On Tuesday, May 1, I attended the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine-hosted seminar titled The Role of Health Care Professionals in Reducing LGBTQ Health Disparities, given by Andrew Hollenbach, an alumnus of the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Hollenbach is an assistant professor in the Department of Genetics and the co-director of the basic science(...)
Three-Minute Thesis: A Case Study in the Economics of Communication
Posted by | Events and HappeningsPhoto courtesy of hub.jhu.edu Economics is defined, in practice, as the act of efficiently allocating scarce resources so as to best suit the wants and needs of humankind. In the context of a factory, this notion could refer to the efficient allocation of input commodities, such as steel and plastic, so as to maximize the production(...)
Titan Titin: When Mutations in the Largest Known Protein Affect the Heart
Posted by | Events and Happenings“We know from our clinical experience in the practice of medicine that in diagnosis, prognosis and treatment, the individual and his background of heredity are just as important, if not more so, as the disease itself.” — Paul Dudley White (1886–1973), Chief Consultant, National Heart Institute For the second installment of the Heart, Lung and(...)
Top Five Strategies to Generate Great Ideas and Build a Successful Startup
Posted by | A Day in the Life“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(...)
Modern Papers for Modern Science
Posted by | Perspectives in ResearchIn 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.(...)
Advice for Fellowship Applications – Part Three
Posted by | A Day in the LifeRead 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(...)
Who Let the Dogs Out?
Posted by | Did You See This?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(...)
Wrapping Axons – an Ongoing Mission Throughout Your Lifespan
Posted by | Recently PublishedYou 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(...)
Transcontinental (or “Not-So-Long Distance”) Residencies and Making It Work
Posted by | A Day in the LifeMy 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(...)
Advice for Fellowship Applications – Part Two
Posted by | A Day in the LifeMissed 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(...)