Student Life
M2 Eki Olumese and VUMC leaders speak at ceremony to unveil Vivien Thomas Way
Apr. 8, 2021—by Emma Mattson An April 7th celebration unveiled Nashville’s newest street sign: Vivien Thomas Way. The street’s name was changed this spring from “Dixie Place,” an old moniker of the Confederacy which had lingered on Vanderbilt’s campus for decades. VUSM leaders and members of the Committee to Rename Dixie Place spoke at the outside ceremony,...
Why you should count teaching as an essential part of your medical journey
Apr. 5, 2021—by Emma Mattson M4 Daniel Pereira has a message for med students: teaching is part of your calling. Pereira, who will begin orthopedic surgery residency this summer, has maintained an enthusiasm for medical education for years. In the past academic year alone, he engaged in translation work for Nashville’s Department of Health, taught a beginner’s...
What does it take to make a change? Med students publish a toolkit to end racialized medicine
Mar. 21, 2021—by Emma Mattson This month five Vanderbilt M2s published an online toolkit sharing how med students led the charge for a VUMC-wide elimination of race-adjustment in a key measure of renal function. The resource, entitled “CAR Toolkit to End Racialized Medicine: eGFR Edition,” breaks their process down into manageable steps so that med students at...
WICP brought telehealth to Shade Tree before the pandemic— and their hard work paid off in unexpected ways
Mar. 8, 2021—by Emma Mattson When med students Austin Triana and Kaustav Shah kickstarted an interdisciplinary consulting program back in 2019, one of their first projects addressed telehealth opportunities at the Shade Tree Clinic. The team had no idea how relevant their project would quickly become. Since its creation in 2019, the Wond’ry Innovation Consulting Program has...
Chapman mentor Dr. Clair and med students head initiative to change “Dixie Place” to “Vivien Thomas Way”
Feb. 22, 2021—by Emma Mattson This summer Chapman mentor Dr. Walter Clair and a group of med students headed an initiative to change the name of a street on VUMC’s campus from “Dixie Place” to “Vivien Thomas Way.” Per M1 Alex Lupi, who collaborated on the project, the initiative originated in VUSM learning communities in the weeks...
Meet VUSM’s Newest Student Org: Chess Club!
Feb. 2, 2021—by Emma Mattson Med student Colin White-Dzuro learned how to play chess as a kid, but he didn’t start playing in earnest until last year— March, to be exact. As the pandemic narrowed social possibilities across the country, White-Dzuro started looking for safe and socially distanced ways to connect with friends. Chess was the perfect...
M1 Harrison Thomas takes lead role in the mentoring program that brought him to VUSM
Nov. 17, 2020—by Emma Mattson When Harrison Thomas registered as a junior for a Vanderbilt pre-med mentoring program, he expected to learn about writing a strong personal statement. He expected to practice his interviewing skills. He expected to receive good advice through the whole pre-med process. What he didn’t expect was that two years later he would...
The Best of Both Worlds: How MSTPs Balance Life in Two Advising College Communities
Sep. 28, 2020—by Emma Mattson From Big-Little Reveal to College Cup, the four med school colleges get a lot of well-deserved publicity. But less attention gets paid to an equally crucial support system for our MD PhD students: the MSTP colleges. Maybe you’re an M2 student wondering if the transition to research will be terribly lonely. Maybe...
Meet the newly elected, first-year leaders
Sep. 8, 2020—by Emma Mattson We couldn’t be more excited to welcome the twelve new, first-year leaders on the Council of Class Officers (CCO). Besides generally representing the first-year class, these leaders will host virtual events, provide feedback on curriculum, and collaborate with other CCO leaders on VUSM-wide initiatives. Curious about your new representatives? We talked with...
MIDP student Sai Rajagopalan teamed up with experts across the world to bridge a specific gap in maternal-fetal care during COVID-19
Jun. 28, 2020—by Emma Mattson Social distancing over the past four months has challenged medical students across the country to adapt. Some have developed innovative solutions for digital learning, clinical work, and student leadership in the time of COVID-19. Some, like third-year MIDP student Sai S.V. Rajagopalan, have dedicated their energies to hacking. Hacking the coronavirus, that...