Pictures from the Arb (and a couple from DEN)

Med school, first semester

I'm well over halfway through my first semester of medical school, and having an absolute blast. Our curriculum is divided into body system sequences, rather than semester-long classes, and right now we are on the musculoskeletal sequence, having already completed cardiovascular/respiratory, "cells and tissues," and "patients and populations." The musculoskeletal sequence is very heavy on anatomy, specifically of the upper and lower limb. There are four main types of structures in the limbs that we are studying: bones, muscles, blood vessels, and nerves, and it's important to know not just where the blood vessels and nerves are located but which muscles and areas of skin they innervate. Besides anatomy we've learned a fair amount of muscle physiology (how sarcomeres work) and energy metabolism (glycolysis, Krebs cycle, fatty acid oxidation). We're also going to learn a little radiology this week.

Our afternoons are filled with either anatomy or histology labs. Dissection of human cadavers made me nervous at first, especially after I read that some medical schools do not tell donor families what exactly students will be doing to the bodies (and some medical schools still use unclaimed dead bodies). But at Michigan we had a thoughtful memorial service for the donor's families and while I don't know precisely what is on the informed consent form, I'm assuming the anatomy program tells donors and families what dissection is. My enjoyment of anatomy increases with each lab as I get a little better at cleaning nerves and muscles and have a better general structural understanding of the human body. I still have no ambitions for surgery though. In histology we study digital microscopic slides of various human tissues ranging from respiratory epithelium to articular cartilage. Even though histologists and anatomists are friendly rivals, the two disciplines complement each other well. It's often surprising looking at a tissue under the microscope after I've dissected it, and it always blows my mind how these tiny cells can organize themselves into such complicated macroscopic body parts.

Here are two very silly attempts at injecting fun into studying:

Cardio Rap

Anatomy Comic

In extracurriculars (if you don't count the above as extracurriculars), I'm participating in a Chinese drum dance and a Bhangra dance that will be performed in the medical school Biorhythms show in January. I have no dancing experience whatsoever but am having a great time with this. The best cycling days of the season are behind us, but I've been running several times a week and went geocaching last weekend.

Today there was a very enlightening "Coming Out Panel" at lunchtime in which a number of medical students, residents, and attendings who were part of the L(esbian) G(ay) B(isexual) T(ransgender) Q(ueer) Q(uestioning) A(llied) community told their coming out story and discussed prejudices or biases they've encountered. To my knowledge, unfortunately no one in my family is gay and I've had very few gay friends, so I haven't thought much about these issues. It was really eye-opening to go to this panel and see my friends talk about their experiences, as I was completely oblivious to how they identified. As example of my ignorance, a few weekends ago at the annual medical student Fall Ball, I remember being very surprised when one of the guys on today's panel told me he had arrived late to the ball because he had been speed dating with undergrads. I couldn't understand why he had been speed-dating with undergrads when there were hundreds of single girls our age at the Fall Ball. I'm very glad I attended this panel because I want to be a physician who supports the LGBTQQA community, not one who makes assumptions about someone's spouse or is shocked to learn their patient is gay.

AMA Conference

Last weekend I attended the American Medical Association-Medical Student Section interim meeting in San Diego, California. There I presented a resolution stating that the AMA should support designed incompatibility for medical tubing such that it is physically impossible to connect tubes intended for different functions. Medical tubing misconnections have caused serious injuries and death; for example, in 2006 Robin Rodgers and her fetus were killed when a feeding solution meant for enteral delivery was accidentally pumped into her veins (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/21/health/policy/21tubes.html). This resolution was one of only two resolutions that was passed without amendment and referred to the main AMA, probably because the Nevada delegation of the AMA had recently proposed a very similar resolution. About a dozen Michigan students attended the conference, and we presented four additional resolutions on lengthening drug expiration dates, opposing mandatory treatment of patients with government-funded health insurance, sending unused surgical supplies to the developing world, and enforcing strict rules on medical students participating in medical clinics overseas. All the resolutions either passed with amendment or were not passed but led to reaffirmation of previous AMA policy.

Overall I had a great time at the conference and learned more about how the AMA works and a little about parliamentary procedure. I also attended a couple talks on research by medical students and a talk on HIV/AIDS disparities, particularly in the African American and Latino populations.

On a very different note, here is a rap that I made with a fellow classmate on the cardiovascular system:
https://mfile.umich.edu/?path=/afs/umich.edu/user/r/o/rogawski/Public/Cardio%20Rap.mp3