Diversity and Inclusion. These “buzzwords” are often met with dismissal by some medical school applicants, but these principles should be embraced by anyone who wants to dedicate their lives to the service of others. We must promote diversity and work to eliminate the biases that perpetuate worse healthcare and outcomes for marginalized populations. We must… Read More Diversity & Inclusion: More Than Just Checking a Box
I’ve come to realize that the quality of my coffee predicts, with near perfect accuracy, the quality of my day. Being new to the Birmingham area, identifying where to get a quality cup was a priority for me. So, on a blustery during a blustery October week, fellow coffee enthusiast Ben Lin (MS-1) and I… Read More Seeds: A Birmingham Coffee Staple
Last month, I had the incredible pleasure of attending the Coalition for Disability Access in Health Science Education symposium in Washington, D.C. The MSTP has been incredibly supportive of my journey through medical school with an autoimmune condition, and they actually paid for my registration, flight, and lodging for the conference (THANK YOU, UAB MSTP!).… Read More Conference Reflection: Disability Access in Health Science Education
With the end of my second year quickly approaching, I took time during my winter break to reflect. One strategy I use in preventing burnout and staying focused is to organize my thoughts and give myself some context: why am I here, and what do I hope to accomplish? 1. Medicine The Merriam-Webster definition… Read More Motivation
Recently, I had the chance to attend the Disability Rights, Education, Activism, and Mentoring (DREAM) Conference at UAB. The conference was entirely virtual; although students gathered together in certain rooms on campus, we signed in to an online seminar series that was being broadcast simultaneously at multiple universities across the U.S. To my knowledge, this… Read More Disability Rights, Education, Activism, and Mentoring (DREAM) Conference: 3 Key Takeaways
So, you got your Step I score back, and it’s not what you were hoping for… What’s there to do next? As an MD/PhD student, there are few experiences as difficult as completing your USMLE Step I exam, waiting the excruciatingly long wait period for your score, opening your results, and finding a number… Read More Advice: Navigating the Post-USMLE Step 1 Period and Score Disappointment
Congratulations!! If you’re reading this post, you may have applied to some MD/PhD programs and been placed on the waitlist. This is a position in which a school simply requests more time to make a decision about your application – you are not accepted or rejected, but the school is interested enough to continue deliberating… Read More Waitlists and Expressing Interest in Programs
Before starting my journey at UAB this year, I was really curious about what a typical week looks like for a medical student. I knew there would be lots of studying ahead, but I wondered how much time students spent in class, what types of classes there were, and more. Thus, to help future generations be… Read More A Week in the Life of an MS-1: How do classes work?
***To listen to a podcast made by UAB medical students about the 2016 White Coat Ceremony, please click here! This podcast was produced/edited by GS1 Corey Duke and features MS1 students Emily Hayward and Shreya Kashyap.*** On August 14, after completing a two-week introductory course entitled Patient, Doctor, and Society (PDS), the first… Read More Reflections from our MS1s: The White Coat Ceremony Experience
During the first semester of medical school at UAB, students take a course known as “Fundamentals” (sometimes abbreviated as “Fun”… oh, the irony!). The course is intended to be a massive, semester-long building block of the basic sciences that will be needed later. For most students with biology-related degrees, many of the concepts in Fundamentals… Read More Exam Week, as told by Michael Scott
UnABridged 