My Journey
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Blog post Count
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This week of ISM has been the most eventful thus far. I am amazed at how much I was able to get done this week. I'll just go down the list so whoever is reading this can get a better understanding of the big steps I took. First, at the beginning of the week, I had contacted two neurosurgeons to interview but got no responses. Then, in class on Wednesday, I decided to go ahead and just email every single person on the UT Southwestern website with neurological surgery experience. I still did this with care, but I did not expect any person to respond to my attempt at reaching out. To my surprise, I now have five confirmed interviews, three pending (or we are working out a time), and one professional checking how in-person interviews are conducted at their facility. There's a certain feeling I get when I accomplish a lot in a short amount of time, and I love it. Second, I managed to get all my assignments due by Friday done on Thursday. This included the S.M.A.R.T. goals, topic proposal, and research assessment. Although I am nervous about the amount of interviews, I am confident that I will be able to impress by the way I conduct myself and engage in conversation. This may seem like a bad statement for some people, but for me, I'm glad that 'I Got Nine Interviews This Week And Other Things Done.'
This week, I explored more about neurodegenerative diseases (NDD) in my research assessment. I learned a lot about autophagy and how melatonin has protective properties against NDDs. I am starting to think that I want my original work or final product to be related to NDDs, but I'm still having a difficult time creating ideas. Along with my research assessment, I also made the first draft of my resume this week. It was a bit disappointing coming to the realization that I had little to no achievements related to neurosurgery or neurology, other than placing at a Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) competition. I am also beginning to connect with neurosurgeons and professionals involved in neurosurgery, so I am one step closer to finding a mentor that I can learn more about neurosurgery under. The Independent Study and Mentorship (ISM) program provides me with so many new opportunities that I would otherwise never do in other classes. This includes making a LinkedIn, contacting adults outside of school-sponsored activities, and actually going out of my way to interview professionals in a field of study I am genuinely interested in. I am pleased with the work I did this week in that I got to learn 'More About Neurodegenerative Diseases,' but I look forward to weeks after today, because I will have hopefully completed my first interview and expanded my network of connections.
Yesterday marked the day I completed my second research assessment. I read and annotated an article about Parkinson's Disease (PD). The article, once again, was targeted towards doctors, medical students, and those in residency, so it would be an understatement to say that the article was a bit advanced for me to understand completely. There were so many terms that I did not already know, which required me to take the time to look up each term and acronym, and there was also a vast amount of information in such a small number of pages. Although I did a research presentation in PD in freshman year, I would say that I learned so much more about the current state of research on PD treatments. It fascinates me to know that these less popularized treatments I am reading about now may be more commonly used when I become a doctor. And in ISM, the next time I write an assessment, it will be about my first interview. Time really does fly. Now that I am doing research assessments and other assignments in other classes, it really does feel like the school year has officially started and I am back to in-person schooling rather than being stuck behind a computer screen at home! 'I Learned About Parkinson's Disease This Week' is the acronym for today, and maybe I will delve more into PD for my original work or final product.
While I enjoy writing papers and various essays for school, the assessment that I turned in last Friday was a growing experience. During class, I was surprised at the vague instructions of Coach Goff since I am accustomed to direct instructions that tell me the exact structure and wording of the paper. ISM has "Independent" in it for a reason. Anyway, during my research, my findings were intriguing to say the least. To be honest, my paper was more about criticizing the author than analyzing the information he presented, so if I were to approach the assignment again, I would have worded my observations a bit differently. I was aware of how much a neurosurgeon makes, so I looked at advantages and disadvantages plus what it took to get to where someone could be called successful. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that mentorship was discussed in the article. The target audience of the article was medical school students and those in residency, but when the author talked about mentorship, I felt as though it applied to me as well. To say the least, the article only made me more 'Excited As To What I Will Accomplish With My Future Mentor.'
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AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
May 2022
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