#myVUSM
How to thrive in your first year of med school: 5 pieces of advice from second year LeAnn Lam
Jul. 27, 2020—LeAnn Lam joined the Vanderbilt med school community in Fall 2019, after spending a year as a research assistant in OB/GYN clinical research at VUMC. Now a second-year med student, Lam shares five pieces of advice for the incoming Class of 2024. 1. If you have imposter syndrome, you’re not alone! Many students (including myself)...
SNMA leaders Jackie Antoun and Helen Gambrah lay foundation for coming year, reaffirm priorities
Jul. 20, 2020—by Emma Mattson Community service, mentorship, a commitment to eliminating health disparities— these values all come together in the Student National Medical Association (SNMA). One of more than 170 chapters across the U.S., the Vanderbilt SNMA holds elections every summer to usher in a new executive board. This June, SNMA members elected Jackie Antoun as...
Rising fourth years Nicky Grimes and Adrian Sanchez develop non-invasive device to reduce need for surgery in ocular melanoma cases
Jul. 13, 2020—by Emma Mattson Rising fourth years in VUSM’s Medical Innovators Development Program (MIDP), John “Nicky” Grimes, PhD, and Adrian Sanchez, PhD, are in the process of seeking patent protection for a device they developed this year to reduce the need for invasive surgery in advanced cases of ocular melanoma. If the patent is granted, the...
“Living up to our true mission:” A conversation with Dr. André Churchwell on the history of diversity work at Vanderbilt
Jul. 6, 2020—by Emma Mattson In the forty years since Dr. André Churchwell graduated from medical school, his contributions to diversity and inclusion work have changed the face of U.S. medical education. Since last July, Churchwell has served as the interim vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion and the chief diversity officer for Vanderbilt University. On...
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...
CCO President Karampreet (Peety) Kaur shares words of encouragement, a call for social justice, and hopes for the coming year
Jun. 22, 2020—by Emma Mattson “My first message to the student body would be: thank you,” said Karampreet (Peety) Kaur, rising fourth-year med student and Class of 2021 president. “Thank you for being so helpful and patient and creative, honestly, in figuring out how we can continue to move forward in a positive way during such a...
Not Just in June: Vanderbilt leaders offer med students advice for supporting the LGBTQ Community in Everyday Healthcare
Jun. 15, 2020—by Emma Mattson Pride Month, celebrated each June, is normally filled with celebrations, parades, and displays of solidarity with the LGBTQ community. But, especially in a year which will go down in epidemiological history, Pride Month is also a time to face the sobering reality of the health disparities afflicting the LGBTQ community. We asked...
2020 MSTP grad Kevin Graepel shares his four-year experience researching coronaviruses
Jun. 8, 2020—by Emma Mattson Kevin Graepel describes his early experience of the COVID-19 pandemic as a “rapidly escalating sense of dread.” Graepel, who graduated from VUSM in early May with an M.D./Ph.D. could be considered something of a coronavirus expert. He spent his Ph.D. years researching in Dr. Mark Denison’s lab, studying how a specific coronavirus...
Reflecting on a year of firsts with our Social Mission Committee
May. 25, 2020—by Emma Mattson “This entire situation should serve as a wakeup call in a lot of ways about what I believe are truths that are foundational to social mission.” That’s third-year medical student Will Furuyama, talking about this year’s COVID-19 outbreak. Furuyama served as one of this year’s Social Mission Committee (SMC) co-presidents, and he...
MSTP Students share how they made their final MD PhD decisions
May. 18, 2020—by Emma Mattson You could say Acadia National Park convinced Matt Loberg to become a doctor. Loberg, now an M2 in Vanderbilt’s Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), spent a summer during college doing research on bone marrow stem cells in Bar Harbor, a small town off the coast of Maine and part of the Acadia...
2020-21 Students-as-Teachers cohort fosters mentoring skills, teaches pedagogical techniques over Zoom
May. 11, 2020—by Emma Mattson Teaching might not seem to fit into a doctor’s job description, but Vanderbilt’s Students as Teachers elective is proving that pedagogical skills can play an essential role in clinical settings. This spring, a new cohort of thirty third-year medical students began Students as Teachers (SAT), a year-long elective that not only teaches...
Meet Jaclyn Lee and Cooper March, the 2020-21 Co-presidents of Student Wellness!
May. 7, 2020—by Emma Mattson This April, the Student Wellness Committee (SWC) transitioned leadership: 2019-20 presidents Stephanie Hadley and Shervin Etemad passed the torch to rising fourth years Jaclyn Lee and Cooper March, who will serve as presidents over the next year. Both March and Lee have been involved in wellness since their first months at Vanderbilt....
MIDP team develops proposal to extend N95 respirator life five-fold during COVID-19 Design Challenge!
May. 4, 2020—by Emma Mattson Six Vanderbilt students in the Medical Innovators Development Program (MIDP) participated as a team in the COVID-19 Design Challenge run by Johns Hopkins University during March 26 through 30. The final result of their work, christened the Phoenix Protocol, offers a novel and efficient way to extend the life of N95 respirators...
Virtual Second Look Weekend is “one for the record books!”
Apr. 28, 2020—by Emma Mattson Earlier this month over 100 admitted students attended VUSM’s Second Look Weekend (SLW)— held virtually via Zoom. Second Look Weekends form a crucial part of the medical school decision for many applicants, and even during a time of social distancing, our students and faculty were determined to give admitted students a taste...
Learning in the time of Coronavirus: Faculty and students adapt curriculum, take on new roles
Apr. 20, 2020—by Emma Mattson Distance learning brings a unique set of hurdles, but our students are up for the challenge. As the School of Medicine transitions to digital learning, medical education has adapted to meet the circumstances. According to William Cutrer, the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education, all first-year lectures have flipped to virtual streaming,...