How ’bout if I come over there and shove my custom orthotics up your… Photo by Patrick Doheny
Alison Pletch, along with Cole Cheney, Aline Sandouk, and Lisa Wehr take a few moments to mourn the passing of Prince, and the fact that he died of something that wasn’t dramatic enough for his persona. Fortunately, Rayhaan of Montreal calls to ask how he can prepare for his med-school interviews, which will be in the multiple mini interviews format. Then, we discuss the idea that kids need to start preparing for medical school in high school, because children have too much childhood these days.
Mad Dr. Stroheim was widely considered a very trustworthy murderer. Photo by glen edelson
Deep Bhatt and Alison Pletch are on their way out of medical school, and reflect on what they’ve been thinking about as they prepare to leave Iowa. And Kaci McCleary and Corbin Weaver help them answer listener Todd’s question about the better MCAT study guides and courses, how to get a discount on those courses, and whether it’s a good idea to start studying for the test even as he begins community college.
Terrence Wong is not your average medical student. Growing up in Oakland, California, he didn’t have opportunities or connections. And a lack of resources meant that even as a little tyke he looked for ways to make money, like selling stuff on the Internet. He’s since realized that there are others out there who could use some information and encouragement–mentorship–to help them achieve what he did: going from poor inner-city kid to student at a top medical school. So he and some friends with serious coding chops founded MedMentor to hook up pre-meds with medical students who can serve as mentors, and to bring more diversity to a profession that sorely needs it. Terrence and Dave talked about what it’s been like to be both a medical student and a startup founder, and how listening to what ‘they’ think of your crazy idea is pretty much the last thing you should do.
The opinions expressed in this feed and podcast are not those of the University of Iowa or the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine; nor do they reflect the views of anyone other than the people who expressed them. If you have feedback on anything you hear on the show, positive or not, let us know.
Poor lister Erin. She writes to let us know she can’t find the first 44 episodes of the show, now that she’s listened to all eighty(!) of those available on iTunes. We explain how she can fill the sad hole in her life this tragedy has left. Dave’s shower thoughts lead Aline Sandouk, Amy Young, Marc Toral and Kaci McCleary to discuss the utility of giving not a single feldercarb what people think of you. On the flip side, an article in the New York Times offers a peek at what can happen if you go from not caring (or even knowing) what people think to caring all too much, when transcranial magnetic stimulation suddenly enables an autistic man to understand what others are thinking of him. Continue reading Sudden Empathy, Too Much Empathy, and A Lack of Empathy→
Eric Wilson, Aline Sandouk, and Taz Khalid are here to introduce two of the people fighting world-wide epidemics: Diabetes and Obesity. Endocrinologist Dr. Dale Abel is the director of the University of Iowa Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center. The Diabetes Research Center recently invited Dr. Miguel Lopez to come from Spain, where he is a professor of physiology at the University of Santiago De Compostela. He coordinates the NeurObesity research group at the Center for Research in Molecular Medicine and Chronic Diseases; his field of knowledge is the hypothalamic regulation of energy balance. We got to talk to them about the current state of research in diabetes and obesity, and the prospects for a paradigm shift in how we treat them. Continue reading The Twin Epidemics: Our Changing Understanding of Diabetes and Obesity→
Listener Oscar called in to find out what should he do about his case of nerves now that he’s been accepted to medical school, and Lisa Wehr, Aline Sandouk, Marc Toral, and Dylan Todd have plenty of calming words for him. They also discuss the statistics of 2016’s Match, why some people don’t match (do whatever it takes, ethically, to get good exam scores, people), and what people who don’t end up matching can do with their MD. Some schools have even begun offering built-in backup plans for those folks.
Listener Mitch writes in to ask what this week’s co-hosts (Tony Rosenberg, Alex Volkmar, Rob Humble, and Nicole Morrow) wish they knew before they got to medical school. What should Mitch think about debt? Seeking honors? Voluntourism? And with the news that an artificial fingertip was successfully wired to an amputee’s nerves allowing him to detect rough and smooth surfaces, Dave decides it’s time to test the amazing sense of touch. This may or may not be an excuse for Dave to get his co-hosts to wear bags on their heads. Continue reading A Touching Episode→
Kaci McCleary, Dylan Todd, Amy Young and Corbin Weaver are on hand this time to talk about the two-week specialty rotations, like Ophthalmology and Radiology. You see, as Kaci entered her clinical clerkships, she had four of these short rotations in a row, and found herself hating them. They seemed like a waste of time, and weren’t offering her much in the way of hands-on experience. While her experience isn’t universal, we thought some might question the utility of these short rotations, especially if one isn’t going into a specialty but is more focused on primary care. Fortunately, there’s some hope on the horizon in the form of instant learning through brain stimulation. Will future med students even need two-weekers? This leads us into a discussion on the place of rebellion in medical school. Does medicine need people who buck the system? How should someone who sees herself as firmly outside the box react when they’re surrounded by it?
The opinions expressed in this feed and podcast are not those of the University of Iowa or the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine; nor do they reflect the views of anyone other than the people who expressed them. If you have feedback on anything you hear on the show, positive or not, let us know.
These new headphones are FANTASTIIIIICCC! Photo by gurms
Corbin Weaver visits the local grocery store to hear a presentation on pelvic floor disorders, part of the store’s health outreach efforts, and marvels at the fact that A) many people seem to have a very foggy notion of anogenital functions, and B) that some also seem to have no inhibitions about bringing up embarrassing bodily foibles in a room full of strangers. Also, Dave points out that sometimes medical research reaches into the past to ‘discover’ ancient remedies that actually work. So Corbin, Mark Moubarek, Alex Volkmar, and new host Erin Renfrew sample and evaluate some folk- and old-timey prescriptions to see if they have any merit, aside from causing very bad breath and wet, salty feet. Continue reading Searching for Cures from Old-Timey Remedies, Dopamine Headphones, and Cuban Vaccines→
An honest guide to the amazing and intense world of medical school.
