Select Page

“Time flies”…over and over in my life I have heard this saying, yet it has never been truer for me than after this year. Last post I was talking about planning Fall Ball and the med school tailgate…events that now seem as if they happened a lifetime ago! I am so sorry that I have not been able to keep up with my blog posts – this year definitely turned out to be busier than I had expected. Even during our two weeks of CFM (clinical foundations of medicine), I did not have a moment to myself, as I was busy with people, events, and food in Ann Arbor. It’s funny because I actually think that I was more exhausted during those two weeks than I was during our ID (infectious disease) sequence – who knew that having fun could drain so much energy…or maybe I’m just getting old?!

Anyway, since I obviously can’t write about every thing that has happened between now and October, I’ll just touch on the highlights from the past month or so. First off, congratulations to the M4’s – they’re all officially doctors!! Some of the other student council advocates and I had the pleasure of attending graduation and seeing where we are going to be in a short 1095 days…-_- At graduation, M4 commencement speaker Bridget Cornett discussed the three elements of practice: commitment, making mistakes, and teamwork, and how they have lead to the “practice” of medicine. It’s an interesting concept, to be reminded that medicine is a field in which we are continually practicing, continuously learning, and continuously improving upon our skills to enhance patient care. Bridget stressed that while we may feel that the bulk of our schooling ends after graduation, medicine is truly a field in which we will be learning for the rest of our lives – and of course – that is one of the reasons why I chose to pursue a career in medicine…it’ll never get old! Throughout this year, I have come to know many of the M4s from participating in the Smoker, Biorhythms, and through Student Council. Although it was sad to say goodbye to people who have given me invaluable advice and of course, good company, it was also joyous because I could not help but share in their happiness and be excited for them as they closed one chapter and began the next. Special shoutout to Student Council president Sarah Gray – Sarah went above and beyond this year to help us out and I know that she is definitely an inspiration to the rest of us advocates – good luck in Chicago Sarah – you will be missed!

M1 Advocates at Graduation with StuCo Prez Sarah Gray

The day after graduation we had our Spring Biorhythms show. Biorhythms is a dance show run entirely by med students. We generally have two shows, one in the Fall and one in the Spring. The Spring show is mainly put on by M1’s, as the M2s were studying for Step 1, the M3s were busy ending their clinical rotations, and the M4s had graduated! I was in Phlomax, which consists of a group of hilarious (obvi) med students singing, rapping, dancing, and just generally clowning around on stage to parodies and modified med school applicable lyrics to some classic rap songs. It was probably one of the most laid back groups I’ve ever been a part of…making it insanely fun. I was also in the “Independent Women” dance – described as being “A dance with no special skills needed, just a serious commitment to booty dropping.” Thanks to our Sassy choreo, Shuby, for coming up with the best moves possible and having confidence in all of our dancing skills! Haha but actually, having Biorhythms practice once or twice a week during ID really helped relieve some med school stress and reminded me why I came to U of M – one of the only med schools that encourages you to have a life outside of just studying! For those of you attending UMich in the future, DO BIORHYTHMS!!! You don’t need prior dancing or singing experience and it’s a great way to meet people, relax, and have fun!

Phlomax at Biorhythms!

The Independent Women Crew

The last thing that I want to touch on is the HESP (Health Equity Scholars Program) Dearborn site visit. HESP is an organization at the med school that focuses on giving its members firsthand experience with social determinants of health for underserved populations in Southeast Michigan. Last week, we went on a site visit to Dearborn that focused on the Arab American population. We visited places like Zaman International, an organization that works to help women in need by providing access to healthcare, shelter, food, and a variety of other things. Zaman will be opening up a health clinic and hopes to collaborate with HESP students in the future, both in the clinic and with health fairs. This is just one of the examples of community outreach that we are able to participate in as med students! We were also able to visit a couple of Arabic restaurants for breakfast and lunch…has anyone mentioned the abundance of free food in medical school?! We ended the visit at the Arab American Museum, where we learned about how Arabs came to be such a thriving population in Michigan, and specifically in Dearborn.

When HESP does Arabic Food 😀

I can honestly say that I have not been bored once this entire year, there has always been something to do, someone to see, or something to study of course! Although this has by far been the busiest year of my life, it has also been one of the most fulfilling – and it has left me eagerly anticipating what the next three years will bring. So now that I have made this the longest post ever, I think I’ll finally stop writing. I just started my SBRP (summer biomedical research project) this week so hopefully in my next post I’ll be able to update you on that – and of course on life in Ann Arbor – which I’ve heard is the best place to be in the summer! Until next time, Go Blue!