medical school

Research Basics: Should I Get Involved and How Do I Start?

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research basics

The year is 1921. A medical student toils away at a dimly lit lab bench deep in the bowels of the University of Toronto. His intense concentration does not waver even as a bead of sweat begins to slip from his brow, splattering onto the chemical-stained surface below. Charles Best lets out a sigh of relief, unclenching the shoulders he had tightened while manipulating miniscule fragments of pancreatic tissue under the microscope.

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Are physicians hopeless in the face of the obesity epidemic?

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Obesity may not be hopeless, but it is very difficult for physicians and sufferers

Listener Hannah wrote in after shadowing physicians, noting that many of the morbidly obese patients she observed resisted their doctors’ advice to lose weight. Is there any hope that doctors can treat this intractable illness when patients don’t “want” to do the work? Aline Sandouk, Claire Casteneda, Kylie Miller, and newbie Ali Hassan offer their views and what they’ve learned so far about treating this difficult disease.

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Opportunities in Primary Care

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surgical specialties

Medical students are bombarded with decisions regarding what they want to do with their lives, from choice of specialty to options within the field itself. Quite a few medical schools these days push for students to pursue primary care specialties. These include family medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine and (sometimes) psychiatry. There are many incentives offered for students to pursue these in-demand fields: scholarships, loan repayment options, etc. Below are a few opportunities for medical students who are set on primary care fields.

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Are You Ready for Commitment? When and How to Write a Letter of Intent

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letter of intent

So you are nearing the end of your application season. You have spent years completing prerequisite courses, engaging in thoughtful and philanthropic extracurricular pursuits, preparing for the MCAT, and of course submitting primaries, secondaries and interviewing at your desired medical schools. Maybe you have multiple letters of acceptance in hand; maybe you have not yet received your fat envelope. But there is one school that has stolen your heart. And unfortunately, your love might be unrequited.

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A Crucial Health Professions Pipeline Pt. 2

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More great stuff from the SHPEPers at CCOM

Our visit with pre-health students in the Carver College of Medicine’s Summer Health Professions Education Program continues as co-host Teneme Konne talks with SHPEPers Asjah Coleman, Kirsten Grismer, Ahone Koge and Margaret Mungai.  Before the show, Teneme also visited with two of Iowa City’s homeless population, and gained some insight into their lives as well as the reasons they are living on the streets.

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Medical Training Hierarchy: Your Role as a 3rd or 4th Year Student

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surgical specialties

I’ve just started my fourth year, and while it’s a relief to be done with all of my medical school exams, I’m finding that there are plenty of new responsibilities to take on! I’m no longer the lowest member of the medical food chain, which also means that I partially have the responsibility of taking care of my M3 classmates. I am currently rotating on a surgical service where this dynamic is especially prevalent. It comes into play when scrubbing in to surgeries or doing other “higher level” tasks. I think this hierarchy is important to discuss for those M3s just beginning their first clinical year.

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SHPEP: A Crucial Healthcare Professions Pipeline

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Mentorship and Examples are critical.

The Summer Health Professions Education Program, SHPEP, has become a summer tradition at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. Students from around the country participate in SHPEP’s goal: “to strengthen the academic proficiency and career development of students underrepresented in the health professions and prepare them for a successful application and matriculation to health professions schools.”

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How to Create and Live On A Student Budget

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student budget

It’s a fact of life: you need money to pay expenses that allow you to live comfortably. When you’re attending school, you may use your financial aid as your “income” and, therefore, you will want to manage that money wisely. The less money you borrow now, the less money you will need to repay—including interest—after graduation. 

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