“match day” – the most infamous day in a medical student’s life – was in march, and in june i’ll be moving to philadelphia, pennsylvania for the next three years! for those who don’t know, the match is a computer algorithm that correlates the rank lists of applicants and residency programs. the process starts with applications, and then (hopefully) interview invitations to specific residency programs in the fall, which one then ranks in order of preference. on match day, every residency applicant finds out at the same time via email where they matched for residency. the mathematicians who developed the algorithm won a nobel prize for their efforts! it usually works out for the aggregate best, but there are never any guarantees that one will end up at somewhere near the top of their list or of matching at all for that matter.
i am absolutely thrilled that i will be doing my residency in pediatrics at my first choice, st. christopher’s hospital for children, which is the pediatric teaching hospital for drexel and temple universities. the hospital is in north philadelphia, in the heart of the “poorest zipcode in america.” the patient population is predominantly african american and very underserved, which is tremendously attractive to me, as on the whole i will much prefer the inner-city to dealing with upper-middle class suburban anti-vaxxers. also thrilled to get to move to the great city of philadelphia! it is a better residency program than i deserve objectively speaking and i am so very thankful to God for this opportunity! all are most welcome to come visit!
i came back to the glorious united states from the end of june until the beginning of january. on the schedule were four month-long fourth year medical school electives. first i did pediatric emergency medicine at morgan stanley children’s hospital, which is at columbia university’s new york presbyterian hospital in washington heights, at the northern tip of manhattan. i rented a room close to the hospital in the heavily dominican neighborhood, and frequently ran back and forth across the george washington bridge at night for awe-inspiring views of the manhattan skyline. this as well as the next elective were sub-internships, meaning that i was expected to assume the responsibility level of a first-year resident, which was a huge (but great) learning curve and kept me extremely busy. that first month i also took the clinical skills (cs) portion of step 2 of the united states medical licensing exam (usmle), which is a practical test in which you enter a series of exam rooms with actor patients who simulate a variety of medical scenarios.
my next elective was in baton rouge, louisiana, at our lady of the lake hospital, where i was on the pediatric wards basically 15 hours every day.
next i made a quick stop at home in alberta to pick up my car, as living in the south for a month without a car really reminded me of the value of wheels. then, to rady children’s hospital at the university of california – san diego for a month of pediatric endocrinology (and many long runs on the beach)! thanks to friends from the past kimberly and brian for being so welcoming! san diego was truly amazing, and i stuck around for a couple weeks after my elective to go to mexico and also to attend the american academy of pediatric’s (aap) annual conference, whose attendees included, among others, hillary clinton.
then i drove quickly back across the country to new york city, where i did an elective in dermatology at mount sinai – beth israel hospital in midtown manhattan, commuting daily from the cheapest place i could rent in caribbean brooklyn. then, i drove all around the country for a little over a month, attending residency interviews! they were quite fun. special thanks to all the people who helped me out by hosting me, like mrs breckenridge in san diego, will in phoenix, mayaan in western mass, isaac and camille in south bend indiana, ryan and jess in minneapolis, joel in chicago, mr and mrs burns in cincinnati, and a potpurri of motel 6s. even made the impromtu decision to go to kenya for a week for a family reunion! finally, it was home to canada for christmas, with about 30 000 more kilometers on my college-era honda civic.
one weekend in march i was lucky enough to fly half way around the world to attend the amsa (american medical student’s association) annual convention in washington dc! big thanks to the amsa chapter at my school and to my university for almost all of the funding! flew there through both zurich and london – the more flights the more free food and movies, eh!
the convention was quite interesting. we heard from the real-life dr. patch adams! turns out he didn’t even want that robin williams movie made about him, and he doesn’t like it. he’s also a pyjamas-in-public, self-described communist who did quite a bit of ranting about capitalism. he’s worked his entire professional life for free. he did have some very practical and apt thoughts on how physicians can better relate to patients. we also heard from recently retired johns hopkins neurosurgeon, author, and recently potential presidential hopeful dr. ben carson.
for me, the best talk was from another johns hopkins neurosurgeon, dr. alfredo quinones-hinojosa. from rural mexico, he entered the united states undocumented as a child and started picking vegetables. long story short, he ended up becoming a prominent neurosurgeon, and a down-to earth one at that. proof that citizenship or a certain background isn’t a prerequisite for living the american dream. when someone suggested that he change his last name because it was hard for americans to pronounce, he changed it by hyphenating and enlongating it in honor of his mother, and as a symbolic flippage of the proverbial bird to those who would want where he came from to hold him back. love it! cnn did a nice piece on him too which can be read here.
almost got to see every medical student’s favorite pathologist and bodybuilder dr. edward goljan, but alas he got sick at the last minute. a cool thing about the conference was that it overlapped with a conference of the international medical student’s association, so we got to meet a bunch of medical students from all over the world! for example, we were hanging out at a party and met the israeli and the lebanese medical student contingents, and we all started dancing together! where else does that happen!?! it warmed my heart. i also got to hang out with my sister maria for a day, which was so nice. also a great day at the zoo with my friend sylvie, with whom i had been skyping quite a bit. and a big thank you to my friend joel who let me stay at his house!
after spain, i headed to the good ‘ol usa for three weeks! my sister and her three congenial roommates in harrisburg, pa were kind enough to let me sleep in their living room! it was a lot of fun to meet some really nice new people in the english language again! frequented subway (like every single day), chipotle, walmart and the local ymca – a highlight was zumba class! lots of studying. crashed a random church christmas potluck where i made some new friends! my sister and i ate an amazing amish meal communally with some random strangers! what is it about america and all the highlights invariably centering around food? nostalgically drove my old car around rural pennsylvania in the middle of the night with country music cranked. driving cars- that might be one of the things i miss most about that side of the world. i had to fly back on christmas eve to be at school on time. christmas day i spent wandering the deserted streets of geneva, switzerland, cold and alone. it wasn’t the end of the world though. considering that geneva is surrounded by france, i decided to use the day to walk to france to blow my remaining euros on a turkish doner for lunch. then back to school!
four months later, i think its about time for a post!
what’s gone on since the last time:
– so very much studying. it is, after all, what medical school is all about!
courses this semester include: pathology, pharmacology, physiology, epidemiology, microbiology (continued), hebrew and a dash of anthropology and history taking.
– a couple amazing thanksgiving potlucks around that time
– the cinematic event of the year: the beer sheva premiere of “twilight: breaking dawn part one!”
– a retreat to the sea of galilee with some of the other christian students at msih! we did some hiking and went to capernum and the mount of beatitudes
galilee retreatgalilee retreat
– unexpectedly frequent homemade korean cuisine fests!
– some ups and downs in the ol’ personal life
– got to go back to the usa to visit my family for christmas! houston, texas and new orleans, lousiana! i wont elaborate because traditionally this blog is only about stuff that goes down in the eastern hemisphere, but i will say that it was really nice to see my family again and there were numerous trips to walmart!
– watched the superbowl live at the local shanti bar until it finished at 5am! then got some breakfast, and went to eight hours of class the next day. gotta get ready for those 36 hour days in residency!
beer shevamy friend yossibirthdaypushing to get on the busa communal shabbat dinner, beer shevamy friend diana decided to move awaysome theater in beer sheva
– went to jaffa (which is the historical area / rapidly gentrifying part of tel aviv) one friday to visit a clinic run by physicians for human rights – israel (phr-i). they are an ngo run completely by volunteers that provides free medical care for the migrant worker/non-jewish immigrant/refugee population in israel. there have been tens of thousands of refugees coming to israel in recent years from places like sudan and eritrea, but these people are not covered but israel’s universal healthcare coverage, have no mechanism for becoming citizens as they’re not jewish, and typically can’t legally work. its a huge, intractable problem for the government, and really sad on a personal level. these people risk their lives journeying across north africa in the hopes of making it to the “free western world” – many of them end up in protracted slavery in the sinai or even having their organs harvested at the hands of the human smugglers on which they depend. then, even if they make it across the border into israel without getting shot, they can’t work, so many end up sleeping in a park in tel aviv indefinitely. phr-i also does mobile clinics in the west bank and gaza, where people are also definitely not privy to government funded universal healthcare. i think that phr-i is amazing, especially considering it is fueled entirely by volunteer health professionals!
– last week was special: all our classes were devoted to issues relating to cardiovascular health and atherosclerosis. we also, for the first time since my class has been here, did everything that week with our colleagues at the israeli medical school. it was great to meet some new friends, especially considering that sometimes our classes are in the same buildings! we made posters in groups and presented them outdoors in the february warmth that only beer sheva can provide. i can tell you all about statins now. we also had fun stuff like yoga and zumba classes! zumba is my new favorite sport! turns out my default dancing technique has always been zumba inspired – i just didn’t know what to call it until now!
– the biggest highlight of the year so far has definitely been once-a-week clinical days. in small groups we get to go to various wards in the hospital or clinics in surrounding towns and learn how to interview patients. the language barrier can definitely be a challenge but that’s just the way it is. this week i to went to a bedouin family’s house in the nearby settlement of tel sheva. they even made us a huge lunch, which we ate from communal plates while lounging on their floor!
the bedouin are an interesting people group. traditionally they were pastoral nomads who wandered around the deserts of the middle east. with the creation of secure borders between modern nation-states like israel, however, they found themselves hemmed in. at the creation of the state of israel 60 years ago there were 10 000 bedouin in the negev desert around beer sheva – today there are 100 000. that’s a steep growth curve! they also have a tendency for consanguinous marriage (ie. with their cousins) which inevitably leads to high prevalence of rare genetic defects. indeed, beer sheva’s own soroka hospital (where our classes are) is internationally famous in genetics circles. most of the children at soroka are bedouin and most of the elderly are russian. maybe that is a phenomenon for another blog entry. anyway, the bedouin live in towns and villages that spot the desert surrounding beer sheva. some were set up by the government, while others are “unrecognized.” the government likes to periodically bulldoze homes in unrecognized villages to remind everybody who is in charge. i went to a lecture (in an underground bomb shelter) the other night by a bedouin guy who is getting a law degree in part so he can work to protect his unrecognized village. he was a good guy. i’m sure the guys who operate the bulldozers are too, its just too bad they can’t be using them to do something productive.
documentation of destruction of bedouin villages in the negev
