely. As future doctors we will spend the next four years in medical school learning the ins and outs of patients anatomically and in some sense sociologically (that may be a made up word). However, how much will patients know about the doctor's job? Is the misunderstandings of the job of a doctor the fault of current and past doctors or ours? Something to think about.

Anyway, in short, my first house visit was definitely rememberable.

Meeting Dr. Cathy Bryant

So today is the second time I have had face-to-face contact with Dr. Cathy Bryant. The first time we met, I was ringing up her purchases at my school's bookstore. We happened to talk about the pre-med program at DePauw University (my school) and medicine in general and out of the blue, this opportunity arose.  Had I not been working as a cashier that day, I probably would have spent ~$4000 to do shadowing in Jamaica. Given, the weather is a lot warmer than in Indiana and I was excited about being able to wear shorts in the winter, but if given the choice between paying and not paying for a cool medical experience, I think I'll save my money for when I actually get into medical school.

Speaking with her I learned more about her path to becoming a certified Family Medicine doctor who was kind enough to give me this (free) opportunity. Dr. Cathy Bryant is an alumnus from my school. She graduated from with a degree in Biology and a minor in French in 1986. She graduated from Indiana University School of Medicine in 1990 and completed her family medicine residence in Minnesota. She currently does her practice at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana and is the mother of two young children. She is also involved with the family medicine residency program at St. Vincent. Even though she has graduated from DePauw, she still keeps ties with our university by being on the Alumni Board. In fact, it was during Old Gold weekend that we met.

One interesting fact about Dr. Bryant is that she also picked up Spanish and uses it more in her practice. In fact, it was during an on campus Winter Term that she had her first Spanish class. She then continued her study of the language by taking a year of Spanish during her senior year. However, she told me that she felt comfortable using her Spanish with her patients only after taking a Spanish course in Mexico during her residency. For her it was important to fully immerse herself in the culture in order to better understand the language. So for you people out there (such as myself) who want to pick up another language but didn't have time to in college, there is still hope and more importantly: TIME!!!

 I had MANY questions for Dr. Byrant and they'll be spread throughout this blog. Each post that has her name on it will have some of the questions I asked. The links lead to Youtube videos.

Question #1: What was the inspiration for coming up with this program?

Question #2: What have been the benefits and/or disadvantages of being a bilingual physician?

Question #3:How are you able to balance being a doctor and a mother? part1/part2

Why I am a MD wannabe

No this is not me.

I have always wanted to be a doctor. When I was ten years old, I asked my mom if Doctors needed to be good in English . My mom  unfortunately told me yes and explained that it is because doctors have to read and write up patient reports. Grudgingly, I decided to put more effort to do well in my English classes. 

Eleven years later I'm an English Lit minor, how ironic! :)

Missy Elliot in her 2002 song "Work it" raps, "Is it worth it, let me work it."

This is the same question I now now ask about medical school. Is med school worth it? If so, let me work it with my GPA, MCAT score and extra extracurricular activities. But if not, I want to know now instead of 20 years later when I'm in $100,000 in debt from med school bills.

This is why I am a MD wannabe, I have fantasized about life as a doctor, but in all honesty, I don't know much about the field. I know I want to help people, but let's be honest--there are LESS STRESSFUL careers one can pursue in order to help people. I know I love science ( I have to in order to be a biochem nerd at DePauw) and I don't hate people so that's a plus.

 But what makes me (us) wake up everyday and say: I am going to be a doctor? One of my friends describes this question saying that it's like asking him why does he breathes. However, at the end of the day, that is what  pursuing our career choices is all about: why we are breathing. We all believe that we have something to live for, a purpose to fulfill  (if not, we all would be stress free living on our mother's couch).  It's just figuring out what the reason and purpose for our lives is, and that is our ultimate question to answer. 

For me, I think that it is through the field of medicine.  Being a doctor, to me would allow me the opportunity to interact with people on a subject I love: the human body.  As a doctor I will be given the opportunity the be a patient advocate, a collaborator with other doctors and specialists if necessary. I am allowed to be a researcher, if I want, and better learn and understand why certain diseases and disorders occur in people. I can also be a public voice on health topics such as vaccinations (which by the way don't cause autism) and health disparities in America and even around the world. I can even become a professor and share the knowledge I have learned with other "MD wannabees" who are working to earn the right to be called an MD. Knowing that two letters have  so much meaning  and allow me to do more than any other "helping people" job can, is amazing. I believe that because being a doctor is multifaceted, that it's the path that will best help me to fulfill my purpose in life.

For others it may be another field. Just putting my two cents in.


Sidenote: Can you believe Missy's song is that old? I miss the 90s and early 2000s music!