‘#myVUSM’
VUSM alumni offer wellness advice for the residency interview season
Sep. 14, 2020—by Emma Mattson So, you’re finally here: the autumn of your fourth year. You’ve made it past block exams, board exams, countless clerkship and intern rotations. Now it’s time for the final milestones of med school: the residency interview season. Although interviews may look slightly different this fall, the essentials of the process have remained...
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...
4 tips for surviving your block exams, from our Students as Teachers experts
Aug. 31, 2020—by Emma Mattson Block exams present a new and exciting challenge during your clerkship year of med school, and we’ve gathered advice from five Students as Teachers experts about what, when, and how to effectively prepare for block exams. Here’s what they had to say! Choose your study resources wisely With so many study materials...
“You have more power to change the world than you think”: A physician’s role in the fight against misinformation
Aug. 25, 2020—by Emma Mattson “We all know more than we think we know about the current situation” Kathleen Montgomery, MD (VUSM ‘15) advises current med students, “and we can really be helpful.” Montgomery, who spent her residency and fellowship years in VUMC’s pathology department, made headlines this summer for a Facebook post she wrote in response...
Latino Medical Student Association leaders talk heritage, antiracism
Aug. 17, 2020—by Emma Mattson When you step on VUSM’s campus, you get to add a new facet to your identity: being a med student. But being a med student doesn’t mean you drop all the other parts of who you are. Anything but! Our culture of wellness at Vanderbilt recognizes that labelling someone a “med student”...
Turning your virtual med school interview into an opportunity
Aug. 12, 2020—by Emma Mattson “‘Unprecedented’ simply means it hasn’t happened before. So, ‘unprecedented’ begets ‘opportunity.’” These words of advice come from Donald Brady, MD, Senior Associate Dean for Health Sciences Education, and are especially applicable for med school applicants this fall, facing a round of virtual interviews. Transitioning med school interviews to a virtual format certainly...
Behind the Scenes: Tracing the 5-year history of our Social Mission Committee
Aug. 3, 2020—by Emma Mattson As any medical student will tell you, medicine is about far more than memorizing anatomy diagrams and symptoms of disease. Being an excellent physician means attending to the holistic needs of your patients—including needs that arise from social factors. As our social mission statement says, VUSM empowers all members of our medical...
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...