MD Program

Learning is repetition. At least that is what seems to be true for us from an early age. As babies trying to stand up on our own, as toddlers testing the boundaries of parental restraint, as teenagers making mistakes that hopefully weren’t too serious: We don’t usually get it right the first time, and that seems to be true in medical school as well. The start of the second year has proven to be repetitive.  … Read More

I completed my first career medical school exam this past Monday afternoon. When I returned home that evening, I had yet to recover from the adrenaline, and the rest of my life had collapsed into shambles. I had only small parcels of food in the refrigerator and a few clean clothes in my closet; I hadn’t spoken to either of my parents in over a week, and I felt mentally and physically exhausted. The following … Read More

My feet are numb from studying for hours endlessly. The pins and needles down there make it difficult to see exactly WHY I study into perpetuity. What makes me stay day after day? Preceptorship, for me. For four hours a week, somehow a brave doctor concedes to watching me attempt to tend his patients’ every need. Some patients are quite skeptical, I can’t help but agree- Thank goodness for this practice, or I’d never earn … Read More

Portland’s school buses were out en masse this morning as I waited for my own bus up to the hill. It’s happening! School has started, fall is here, everything smells like #2 pencils and pink gum erasers. We’re fully ensconced, already 11 days in to our first block of medical school, and I still find myself checking to make sure I’ve packed all my necessary supplies for the day. Snacks, colored pencils (embryology coloring book, … Read More

Barely three months have passed since I rounded out the first half of medical school. Those long hours of lecture, which tested my concentration and comprehension as a first-year medical student, last year grew into a comfortable routine. I was familiar with the rhythms of school, friendly with my classmates, starting to formulate more complex questions about biology and insights into medicine. I was not yet a resident (in any sense) in the medical world, … Read More

For myself and I think many other incoming med students, the process of gaining acceptance into medical school was quite consuming. So much so, in fact, that once I was accepted, I focused all of my efforts on traveling (I spent parts of the summer in Southeast Asia, Mexico, Los Angeles and Napa Valley) and hanging out with friends and family.  My aspiration to live this adventurous and carefree pre-medical school lifestyle was partly due … Read More

Danielle is spending five weeks in Medellin, Colombia working on a research project involving tobacco exposure in pregnancy. The project involves two surveys: one targeted to prenatal care providers and one for pregnant patients in four different medical institutions throughout the city. She will blog about her experience here at OHSU StudentSpeak.  Learn more.  Wednesday afternoon took me to work at El Salvador, one of several clinics run by MetroSalud. The organization comprises a network … Read More

Danielle is spending five weeks in Medellin, Colombia working on a research project involving tobacco exposure in pregnancy. The project involves two surveys: one targeted to prenatal care providers and one for pregnant patients in four different medical institutions throughout the city. She will blog about her experience here at OHSU StudentSpeak.  Learn more. The wonders of Medellin can only be taken in doses, and I decided that I needed a break from the commotion … Read More

This summer, Inger is working with the Health Policy and Research Department at the Ministry of Health on the island of Palau. She will blog about her experience here at OHSU StudentSpeak. Learn more about Palau here. Alii and Greetings from Palau! I hope you all had a great Constitution Day weekend! About 35-40% of Palauans work in the government sector which means 35-40% of Palauans had a 3-day weekend. As a Ministry of Health … Read More

Danielle is spending five weeks in Medellin, Colombia working on a research project involving tobacco exposure in pregnancy. The project involves two surveys: one targeted to prenatal care providers and one for pregnant patients in four different medical institutions throughout the city. She will blog about her experience here at OHSU StudentSpeak.  Learn more. Just as I was starting to forget why I have begun to incur thousands of dollars of debt and why come … Read More