an academic medicine weblog
I was recently asked by one of my readers to call attention to the need for more people to register for bone marrow donation–a request inspired by the illness of one of his classmates at Yale School of Medicine, Natasha Collins, who is battling recurrent leukemia but is unable to find a matched bone marrow donor for [...]
From the Science/AAAS: Watch Live on Thursday, April 30, 2009 12 noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific, 4 p.m. GMT Cancer is a complex family of diseases, characterized by the deregulation or dysregulation of the normal control pathways for cellular growth and/or apoptosis. Traditional research programs have focused on identifying and quantifying environmental and inherited factors [...]
What is the most consistent measure of academic viability? Scientific accomplishment? Enlightenment of fellow man? Bettering mankind? Not really. In my experience the most consistent measure of the viability of ones academic career is funding/money. When big-name scientists lose their funding, they get the boot. When the dude who has never really accomplished much somehow [...]
Well, back to real life. When I woke up this morning, I was in pain. And not just because I have a sunburn. Anyway, below are pictures of the beautiful country I left behind for another year–not to be seen again until after internship. Also, there’s a gator in one of the pictures, which I [...]
Just kidding and no offense to my Romanian bretheren. I just read an article published in the Dec. 21, 2007 issue of Science Magazine entitled “Cognitive Recovery in Socially Deprived Young Children: The Bucharest Early Intervention Project” which reported the results of a randomized controlled trial looking at the cognitive outcomes of orphan children who were institutionalized versus [...]
Nothing to complain about today. No outrage. The soap opera that is living the academic life is on hold while I am on vacation. I brought a digital camera with me but can’t find the adapter to upload the pics to my laptop, so I guess I’ll have to wait until I get home for [...]
It’s amazing what a big role administrators can play in academics. From the administrator in the graduate program office to the departmental administrator who puts in grant applications, administrators can make your life easy or extremely difficult. In my experience, I can tell you that the administrators in our MD/PhD office and my graduate program as well [...]
Holy crap!!! Whoever said immunology is useless? I’ve always been a little wary of cancer immunology because it is a field that is trying to harness the power of a system we still know almost nothing about. I view Cancer Biology as a high risk, high reward field. And it sounds like someone might finally be able to get [...]
Here is a comment that was recently left on this blog: You’re a total pussy and judging by the comments above, that’s the norm in academia. There is no justice in the world and there are no other lives where people get their karmic reward. You need to have the courage to tell people where to get [...]
I was gonna write about something else but then I noticed that someone got to my blog using the google search terms: how to change out of my shitty fucking internal medicine residency Dang. It’s not that often I hear an internal medicine resident describe his/her residency as “…shitty fucking…” and it harkens back to some clinical rotations I’ve [...]
One of my favorite things about academics is dealing with people who feel entitled to anything they want (in case you couldn’t tell, I’m being sarcastic). Not too long ago I wrote an entry about a research associate who had given up on a project because she couldn’t/wouldn’t take it any further so the PI of the [...]
USMLE Step II. Moving. Finding an affordable place to live. Applying for licensure. Finishing my taxes. I need a reality check. Something that reminds me of the important things in life–like having big hair. Take it all in: it’s Final Countdown by Europe. Europe-The Final Countdown @ Yahoo! Video
I’ve written before about authorship issues that I have experienced. Getting papers snatched away or just plain and simple not being given any credit (where credit is due) can be painful but it is also a common thing. Another issue I’ve alluded to is a situation when you have to recuse your authorship because you [...]
So one of the biggest challenges facing a mudphudder is the prospect of putting aside all research for several (anywhere from three to five) years during residency training. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing–residency training is meant for producing competent physicians not researchers. But having actively participated in research for the last six to [...]
If you know that you will be moving–for whatever reason–I strongly suggest doing some serious investigation of housing options prior to 1.5 months before you have to move. As you may know, I am now in the process of looking for a place to live during residency, which starts in late June. And I am [...]
I don’t know if you all have heard about this but for those medical students, interns or residents who are doing ICU rotations and are looking for a good book to use, a buddy of mine who is a general surgery resident recommended “The ICU Book” by Paul Marino. Apparently it is supposed to [...]
I will begin this post by saying that I DO NOT listen to music by Paula Abdul. When I first got my ipod, I put all of someone else’s mp3 files on it. Some of these mp3s included tracks by Paula Abdul. In the last 3 years, I have just been too lazy to erase [...]
One reader asked today: I am a current MD/PhD student in my first year of med school. I am just curious about your thoughts on making the transition to grad school after 2nd year vs. after 3rd year. I lean toward going into grad school after 3rd year and am trying to convince my program [...]
I think there are a few people from sunny san diego who read this blog. I envy you. I thought really long and hard about moving to san diego to go to UCSD for residency. The program I was looking at was pretty good with good people–residents and faculty. And the university is an amazing [...]
I swear to God, some people must think md/phd students are pariahs. Actually, there are a few who probably are–rightfully so. Today someone ended up on this site by searching Google for the “social life of md/phd students”. Probably a nervous incoming student. Oh yes, I remember those days. Faintly. For the concerned students out [...]
