April Post

The month of April was a roller coaster ride for me. I finished my last semester of pharmacology, survived a tornado, and am living in a global pandemic! It began with going back home for the quarantine. At home, my routine consisted of studying for Pharmacology and the MCAT, walking my dog, and spending time with my family members who weren't seriously vulnerable to COVID-19. For the most part, I haven't really minded the quarantine. I think this has been the most productive 6 weeks of my life, without all of the distractions that come with normal life. This was really helpful for my cell control test and the final. Though there are definitely negative aspects of the quarantine, I plan on trying to incorporate some of this social distancing productivity into my life after quarantine.

In this time, I have also been able to reflect on this year. I am extremely grateful that I was able to do participate in this program. Throughout the year, I have learned so much that I will be able to apply in the future. I have also made great friends and have made connections with the professors. I feel like this program has really shaped me into a better student and given me a glimpse of what medical school will look like.  I truly couldn't imagine how I could be any more prepared for it after this. Plus, on top of all of this other great stuff, technically, I am a master of Pharmacology.

Benji And His Cow Friend

March Blog

March has been a crazy month for everyone around the world. The Corona Virus has been spread across the globe and has caused so much devastation. Due to the virus, our shelf exam was postponed, and our classes are now online. Before things got so crazy, we learned about different psychological disorders and drugs used to treat them. I believe that the stress aspect of the psych module is very relevant to our situation now. Many people are worried and for a good reason. Job security and health have always been related to stress but now even more so than ever. During this time, I think it is critical that people should be focusing on mental health and relieve some of their stress.

This virus has also made me feel thankful for deciding to go through with this program. I feel like I have learned so much more about medicine since I graduated from college. In doing so, I have become more competent in almost all aspects of medicine and feel like I can understand what is happening better. Learning about viruses and drugs to combat these viruses earlier in the semester has given me a perspective that most people do not have. I do know that even with this information, there is still so much to learn, and I cannot fully grasp the full scope of this virus. However, I find it comforting that I can still help some family members and friends get past all the madness by explaining some of the medical aspects of this virus. I think that this situation has given me even more motivation to become a doctor, so I will be able to help my friends, family, and community get through difficult situations like this.

February Post

In the month of February, the good times sure were rolling. Many of my fellow classmates got to experience their first Mardi Gras and see what all the hype was about. Our class material about neurology and addiction was pretty relevant to this month. The physiological and neurological effects of alcohol on the brain and liver were most definitely seen during Mardi Gras.  Since I majored in Neuroscience, I found this module to be refreshing and fascinating.  I have always had a love for the brain and the mechanisms behind how the drugs exert their effects on it. We also saw how other factors, like head trauma, genetics, age, and sex, were associated with various types of brain diseases. For example, the risk factors for Parkinson’s disease include being over the age of 65, being a male, having past head trauma, and having increased expression of α-synuclein.

 I found that head trauma was one of the most common risk factors in many of these diseases, which was really fascinating to me. Since I played football and soccer in high school, I am interested in CTE and how head trauma could affect many of my other teammates and me in the future and possibly even now. One of the most famous examples of someone who endured brain trauma most of his life and then was diagnosed with one of these brain diseases is Muhammed Ali. I believe as time goes by, we will learn much more about the mechanisms behind how head trauma affects our brains and how we can help reduce these effects. However, I also believe that athletes obtain these traumatic brain injuries every day, and we should be putting more focus on finding resolutions for this damage. 

We also learned about different forms of anesthetics and when the appropriate situations to use them. Anesthetics are a relatively new and unknown field of medicine. As Dr. Clarkson mentioned in class, when he was in school, they still didn’t understand the mechanisms by which some of the anesthetics worked. We still don’t know all the targets of some of these drugs, which is pretty scary to think about. Before this module, I felt that anesthetics were relatively safe, but now I am a little hesitant. I really enjoyed this module because it showed me that we still have so much to learn about medicine and the brain. I hope that in the future I will be able to shed some light on these unknown questions.

Service Hours: 0

Semester Service Hours: 0

January Post

With the new year comes new drugs, and boy have we had a lot of them! We started off this year learning about different treatments for diabetes and sexually transmitted infections, as well as various forms of oral contraceptives. I found the diabetes aspect of our first module to be most applicable to my life because my grandmother suffers from type 2 diabetes. Since I graduated as "pre-med," my grandmother basically thinks I am a doctor and always talks to me about her blood sugar levels and diabetes medication like I know what she is talking about. Luckily, now I actually have a decent grasp of the disease and the medications, so I don't have to keep explaining to her that I am not a doctor anymore. 

I also got to learn about Lunar New Years from my classmate Linh Ha whose parents own a Vietnamese restaurant. Being from Monroe, Louisiana, we don't really have many if any Vietnamese restaurants, so I found it really cool to learn about their culture and traditions. I have always thought it is really important to immerse yourself in different cultures to become more well rounded and understanding of others. I believe this is even more important for physicians. 

Service Hours: 0

Semester Service Hours: 0

December Blog

In the month of giving, I decided to give back to my community by volunteering to help clean up Palmer Park. It definitely was not as glamorous or fun as my other volunteering experiences, but it was nice to see how big of a difference a few people could make in a matter of hours. Since I am from Louisiana,  I really enjoyed helping clean the state that I love so much. I also found that this volunteering experience related to our recent module about Cancer and GI problems.

Louisiana has one of the highest cancer rates in the United States, and after cleaning Palmer Park, I now know why. I was shocked by the number of cigarette buds, beer cans, and liquor bottles that we picked up. We learned in class that alcohol and tobacco use can be attributed to 33 percent of cancer cases in America. Alcohol and Tobacco also can be linked to GI problems like peptic ulcers. Specifically, smoking can increase the risk of peptic ulcers in people who already have the H. pylori bacteria, and alcohol can damage the mucosal lining of the stomach and increase the acidity as well.

As this semester closes, I am very thankful that I decided to participate in this program. I believe I have learned so much about pharmaceutical drugs and the human body. I also believe that this program is conditioning me for medical school and is giving me a real advantage for my future in medicine.

Monthly Community Service Hours: 3

Cumulative Community Service Hours: 12

November Blog

During the month of November, I have become "thankful" for my properly functioning kidneys, heart, and lungs! Since I did not take physiology or anatomy in college, I felt like I learned a lot of useful information about these vital organs, which I will undoubtedly have to encounter again. I believe the kidneys might be the most complicated organs in the body after this month. They have so many jobs and have either a direct or indirect effect on all other organ systems.  I found diuretics to be my favorite drug class so far. Before this module, I only thought of diuretics as drugs that increased urine output, and boy was wrong. Now I think of diuretics as the swiss army knife of drugs; they have such a wide range of applications compared to other medications. For example, the diuretic mannitol can be used for head trauma, while the diuretic acetazolamide is used for acute mountain sickness, loop diuretics can be used for edemas, and the list goes on. 

For my community service this month, I volunteered to help with the Girls on the Run 5k. This organization is dedicated to empowering girls for their future. During this volunteering experience, I helped with setting up the various stations and then worked at the “hydration station” during the race. I thought it was a funny coincidence that I learned about diuretics and water retention the whole month and then spent time helping others stay hydrated. Overall, I felt like this was a great month, and I’m excited to keep going through the program!

GOTR 5k 

Monthly Community Service Hours: 5

Cumulative Community Service Hours: 9

October Blog Post

The month of October was a "spooky" one. We began the month by learning about physiology and the autonomic nervous system. The amount and complexity of the material were scary. Still, I really enjoyed learning about how the autonomic nervous system is constantly at work, allowing our bodies to do all the necessary tasks to keep us alive and well. We also got a crash course on how to read EKGs. Much of the material that I have been taught in the past has been interesting but a lot of the times, it has not been very applicable for practicing as a doctor, therefore, I found it to be really refreshing since this skill will be critical for my future as a doctor.

The physiology and ANS module was my best module so far. I believe the reason for this is that I am finally getting used to the pace of the program and the expectations of our professors.  My mindset for this program has also changed from using this program as a stepping stone to get me into medical school to using this program as a practice run for medical school and applying the skills that I learn from it to medical school. In doing so I have changed my studying tactics. I started studying more, making significantly more flashcards, and going over lectures after each class. 

We are now in the cardiovascular module, and one might consider it to be "frightening." There are so many things that can go wrong in the cardiovascular system! There are so many different ways that these problems can arise, including prescribing the wrong medications to your patients. I feel that this module is very applicable to my future as well, and I can't wait to learn more. Due to the madness of this month, I was not able to volunteer this month, unfortunately. However, I am excited to see what volunteering opportunity that I pursue next month and what I will undoubtedly learn from it.

Monthly Community Service Hours: 4

Cumulative Community Service Hours: 4