“The physicians are the natural attorneys of the poor,” said Rudolf Virchow, a German physician-anthropologist, in 1848. It was this framework for public health that motivated me in those early, molecule-based years of medical school. Ultimately, I thought my career would be more about empowerment than medications, with more attention given to social pathologies than […]
A Day in the Life
Locally Combating the Childhood Obesity Epidemic
Posted by Sylvia Owusu-Ansah | A Day in the LifeAccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents over the last 30 years. In 2012, alone more than one-third of all children and adolescents were considered overweight or obese. As health professionals, we are aware that patterns of daily behavior begin in […]
May 6, 2015
Project Bridge: Simplifying Science for the Community
Posted by Kevin Monk | A Day in the LifeHow many times have you tried to explain your research to a friend, only to get a blank stare back? Such was the case with Daniel Pham, a graduate student in the Department of Neuroscience working in the Meffert lab. Daniel first realized his problem while trying to explain his research to his boyfriend and […]
Apr 27, 2015
The Elephant in the Clinic Room: Health Literacy
Posted by Ryan Lang | A Day in the LifeAs our appointment came to an end, I took a few minutes to give final instructions to my patient. Though she had many medical issues, she had unfortunately been absent from my clinic for almost six months, making this appointment particularly important and valuable. I observed as she leaned in and struggled to understand the […]
Apr 20, 2015
Creating Scientific Interest Through Video Games
Posted by Bree Yanagisawa | A Day in the LifeGraduate school is a lot of work. While the type of work varied throughout my first three years here, expectations remained high. These expectations are what drives us to do great research and hopefully make significant changes in the lives of patients who need new treatments. But the stressful atmosphere can be overwhelming. Like many […]
Apr 17, 2015
The Illness Narratives of Kendrick Lamar
Posted by Benjamin Oldfield | A Day in the LifeFor me, it was Bob Dylan. I was a high school junior, and my sights were set, quite limitedly, on romance, sports and the fretboard of my brother’s hand-me-down guitar. But when I heard “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding),” among other early Dylan songs, I gained a binocular vision. My adolescent struggle to manifest […]
Apr 15, 2015
Is Convenience Harming Our Children?
Posted by Sylvia Owusu-Ansah | A Day in the LifeI recently took care of a young infant who was found to have eaten a single-use detergent sac, otherwise known as a laundry pod. The child’s mom called 911 because of vomiting, but by the time the paramedics brought the patient to the emergency department, he was barely conscious, breathing hard and fast, intermittently gasping […]
Apr 10, 2015
Meet Chris Cho: M.D.-Ph.D. and BCMB Student, Plus Ballet Dancer Extraordinaire
Posted by Alisa Mo | A Day in the LifeOne of my favorite things about Johns Hopkins is that I get to count some pretty extraordinary people as my friends and fellow classmates. One of these folks is Chris Cho, an M.D.-Ph.D. student who is also a first-year graduate student in the Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology (BCMB) Graduate Program. Chris graduated from Yale […]
Apr 3, 2015
Effective Communication: How Do Johns Hopkins Scientists Learn to Speak?
Posted by Shannen Cravens | A Day in the LifeDoes anyone remember being asked if they were left-brained or right-brained? That’s how I recall my friends and I attempting to find our academic niche. We had two choices: We were either good at solving equations or writing essays. That may have seemed true when we were young, but as professionals we now know that […]
Mar 27, 2015
Class of 2015: Four Years a Family
Posted by Arielle Medford | A Day in the Life, Events and HappeningsAn earthquake shook Baltimore our first day of anatomy. Days later, a hurricane moved through. That was our first week of medical school, and Mother Nature welcomed us in perfect allegory. Almost four years later, we’ve arrived at the 2015 Match Day. Friday, more than 26,000 medical students learn where they will be training for the […]
Mar 18, 2015