Adventures from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
“Now that would be an amazing app for patients!” she exclaimed to her colleague. “Agreed. We could have our own little startup on the side,” he replied. I was wandering the halls of the hospital for the first time in months, and overhearing this short snippet of conversation led me to reflect on all I(...)
In the past 400 years, science has revolutionized the planet several times over. Modern medicine has eradicated diseases that once decimated populations, while physicists manipulate the very building blocks of the universe. Travel and communication are instantaneous worldwide. Should we one day unravel the secret of time travel, we might bring Sir Isaac Newton (b.(...)
Read parts one and two of this series. You’ve found the fellowships you want to apply for and have begun the writing process for your personal and research statements — but don’t forget the critical component of all fellowship applications: the letter (or letters) of recommendation. Letters of recommendation are imperative to building and reinforcing(...)
I occasionally find myself walking through the dark underbelly of the Johns Hopkins medical campus along “designated laboratory transport” routes. These concrete tunnels allow researchers to transport equipment or mice from animal facilities to laboratories without passing through patient areas. I always feel a pang of sadness when I see stacks of dog food in(...)
You are driving on a road and see a pedestrian approaching the crosswalk. You brake to give way. Even such a simple action as this requires multiple levels of processing in our brains — recognizing the shapes and curves that resemble a human being, observing the speed at which they move, pressing the brake with(...)
My Match Day in March 2015 was probably one of the best days of my mid-twenties. I stood around a table with my best friends and my significant other — also a medical student — as we opened our Match letters together. It was our best day — I was headed to Baltimore, and he(...)
Missed part one? Catch up here. Take a deep breath; it is time to start working on fellowship applications. After applying for and receiving the Ford Foundation fellowship, my friend and fellow Ph.D. student, Ashley Stewart, and I wanted to share advice for fellowship applicants. Since each fellowship has different requirements, its own spectrum of(...)
The hospital turns worlds upside down, for both patients and for care providers alike. Luckily, I haven’t yet been a patient in a hospital, but I can only imagine how jarring it must be for patients to leave their daily routines and enter the bustling, complex machinery of the hospital, largely for circumstances out of(...)
On March 16, the Johns Hopkins Department of Medicine and Whiting School of Engineering held a research retreat titled “Re-Engineering Medical Discovery.” A number of students, researchers and clinical faculty attended to learn about the exciting innovations currently happening at the intersection of these fields. The day started with opening remarks from Mark Anderson, director(...)
For graduate students, the first years of the Ph.D. are packed with an array of hurdles, and it is easy to end up feeling overwhelmed. Once you have passed your qualifying exams, chosen a thesis laboratory, finished the majority of your coursework and have a good general direction for your thesis project — roughly mid-second(...)