These 3 AMA medical student members have met their Match – American Medical Association

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This past Friday was Match Day for most of the nations fourth-year medical students.

A record-high 40,084 applicants submitted program choices for 37,256 positions. The group of trainees who found out about their future homes included thousands of AMA members, a few of whom offered their thoughts on the process of Matching and their ambitions moving forward.

Student: Baillie Bonner.

Medical school: University of New Mexico School of Medicine.Specialty and residency program: Obstetrics and gynecology at Rush Medical Center.

What are you looking forward to most about residency?

Im really looking forward to being part of a team and being able to contribute more. One of the most frustrating parts of being a medical student for me was feeling like I could do more, but not having the credentials or power to do so.

How will you move medicine during your residency training?

I plan to stay involved in organized medicine and since Im moving to Chicago, I am excited that I can move medicine through the AMA. I am excited to be able to not only be involved in advocacy, but also to have medical students that hopefully can also get plugged in to fighting for patients on a larger scale.

Learn how Ms. Bonner helps tackle the underlying barriers to care.

Student: Avani K. Patel.

Medical school: University of Mississippi School of MedicineSpecialty and residency program: Psychiatry at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

What was the biggest factor in your specialty choice?

A little before this time last year, I didnt know what I wantedlet alone what specialty I was meant to pursue, so I actually withdrew from match and delayed graduation to pursue a number of other opportunities such as a Masters in Health Care Administration. I came into medical school absolutely determined to pursue Anesthesiology. However, during my fourth year, I realized it may not be the career path meant for me. I really enjoyed my Psychiatry rotation during my third year, and one of my attendings convinced me to spend a month-long fourth year rotation in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Needless to say, that month changed my life.

How will you move medicine during your residency training?

Having grown up in a state with the highest physician shortage in the country and a rural area at that, I have seen first-hand what health disparities looks like, especially in mental health. I hope to be a part of the solution in closing the gap and de-stigmatizing mental health care. Serving my community and home state is the greatest gift and matching into training at my number one program is the greatest blessing!

Learn how Ms. Patel is working to improve the culture of medicine.

Student: Deena Kishawi.

Medical school: Stritch School of Medicine Loyola University Chicago.Specialty and residency program: Obstetrics and gynecology at St. Josephs Hospital.

What are you looking forward to most about residency?

Im excited for quite a few things about residency, but at the top of my list is finally being a doctor in a specialty that Im passionate about. I also cant wait to work with patients in a field where together, we can make an impact and improve womens health. Im able to work in my Chicago community, and my patients are from all backgroundssome are Chicago natives like myself, others are immigrants or refugees, others are just passing through for temporary visits in the U.S.so its fulfilling to be able to give back to the community I call home. And as you can imagine, this has been something Ive been working towards throughout all my education, and Im finally not a student!

How will you move medicine during your residency training?

Im looking forward to continuing my work with health policy while Im a resident. Ill have different insight since Ill be taking care of patients directly, which will allow me to better understand their needs and how healthcare can better serve them. With that, Id be able to shift the discourse regarding health policies about womens health and continue to advocate for my patients. Im most excited about working with women and embarking on a journey of healthy practices and reproductive justice as we write policies that can better serve my future patients.

Learn how Ms. Kishawi is mentoring young Muslim women.

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These 3 AMA medical student members have met their Match - American Medical Association

Get the most out of your medical school coaching sessions – American Medical Association

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Having a coach can be valuable at any stage in ones medical career. But why should you prioritize coaching while youre in medical school? When and how should you meet? And what exactly should you talk about? A handbook from the AMA provides useful answers.

Following are highlights from How can I get the most out of my coaching sessions? Chapter 5 of It Takes Two: A Guide to Being a Good Coachee, a learner handbook focusing on what learners need to know to get the most out of a coaching relationship, produced by the AMA Accelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium.

An academic coach may sound very similar to an adviser or mentor, but there are distinct differences, wrote Christine Thatcher, EdD, associate professor of family medicine and associate dean for medical education and assessment at University of Connecticut Health, and Antea DeMarsilis, a medical student at University of Connecticut School of Medicine.

Ideally, conversations with a coach are safe, meaning that as a learner, you can explore ideas, dreams and goals with your coach to become the better you, they added. Regardless of stage in your career, from early learner to professional, a coach is someone who will 'guide from the side, facilitate change and help celebrate when goals are met.

Ideally, the first few meetings will be face-to-face, the authors wrote. It is essential to establish a relationship and to build trust. Take time to get to know each other. By sharing a CV and/or a personal bio, you may find similar interests, and it will help you engage in deeper conversations.

Once you establish a relationship with a coach, set regular meetings. These could be by phone, video or email if the question or update is brief or urgent. But no matter the format, communicate regularly and try not to cancel, the authors emphasized.

You might also set intermittent meetings to accommodate issues and achievements as they arise.

Your coach may see a red flag appear in evaluations, you may receive difficult feedback or a board score may come in that changes your outlook, the AMA handbook says.

Likewise, you can set transition meetings for when your needs and goals shift, such as after you reach a major milestone.

Reflect on your goals, the authors advised. Have you met them within the timeframe you intended at the outset? Has this relationship helped you to make changes and move forward? Is this the time to close this relationship and look for a new coach? Or will you continue together? This is the time for tough conversations that will ultimately shape future goals.

From the beginning, you should discuss what the relationship will look like, the authors wrote. You should drive this discussion and decide how the coach can be helpfulwhat are the areas you want to improve? You may consider clinical performance, communication skills, wellness or academic difficulties such as time management as just a few examples.

You can structure coaching sessions in many ways too, but there are several core agenda items to consider including in each meeting. These include:

The chapter includes a checklist of potential coaching session topics, descriptions of how coaching might change throughout training and ways to make your coaching sessions high yield, such as practicing self-reflection prior to meetings.

A corresponding text, Coaching in Medical Education: A Faculty Handbook, provides a coaching framework for educators, as well as tools to provide professional development and assistance to learners in medical education.

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Get the most out of your medical school coaching sessions - American Medical Association

The education of occupational health pioneer Alice Hamilton – HSPH News

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February 11, 2020 Joseph Brain, Cecil K. and Philip Drinker Professor of Environmental Physiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, recently co-authored the book The Education of Alice Hamilton (Indiana University Press). Hamilton, Harvards first female faculty member, was appointed assistant professor of industrial medicine at the Medical School in 1919. She and the rest of the Division of Industrial Hygiene became part of the School of Public Health in 1922, when it replaced the Harvard MIT School for Health Officers.

In addition to marking the centennial of Alice Hamiltons appointment, what inspired you to write a book about her?

I first heard about her when I was a graduate student at Harvard, first in the Division of Engineering and Applied Physics, now known as SEAS, and then here at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The more I learned about her, the more I admired her. By the time she was recruited by Harvard, she had been doing groundbreaking studies in occupational health and toxicology for 20 years. Moreover, she was not just a great scientist and epidemiologist, she was a pacifist and a suffragist, and shaped labor protection laws.

In the book, after describing her Harvard years, we then go back and look at what shaped her scientific skills and her commitment to social reform.

What did you learn about her during your research?

Dr. Hamilton was self-educated and home-schooled. She was raised by strong women who instilled in her independence and the importance of giving back. She and her three sisters all remained singlea sensible option at the time for women who wanted careers. All went on to be very accomplished in their respective fields.

Alice was always attracted to science and medicine. When she asked her father for permission to go to medical school, he questioned whether she was tough enough. They made a bargain. She would first study for a year at a small medical school in Fort Wayne, Indiana, near their home. She was more than up for the challenge. A year later, her father agreed that she should have access to the best medical education open to women. She went on to excel at the University of Michigan and Johns Hopkins, and continued her studies in Germany with Paul Ehrlich, who went on to win a Nobel Prize.

A very important part of her education came during the years she spent at Hull Housethe renowned settlement house in Chicago made famous by Jane Addams. There she lived with immigrants and the poor. As she provided medical care, she came to realize that jobs were a major source of injury and illness for workers and their families. For example, men who worked with asbestos or lead exposed their families through the work clothing they brought home to be washed.

She and her colleagues collected and analyzed a remarkable amount of data on the population they servedincluding demographics, income, ethnicity, and disease outcomes. The epidemiological maps they made look like the kind of maps we make today with spatial analysis technologies.

When the founders of our School realized that they needed a leader in occupational health, they discovered that Alice was by far the best candidate. The University at first said that Harvard only educates menand of course, only men can educate men. But our schools leaders persisted. Future SPH Deans David Edsall and Cecil Drinker, who were with HMS at the time, persisted in advocating for her and for breaking the gender barrier. In the fall of 1919, the University relented.

Alice had a very distinguished 20-year career here. When she retired, she was still an assistant professorthose of us in the Alice Hamilton fan club wonder why. For another 30 years, she continued to make U.S. factories and mines safer.

What can Alice Hamilton teach todays public health students?

She is a model of the responsibilities of privilege, which is a combination of adequate wealth and education. If you have both, you need to deploy them to make permanent positive inclusive change for all.

Dr. Hamiltons whole life was about making a difference. She wasnt just interested in learning about and measuring injury and disease caused by occupations. Her work was unfinished until she translated her science into action and national policy. And thats the kind of research we should do and the kind of careers we should seek.

Learn more

Op-ed: Celebrating Alice Hamilton, who pioneered national safety standards (Harvard Chan School news)

Public health pioneer Alice Hamilton documented dire health conditions in post-World War I Germany (Harvard Chan School news)

Amy Roeder

Photo: Kent Dayton

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The education of occupational health pioneer Alice Hamilton - HSPH News

Meet Lash Nolen, Harvard Medical School’s First Black Woman To Be Elected Class President – Because of Them We Can

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You go girl!

LaShyra Lash Nolen made history by becoming the first Black woman to be elected as class president of Harvard Medical School, Teen Vogue reports.

The Compton native says she was always inspired by the Black women around her, particularly her grandmother and mother who had Nolen at just 18-years-old and raised her as a single mom while pursuing her masters degree andworking multiple jobs. Nolen says she owes most of her drive to her upbringing.

The city of Compton is one of the most resilient in the world. Growing up and watching [my mother and grandmother] struggle and work so hard to give me what I had in my life, I couldnt help but do everything in my power to make them proud. I feel like Compton made me scrappy. Im hungry for opportunity, Im hungry for justice. Im hungry to see my people win. So, when you put someone like me at a place like Harvard Medical School, Im going to do whatever it takes to make that vision a reality.

Nolen said that she always had big dreams for her life and knew very early in age that she wanted to do something in the medical field. It was the motivation from her mother and grandmother that ultimately got her there, and she never forgets it. Mom pursued life with grit and a desire to win. She would tell me, Ill see you at the top. My grandma would tell me that whatever I wanted to do, we were gonna make it happen. After telling her I wanted to become a surgeon, she would tell me to protect my hands.

It was that instilled foresight that would ultimately carry Nolen all the way to Harvard. She is currently a Fulbright Scholar, activist, and a leader in the medical field. Her election as class president, while historical, is something that she believes is much bigger than her.

For me it means opportunity - opportunity in the sense that it will allow me to create a pipeline for others who look like me to hold positions of leadership at Harvard Medical School. When applying to HMS, I didnt see people who looked like me in student council or positions of leadership at that level. I think it is important to show that Black people can also be the face of a university, she said.

As class president, Nolen is currently working on various community outreach events that help to shape a new narrative about who should be highlighted at Harvard. She hopes that through her story and work, she can inspire other Black girls who are pursuing their dreams.

Go get it. Our society has a way of implicitly reminding young Black girls what they cannot achieve and what they cannot be...And there are so many young girls out there who are excellent and deserve access to opportunity, but wont take the leap because society tells them that its not for them. So no matter how crazy it might sound, no matter if someone in your family has done it or not, just go get it, because you miss 100% of the shots you dont take, Nolen said.

Congratulations President Lash! We wish you all the best in your endeavors!

Photo Courtesy of Gretchen Ertl/Teen Vogue

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Meet Lash Nolen, Harvard Medical School's First Black Woman To Be Elected Class President - Because of Them We Can

Do you really need to walk 10,000 steps a day? Experts say there’s a better goal – USA TODAY

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Walking 10,000 steps a day isa good baseline to help you stay fit, but it isn't the one-size-fits-all goal you might think.

Fitness trackers such as Fitbit usethe number as a default goal, but fitness experts suggest tailoring a step goal to an individual. Researchers traced the origins of the 10,000-step practiceto a marketing gimmick from the 1960s and suggested some people don't greatly benefit from walking so much.

Harley Pasternak, a celebrity personal trainerwho works with Fitbit,sets the goal of at least 10,000 steps for his clients. He explained in an email to USA TODAYthat the step requirement, if it includes 30 minutesat a moderate intensity,satisfies guidelines for exercise set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week.

I recommend to strive for 14,000 if youre trying to lose weight, he said.

Pasternak cautioned that the suggestionvaries based on lifestyle, and for some people, setting a lower goal would be ideal.

A Harvard study of nearly 17,000 women ages 66 to 78 found that those who walked 7,500 steps or more had the lowest mortality rate.

Even women who walked 4,400 steps had a lower mortality rate than those who were the least active and walked only about 2,000 steps. There were few, if any, additional benefits for the women who walked more than 7,500 steps.

I-Min Lee, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the lead researcher in thestudy, told USA TODAY the 10,000-steps-a-day recommendation was developed in the 1960s by early pedometer makers.

"It got started as a marketing tool for a Japanese company," Leesaid, referring to a Japanese pedometer released in 1965called the "10,000 steps meter." She said there haven't been any scientific studies backing up that number. Asked why it became standard, she explained simply,"It's an easy number to remember."

Lee suggestedwalking 2,000 more steps than you normally walk every day.

You'll meet health guidelines by walking 10,000 steps daily and it's not bad advice for younger people or those who have more experience with a fitness regimen. But Lee said that for older peopleand those who are less fit, the so-called magicnumber is demoralizing. She notedthat for people who are inactive,setting too high a standard may discourage them from exercising entirely.

"If you're inactiveand your goal is to become more active, then set a reasonable goal," she said.

The average American, according to Lee, gets 4,000 to 5,000 steps every day.

Although the Department of Health and Human Services lists a 150-minutes-a-week requirement, it makes it clear that any physical activity no matter how slight is better than none.

Follow Joshua Bote on Twitter: @joshua_bote

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Need for medical careers helps West Chester school thrive and expand – WLWT Cincinnati

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Hundreds more high school students are going to be able to kick off careers in health care.A school expansion in Butler County is giving them new opportunities.Students who are already taking classes at Butler Tech's Bioscience Center said Tuesday the expansion is welcome and necessary."We needed more space, basically," junior Kirsten McMillen said. "There's a lot of kids here and each year we're accepting more students, so we kind of needed more space. We needed bigger classrooms as well."The Bioscience Center opened five years ago and is already out of room.On Tuesday, the school revealed a new second-floor addition with more than 4,600 square feet of learning space."We had students sitting on the floors, crammed together in classes. We had tables under the stairwells. We were packed," Principal Dr. Abbie Cook said.Dr. Cook said the medical field is booming and the demand continues to grow, especially in Southwest Ohio, where careers are always in demand.Enrollment at the school is skyrocketing."We've been here for five years and we have grown 1/3 of our population in that time," Dr. Cook said. "We were crammed for space and our teachers and students and myself are thrilled to have space we've grown into available for our students. We were really packed."Cook said the school is ready to continue to grow."We actually have room to put a third floor on and it's prepared for that, so keep an eye out because that will be happening hopefully soon," Cook said.Cook said BSC is a blended-learning campus that helps students transition into the real world, while getting them ready to take on a new career in the medical field.

Hundreds more high school students are going to be able to kick off careers in health care.

A school expansion in Butler County is giving them new opportunities.

Students who are already taking classes at Butler Tech's Bioscience Center said Tuesday the expansion is welcome and necessary.

"We needed more space, basically," junior Kirsten McMillen said. "There's a lot of kids here and each year we're accepting more students, so we kind of needed more space. We needed bigger classrooms as well."

The Bioscience Center opened five years ago and is already out of room.

On Tuesday, the school revealed a new second-floor addition with more than 4,600 square feet of learning space.

"We had students sitting on the floors, crammed together in classes. We had tables under the stairwells. We were packed," Principal Dr. Abbie Cook said.

Dr. Cook said the medical field is booming and the demand continues to grow, especially in Southwest Ohio, where careers are always in demand.

Enrollment at the school is skyrocketing.

"We've been here for five years and we have grown 1/3 of our population in that time," Dr. Cook said. "We were crammed for space and our teachers and students and myself are thrilled to have space we've grown into available for our students. We were really packed."

Cook said the school is ready to continue to grow.

"We actually have room to put a third floor on and it's prepared for that, so keep an eye out because that will be happening hopefully soon," Cook said.

Cook said BSC is a blended-learning campus that helps students transition into the real world, while getting them ready to take on a new career in the medical field.

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Need for medical careers helps West Chester school thrive and expand - WLWT Cincinnati

When the Surgeon Is a Mom – The New York Times

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Gifty Kwakye, 38, an assistant professor of surgery at the University of Michigan, was told by her medical school classmates that she was too nice for surgery. She never questioned her own drive to operate, but she did worry that it would be difficult to balance her work with dreams of being a mother. She hoped to start a family during the research phase of her training, when she had more control over her schedule, but things didnt go as planned. Overcoming medical problems, she became pregnant three months before she was scheduled to return to clinical residency.

Transitioning from maternity leave back to clinical work felt like having cotton wool stuck in your brain, Dr. Kwakye said. She woke up every two hours at night to feed her baby. She was so dazed that she covered her home in sticky-note reminders: Bring the pump to work, the nipple protectors, the ice packs to keep the milk cold.

Worst was the guilt she felt spending 12-hour shifts away from her child. When Dr. Kwakye squeezed in a pickup at day care to relieve her husband, she watched her daughter run to the teacher and call her Mommy. That prompted a day care administrator to ask Dr. Kwakye whether she was on the list of adults approved for pickup, and the doctor had to explain that she was indeed the mother.

The kid didnt want to go to me, and I was like O.K., I deserved that, that was fair, you have no idea who I am, Dr. Kwakye said. But what that does to a mother is painful. I had a moment when I was like, I cant do this anymore; Im failing as a resident and Im failing as a mom.

One morning she sat in her car crying because she didnt want to leave her baby. She wondered if she should have heeded the warnings not to pursue surgery. She told herself, Maybe they saw something you didnt see and youre not tough enough.

As health care providers, surgeons are painfully aware of the ways in which their professional commitments can harm their own health and their familys. Alex Moore, a surgical resident at Brigham and Womens Hospital, said that spending long days away from her 6-month-old baby was especially upsetting because she has studied the medical importance of mother-child bonding. Returning to the operating room after a 10-week leave felt like your soul is getting ripped out, she said.

A surgeons schedule isnt just psychologically taxing, it also takes a physical toll. A resident spends most of the day on her feet. She may go eight to 12 hours without eating, or even drinking water. As one surgical resident put it, health often comes down to Do as I say, not as I do for doctors in training. Dr. Rangel, who had two babies, both born prematurely, wondered whether she was to blame for neglecting her health while pregnant.

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When the Surgeon Is a Mom - The New York Times

Women Now Make Up The Majority Of Medical Students In The U.S. For The First Time In History – Simplemost

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For the first time in history, more women than men are poised to become doctors. According to an announcement from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), women now comprise 50.5% of all medical school students in the United States. That number has grown from 46.9% in 2015. This is out of a record 53, 371 students applying to medical schools in 2019.

In addition to the increase in female medical students, this years data indicates that there have also been slight increases in the number of racial and ethnic minority students in U.S. medical schools. Single digit percentage increases have been recorded in applications from several historically marginalized groups.

In 2019, applicants who are of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin increased 5.1% to 5,858, and graduates from this group grew 6.3% to 2,446. The number of black or African American applicants rose 0.6% to 5,193, while matriculants (those who end up enrolling) increased by 3.2% to 1,916. American Indian or Alaska Native applicants also grew by 4.8% to 586, while graduates in that group rose 5.5% to 230.

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The steady gains in the medical school enrollment of women are a very positive trend, and we are delighted to see this progress, David J. Skorton, MD, AAMC president and CEO, said in the press release. However, the modest increases in enrollment among underrepresented groups are simply not enough. We cannot accept this as the status quo and must do more to educate and train a more diverse physician workforce to care for a more diverse America.

An August 2019 study published in the journal JAMA Network Open found that female physicians are more likely than their male counterparts to either downgrade to part-time work or stop working completely a few years after beginning to practice. The study also showed that women are more likely than men to name family as an influence on their career decisions.

Getty Images | Scott Olson

However, this may be less a result of womens desires and more a by-product of societal expectations on women to have it all. Work-family conflict may be a culprit, the studys authors noted.

Its very common for people to see this and say some women are just choosing to put family first which is wonderful and a great choice for anyone who wants to make that, Elena Frank, lead author of the study and the director of the University of Michigans Intern Health Study, said in a statement earlier this year. But in reality, what were seeing is that often there isnt choice. Medicine has a big opportunity, and really, an obligation to set an example for how to support women and families.

This is good news, especially since theres evidence that both men and women do better healthwise when they see female physicians. For women, that may be in part because symptoms of disease or illness in women are often not the same as mens, yet medical doctors are trained to diagnose mens symptoms.

For those reasons, its great to see more progress in reducing the gender and racial disparities within the medical profession.

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Women Now Make Up The Majority Of Medical Students In The U.S. For The First Time In History - Simplemost

Top MIT research stories of 2019 – MIT News

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With a new year just begun, we take a moment to look back at the most popular articles of 2019 reflecting innovations, breakthroughs, and new insights from the MIT community. The following 10 research-related stories published in the previous 12 months received top views onMIT News. A selection of additional top news that you might have missed follows.

10.Weve seen a black hole.An international team of astronomers, including scientists from MITs Haystack Observatory, announced the first direct images of a black hole in April. They accomplished this remarkable feat by coordinating the power of eight major radio observatories on four continents, to work together as a virtual, Earth-sized telescope.

9.The kilo is dead. Long live the kilo!On World Metrology Day, MIT Professor Wolfgang Ketterle delivered a talk on scientists new definition of the kilogram and the techniques for its measurement. As of May 20, a kilo is now defined by fixing the numerical value of a fundamental constant of nature known as the Planck constant.

8.A new record for blackest black.MIT engineers led by Professor Brian Wardle cooked up a material that is 10 times blacker than anything previously reported. The material is made from carbon nanotubes grown on chlorine-etched aluminum foil and captures at least 99.995 percent of incoming light. The material was featured as part of an exhibit at the New York Stock Exchange that was conceived by Diemut Strebe, MIT Center for Art, Science, and Technology artist-in-residence, in collaboration with Wardle and his lab.

7.Further evidence that Einstein was right.Physicists from MIT and elsewhere studied the ringing of an infant black hole, and found that the pattern of this ringing accurately predicts the black holes mass and spin more evidence that Albert Einsteins general theory of relativity is correct.

6.Understanding infections and autism. MIT and Harvard Medical School researchers uncovered a cellular mechanism that may explain why some children with autism experience a temporary reduction in behavioral symptoms when they have a fever.

5.A step toward pain-free diabetes treatments.An MIT-led research team developed a drug capsule that could be used to deliver oral doses of insulin, potentially replacing the injections that people with type 1 diabetes have to give themselves every day.

4.Da Vincis design holds up.Some 500 years after his death, MIT engineers and architects tested a design by Leonardo da Vinci for what would have been the worlds longest bridge span of its time. Their proof of the bridges feasibility sheds light on what ambitious construction projects might have been possible using only the materials and methods of the early Renaissance.

3.A novel kind of airplane wing.MIT and NASA engineers built and tested a radically new kind of airplane wing, assembled from hundreds of tiny identical pieces. The wing can change shape to control the planes flight, and, according to the researchers, could provide a significant boost in aircraft production, flight, and maintenance efficiency.

2.Simple programming for everyone.MIT researchers created a programming system withartificial intelligence that can easily be used by novices and experts alike. Users can create models and algorithms with the system, Gen, without having to deal with equations or handwrite high-performance code; experts can also use it to write sophisticated models and inference algorithms that were previously infeasible.

1.A new way to remove carbon dioxide from air.MIT researchers developed a system that can remove carbon dioxide from a stream of air at virtually any concentration level. The new method is significantly less energy-intensive and expensive than existing processes, and could provide a significant tool in the battle against climate change.

In case you missed it

Additional top research stories of 2019 included a study findingbetter sleep habits lead to better college grades; a meta-study on theefficacy of educational technology; findings thatscience blooms after star researchers die; a system forconverting the molecular structures of proteins into musical passages; andthe answer to life, the universe, and everything.

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Top MIT research stories of 2019 - MIT News

Beyond Academics: What Our Conversations About Med School Overlook – EconoTimes

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When we talk about medical school, our conversations tend to gravitate to a few key issues, particularly undergraduate grades, MCAT scores, and school prestige. These are undeniably major concerns the average medical school student had an undergraduate GPA of 3.79 for the 2018-2019 admission cycle, demonstrating just how hard it is to get a prime placement but theres a lot more to the future of the profession than who gets into the top few schools.

A meaningful conversation about medical education also needs to tackle issues like diversity, population-level health needs, and soft skills like compassion and collaboration. More than who attends Harvard or what residency students earn later on, these are the factors that will influence how well future doctors serve their communities.

How Money Shapes Medicine

Medical school is expensive; the median debt load is $200,000, and many students carry more than that. Meanwhile, the average first year resident makes about $55,000, hardly enough to start repaying those loans, and many students dont feel comfortable taking on that amount of debt, often on top of undergraduate debt, in the first place. This influences who goes to medical school and what communities they eventually choose to serve.

One structure that could increase access to medical education is offering students the opportunity to swap their loans for an income share agreement (ISA). A number of fields, including many trades, offer students the opportunity to participate in an ISA, in which an investor takes on the students debt in exchange for a set percentage of their income in the future. While the default rate on medical school loans is actually quite low, offering students the option of an ISA could encourage a greater number of low-income students to pursue medical education.

More Students Than Matches

After completing their basic medical education, students spend several years as resident, essentially trainees practicing under close supervision. Like everything else about medical education, residencies are highly competitive; medical students rank residency programs and are matched through a national placement algorithm based on specialty, location, and other factors. Where students match for residency has a major impact on where they choose to practice later in life but there are a number of problems with this system.

First, despite a national physician shortage, thousands of students arent matched with a residency each year. There just arent enough slots, even though the country is in desperate need of those doctors and many of the students who fail to match have great potential. Offering alternative paths to licensure, such as allowing graduates to practice under physicians in underserved areas, could increase the supply of doctors and give smart, eager students a chance to utilize their knowledge and training.

Distribution Issues

In addition to students failing to match with residencies, those who do match tend to be clustered in specific areas. Residencies are often based at teaching hospitals, which are in turn often in major cities or expensive suburbs. This is exacerbating the physician shortage in rural areas since students who are trained in well-equipped urban hospitals may feel unprepared to be one of a few doctors on call in a low-income, rural community. Medical residencies need to be redistributed or new residencies created in areas with major shortages and students need support and encouragement to pursue those areas.

Diversifying The Field

Finally, most industries reflect their leadership in terms of make-up. If a field is dominated by men at the upper levels, then men are most likely to enter the industry. The same divisions occur along racial lines. At the rate things are going right now, medicine wont reach racial or gender parity for many decades, and that has a lot to do with who is in charge of medical schools.

Because of changes at the undergraduate level, more than 50% of medical school students are now female, which makes it seem like medical education is on the right track. Thats true in some regard, yet because of deeply rooted disparities, it will be 50 years until half of all doctors are women. Of long-term medical school deans, only 7% of deans serving more than 12 years are women.

For healthcare to adequately serve patients, it needs to better reflect those it serves and that means looking beyond grades. Thats only a small part of who these students are and what theyll be capable of as medical professionals.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes.

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Beyond Academics: What Our Conversations About Med School Overlook - EconoTimes

Margaret Lawrence ’36, Who Was Rejected From Cornell’s Medical School Because She Was Black, Dies at 105 – Cornell University The Cornell Daily Sun

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When Margaret Lawrence 36 arrived in Ithaca in 1932, she was the only black student in her class. Denied on-campus housing due to her race, the future psychoanalyst and pediatrician once slept in an attic, working as a live-in maid to help pay for her Cornell degree.

Lawrence whose name was Margaret Cornelia Morgan at the time applied in her senior year to the medical school to continue her education at Cornell, but was denied, since twenty-five years ago there was a Negro man admitted, a dean explained, and it didnt work out. That student had died from tuberculosis.

The Cornell Daily Sun June 12, 1936

Of this roster of graduates published in 1936, Margaret Lawrence 36 was the only black student.

Columbia University did accept Lawrence, propelling the alumna to eventually direct the Therapeutic Developmental Nursery at Harlem Hospital and becoming chief of the Developmental Psychiatry Service for Infants and Children for 21 years.

When Lawrence who would be known for her empathy for children patients, according to The New York Times was in medical school, she continually faced the compounded difficulty of sexism and racism as one of 10 women, and the only black woman in her class.

At Cornell, Lawrence was a skilled archer, scoring in the top eight and snagging a spot on the archery team, according to archived editions of The Sun.

She would chronicle these challenges in a book titled Balm in Gilead: Journey of a Healer, written by her daughter, Prof. Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, sociology, Harvard University. In one recollection, Lawrence described how when she turned 21 and went to register to vote, she was asked to take a literacy test.

The Cornell Daily Sun on May 22, 1934

During her time at Cornell, Lawrence was involved in archery, repeatedly scoring among the top.

Lawrences story resonated with former Cornell University President Frank H. T. Rhodes, who reportedly heard her struggles and penned a short apology letter for the discrimination in 2008.

He wrote her a short letter of sincere and serious apology for the assaults ofdiscrimination and racism she had suffered, Lawrence-Lightfoot said.

According to The New York Times, Lawrence-Lightfood said that her mother appreciated the respectful and heartfelt apology.

Lawrence died on Wednesday in Boston at an assisted living center at the age of 105.

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Margaret Lawrence '36, Who Was Rejected From Cornell's Medical School Because She Was Black, Dies at 105 - Cornell University The Cornell Daily Sun

Industry VoicesThe shortage of invisible doctors and the expected fix – FierceHealthcare

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Roughly four in ten Americans will receive a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime. Many of those folks will never meet the doctors most instrumental in their treatmenttheir pathologists.

Pathologists operate behind-the-scenes. They help diagnose patients and provide treatment recommendations to other doctors.

The United States will need thousands of additional pathologists to meet patient demand over the next decade. They're likely to come from international medical schools.

International medical graduates are entering pathology in increasing numbers. Many of them are U.S. citizens who traveled abroad to receive their education. The United States should welcome them home to practice.

RELATED:With $160M lab project, Michigan Medicine takes pathology out of the basement

Pathologists examine body tissues, cellsand organs in order to study the causes and nature of everything from cancer and blood disorders to HIV/AIDS and cardiovascular disease.

Say a doctor suspects that her patient has breast cancer. She may collect a piece of breast tissue for analysis. From there, the sample goes to the pathologist, who conducts a thorough examination and makes a diagnosis. The pathologist also often conducts additional tests to determine which therapies are most likely to kill the cancer cells of that particular patient.

That work is absolutely crucial. Consider the importance of early detection of breast cancer. Women diagnosed with the disease at the earliest stage are more than six times likelier to live past five years than those diagnosed at the most advanced stage. Potential delays in that initial diagnosis could lead to delays in treatmentand a decrease in survival rates.

That's why the pathologist shortage is so concerning. The number of U.S. pathologists decreased by nearly 18%between 2007 and 2017. During that time, the "diagnostic workload per pathologist" rose by almost 42%.

That's taken its toll. One-third of active pathologists are "burned out," according to Medscape's 2019 survey.

And many pathologists are on the road to retirement. In a 2013 study, researchers found that more than 40% of pathologists were 55 or older. They predicted that retirements would reach their apex in 2021.

Consequently, by the end of next decade, the United States will be short more than 5,700 pathologists.

Graduates of international medical schools are poised to close that gap. They already account for nearly one-third of the U.S. pathologist workforce. That figure is set to increase over the next several years. Nearly 45% of active pathology residents graduated from an international medical school.

RELATED:AI could prompt merge of radiology, pathology into one specialty

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This year, 4% of international medical graduates selected residencies in pathology. That might not seem like a large numberbut it's nearly four times the share of U.S. med school graduates who chose pathology. Further, the percentage of U.S. grads selecting pathology has declined over the last five years.

Graduates of the school where I teach, St. George's University, are increasingly deciding to pursue careers in pathology. Twenty-three of our graduates just began pathology residencies in states nationwideeverywhere from California and Pennsylvania to Texas and New York. Over the past five years, more than six dozen of our grads have entered pathology programs.

The growing demand for pathologists must be addressed. Graduates of international medical schools will be the ones to meet that need.

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Industry VoicesThe shortage of invisible doctors and the expected fix - FierceHealthcare

The Joy of Kooky – The New York Times

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In the early 1990s, Joost Elffers, a successful Dutch book packager, met an American expatriate living in Amsterdam named Gary Goldschneider.

Mr. Goldschneider was a brilliant but scattered polymath who completed his studies at Yale medical school but never practiced medicine and later became a concert pianist. He once played all 32 of Beethovens sonatas in one sitting for a crowd at a Philadelphia shopping mall, telling a reporter he was spiritually guided to give the concert.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, he was also into astrology.

For years, Mr. Goldschneider had asked people he met for their sun sign and date of birth, assembling a database of personality traits he supposed were natally based. Mr. Elffers, now 72, turned his ideas into a book, The Secret Language of Birthdays.

Until then, most astrology books, like Linda Goodmans Sun Signs, told you about yourself only in the broad strokes of the 12 zodiac signs: Sagittarians are purportedly free spirits, Scorpios are passionate, and so on.

But now, each day of the year was branded with highly specific information about character traits. The Secret Language of Birthdays tapped into something even older than the practice of astrology: human vanity (and suggestibility).

Its the book for the ultimate narcissist, said Megan Newman, the vice president and publisher of Avery, the imprint of Penguin Random House that publishes the book. You can look up yourself, the ex-boyfriend youre still stalking on Facebook, your mother-in-law.

This year is the 25th anniversary of the birthday book, as its referred to by fans, though its publisher isnt printing a special edition. Aron Goldschneider, Gary Goldschneiders son and the books editor, was unaware of the occasion until reminded recently. And of course anniversaries dont mean much anyway, right?

Still, like the Bible, the birthday book is always there, selling 1.5 million copies and counting, according to the publisher, with little promotion (it remains a No. 1 best seller in the Numerology category on Amazon), living for years on home library shelves and popping up randomly in the culture.

In a 2001 New Yorker profile of Jim Carrey, it was revealed that the actor and spiritual seeker (born Jan. 17, The Day of the Heavyweight) brought the birthday book to film sets to entertain the cast and crew.

More recently, Alexa Chung, the British TV host, model and fashion designer (Nov. 5, The Day of Actuality), gushed to a writer from Harpers Bazaar that the 365 detailed personality profiles are so spot on, its insane.

Ms. Newman said, Were still selling tens of thousands of copies a year, and she expects the book to have a renaissance, because of the interest among millennials in astrology, the secret lives of plants and other New Age subjects.

Stevie Anderson, 30, a host of the astrology podcast Whats Your Sign?, said the birthday book was her first introduction to astrology as a child back in the late 1990s.

My mom, who is the most Virgo person on the planet, always had the birthday book out, she said. It was a talking point. Any guest who came over, she would open up the book and talk about their day.

Ms. Anderson remembers her entry (May 2, The Day of Human Observation) as being very on the nose about how I felt about myself: Youre fun and productive, but also a dictator, basically. As a teenager, she would read aloud from the book during sleepovers with her girlfriends to better understand their personalities.

I have similarly used the birthday book as an interpersonal reference guide ever since a college buddy (and fellow Libra) gave me a copy 20 years ago. Though otherwise a fact-based person, I have a soft spot for the pseudoscience of astrology.

And over the years, I have looked up friends, relatives, romantic partners, my wife and son, as though gleaning some truth about their deepest traits.

Certain sentences from my own entry (Sept. 29, The Day of the Charged Reactor) rattle around my head. Reading that Sept. 29 people seem to have difficulty getting it together is one reason I spent my 20s laser focused on my career.

The parting meditation for my day reads, What do you see when you live at the center of the cyclone? an ominous phrase Ive been trying to parse for two decades.

If the birthday book is entertainment, not provable fact, its form nevertheless lends it a degree of authority. At 832 pages, it has the heft of an encyclopedia, and its designed like a reference book, down to the formal serif typeface.

Each day of the year gets a two-page spread chock-full of information, including 20 notable people born on that day, the position of the suns transit in the sky, the sign and corresponding element (fire, earth, air and water).

The design was Mr. Elfferss masterstroke. If you have a book of fake news, you have to go for a very conservative typography, he said. So I imitated the layout of the American Heritage Dictionary. Because that is the truth.

Mr. Elffers does not believe in astrology. He said his rational Dutch upbringing prevents such magical thinking. When I told him over lunch near his home in Greenwich Village how I had used his book to gain insight into loved ones, he responded bluntly.

For me, I find that horrifying, he said. And if you stress another time how much you love the book, I will defriend you and never see you again.

And yet, when Mr. Elffers was asked about his own birthday (Nov. 21, The Day of Elegance), he started talking like it was the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. Im a cusp. And Gary has a special place for the cusp, because thats the mixture of two and therefore theres a lot of turmoil and creativity.

The trouble with a Scorpio is they have no interest in any other sign, he went on about himself. They think theyre the only one.

The real magic of the birthday book is in the writing. Horoscopes arent a form known for their literary quality, but each of Mr. Goldschneiders personality profiles is incisive, direct and specific, yet with the necessary mystery.

Until recently, Mr. Goldschneider lived in a Dutch nursing home in increasingly poor health; he died earlier this month at age 80. It was Aron Goldschneider who revised his fathers writing until it was crystal clear, Mr. Elffers said.

Aron, 56, said the basic content came from his father, but he added complexity to the character sketches and balanced those that were too unflattering, filling out the positive side.

My father would write a page one day because of his experience with three people people he didnt even like that were born on a certain day, said Aron, a lawyer who lives in Philadelphia. Yoost would say, Gary, this is not a blessing.

Like Mr. Elffers, Aron does not believe in astrology. But he has heard from countless people over the years, he said, who have marveled at the way the birthday book gets to the heart of their favorite subject: themselves.

And he admitted that his own entry (Oct. 31, The Day of Attentiveness) rings true. Perhaps because his father wrote it.

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The Joy of Kooky - The New York Times

New Research Finds Signal of Decreased Early Post Transplant Survival in the New Heart Transplant System – Yahoo Finance

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University of Minnesota Medical School researcher leads investigation into new 2018 heart donor allocation system

Minneapolis, MN, Nov. 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In an analysis of the new heart organ allocation system for transplant patients in the U.S., researchers have identified a signal of a decrease in heart transplant survival rates. The study, An Early Investigation of Outcomes with the 2018 Donor Heart Allocation System in the United States, is published as a rapid communication in the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation.

For the first time in over a decade, modifications were made to the U.S. donor heart allocation system in October of 2018, aimed at better distinguishing the most medically urgent heart transplant candidates. The old system, in place since 2005, led to overcrowding of the list, prolonged waiting times and consequent inequity in allocation across geographic regions. The new system was envisioned to allow more equitable organ allocation while providing an overall benefit to patients awaiting heart transplantation.

This is an early trend, however, it is concerning, said lead author Rebecca Cogswell, MD, who is an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Medical Schools Department of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology and medical director of mechanical circulatory support with M Health Fairview. Cogswell and colleagues at the U of M and several institutions across the U.S., including Brigham and Womens Hospital and Harvard Medical School, undertook an early look at outcomes as a result of the new allocation system.

This early look is similar to the kind of surveillance that occurs in large clinical trials to ensure safety, Cogswell explained.

The authors found that the changed allocation system has resulted in an increase of sicker patients being transplanted with greater frequency as intended, however, unintended consequences are emerging. Organs are being retrieved from longer distances, and fewer patients supported on durable left ventricular assist devices are receiving heart transplants in the U.S.

The increase in mortality appears to be driven by the fact that patients who are receiving hearts are sicker than in the previous system, Cogswell reported.

The researchers found the waitlist mortality has decreased in the new system. Cogswell explained, As waitlist mortality in the previous system was relatively low, the absolute impact of this reduction in waitlist mortality is small compared to the increase in death after transplantation that we are observing in this early examination of the new system.

If these early observations of a substantial decline in heart transplant survival persist, and we certainly hope that they do not, several programs will be under stress for their very survival, said Mandeep R. Mehra, MD, senior author of this study, who is executive director of the Center for Advanced Heart Disease at Brigham and Womens Hospital and a professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Cogswell stated that more data will be needed to confirm these trends and to inform policy changes.

As a community, we have a responsibility to look at this data at regular intervals to determine if we need to implement changes sooner rather than later, Cogswell emphasized.

About the University of Minnesota Medical School

The University of Minnesota Medical School is at the forefront of learning and discovery, transforming medical care and educating the next generation of physicians. Our graduates and faculty produce high-impact biomedical research and advance the practice of medicine. Visit med.umn.edu to learn how the University of Minnesota is innovating all aspects of medicine.

Krystle BarbourUniversity of Minnesota Medical School6126262767kbarbour@umn.edu

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New Research Finds Signal of Decreased Early Post Transplant Survival in the New Heart Transplant System - Yahoo Finance

Mother and daughter doctors matched at the same hospital for residency – WTHR

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NEW ORLEANS (TEGNA) This mother-daughter doctor duo are making history by undergoing residency training together.

Cynthia and Jasmine Kudji are the first mother and daughter to attend medical school simultaneously and match with a residency program at the same hospital, according to Cynthia's medical school.

Jasmine attended medical school at Louisiana State University in her hometown of New Orleans, while Cynthia attended the University of Medicine and Health Sciences based on the island of St. Kitts. They both matched with LSU Health in New Orleans for their residencies.

Cynthia is originally from Ghana and came to the United States at age 2, according to UMHS. She took a non-traditional path to becoming a doctor that started when she became pregnant with Jasmine as a 23-year-old student. At that time, she had to put her dream of becoming a doctor on hold, she told UMHS.

Instead, Cynthia became a nurse and worked for nearly a decade until a life-changing trip to visit relatives in Ghana, she told UMHS.

During the trip, while caring for a stranger's sick baby without proper medical supplies, Cynthia felt inspired to help others by becoming a physician.

She decided to pursue a career in family medicine internationally at UMHS at the same time Jasmine was studying to be a surgeon at LSU.

"I think initially it was difficult because my mom and I have always been really close, so I had to get used to the distance. We had to learn how to FaceTime and Skype each other, so we were Skyping each other every day and whenever I had struggles and she had struggles, we just had to learn to communicate from a distance," Jasmine told UMHS.

But after completing their schooling, the two were thrilled to find they were both matched at LSU Health for their residencies.

"I'm so very, very blessed and grateful to have my daughter," Cynthia said told UMHS.

"I just think she's smart and beautiful and it's been such a tremendous blessing to have her when I was studying."

"I always tell people we laugh together, we study together, we cry together," Jasmine said.

"I think medical school is one of those experiences that you don't truly understand until you're in it. Sometimes people struggle to find someone who relates to their struggles, so for that person to be my mom was extremely helpful."

The two are both passionate about helping patients during the coronavirus pandemic, particularly communities of color which have been disproportionately impacted by the virus.

"I think this is going to be a pivotal time for our physicians to promote positive change in our health care system, and it will give us a chance to really express our concerns and I think this time around, it will be received better," Jasmine told UMHS.

You can follow the two at their blog, The M.D. Life, here.

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Mother and daughter doctors matched at the same hospital for residency - WTHR

Hard work makes Wisconsin basketball dreams come true for Qawi – University of Wisconsin-Madison

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At the beginning of his senior year, the last place Samad Qawi would have expected to be on an October night is basketball practice with the Badgers.

Qawi, a kinesiology major in the School of Education and pre-med student from Racine, Wisconsin, joins the team this year as a walk-on after standing out at an open tryout. He credits blood, sweat, and tears with making his basketball dream a reality, capping a UWMadison career where hes already achieved much academically and as a student leader.

He started playing basketball when he was eight at his local YMCA and instantly loved the game. He was a promising player on junior varsity as a freshman and sophomore at Horlick High School in Racine, and was excited about moving to varsity as a junior.

In his first game, he said, I blocked the other teams player from a layup, and when I landed, it felt like my knee had exploded and I passed out from the pain.

Qawi had torn ligaments and his meniscus in addition to chipping his knee cap. He was out for the year, which was devastating.

With determination, he was able to get back on the court for his senior year. He had grown taller hes now 6-foot-6 and had a good vertical jump. Unfortunately, he hurt his leg and his back in the second game of the season. A pinched sciatic nerve limited his playing time to 20 minutes per game.

Though the doctor and his trainer both recommended he not play the rest of the season, Oawi wasnt ready to give up. In the playoffs, he landed awkwardly after a jump and had to be carried off the court because of his leg. That ended his high school basketball career.

While that was disappointing, Qawi was still high achieving in the classroom.

As a high school freshman, he became involved in UWMadisons PEOPLE program, which helps promising under-represented and first-generation college students prepare for college and complete their degrees. He took a neurology class at UWMadison and it changed his life.

It was just like that, Qawi told the Racine Journal Times in 2016. I was always interested in nerves and the brain and that class made it even better. I learned even more about the body.

At UWMadison, he became an intern at the UW Health Clinical Simulation Program, which gives patient care simulation training to health sciences students and professionals.

He also recently became the president of the Wisconsin Association of Black Men, a student organization that promotes social justice.

He still dreamed of playing with the Badgers basketball team. After tearing his ACL during a recreational game freshman year, he started to train in a different way.

Sophomore year I dedicated my exercise purely to weight lifting because I just didnt want to be injured anymore, Qawi said.

He was able to ease back onto the court junior year and at the start of senior year, which is when the news of the open tryout came.

Ive been training for the last two years so I knew I was physically able to do it. With blood, sweat, tears, and a lot of hard work, I was able to will myself on to this team, he said.

The transition has been made easier because everyone on the team and coaching staff has been very welcoming, he said, adding that he is grateful to be part of a family like this.

After graduation, Qawi is interested in continuing to play basketball, possibly overseas or in the NBA G League, before going to medical school. Ultimately, he wants to specialize in sports medicine.

The goal is to be able to spread knowledge about injuries to younger athletes because in middle school and high school we dont know how to take care of our bodies as we grow, he said.

He also wants to start a community center in Racine that gives young athletes an opportunity to train when they wouldnt otherwise be able to afford it.

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Dell Children’s Medical Center to spend more than $300 million over next 3 years to expand Mueller campus – Community Impact Newspaper

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The upcoming $113 million Dell Childrens Specialty Pavilion will open spring 2021 with cardiovascular, neuroscience and cancer programs, according to the pediatric hospital. (Rendering courtesy Dell Childrens Specialty Pavilion)

The Dell Childrens Medical Center campus in Mueller is set to break ground on an expansion plan following the announcement of significant investment over the next three years.

The pediatric hospital Feb. 10 announced a $300 million investment in capital, equipment and programming over the next three years, made possible due to a substantial investment by Ascension, as well as a $30 million matching grant from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, according to a company news release.

The time is now to continue expanding complex pediatric care in Central Texas, said Christopher Born, the president of Dell Childrens Medical Center, in the Feb. 10 news release.

Dell Children will use $113 million of the investment funds to construct its new pediatric outpatient facility, which will house cardiovascular, neuroscience and cancer programs, as previously reported by Community Impact Newspaper.

The four-story, 161,000-square-foot facility, named Dell Childrens Specialty Pavilion, is slated to break ground soon and open its doors to patients in spring 2021.

Investment dollars will also go to provide backing for a new partnership with Dell Medical School at The University of Texas to develop a maternal fetal medicine program that will add a delivery unit and neonatal intensive care unit expansion at Dell Childrens Medical Center, according to the news release.

Dell Childrens Medical Center announced it will additionally add more cardiac ICU beds at its main hospital, allowing for the expansion of its pediatric heart program to include heart transplant surgery.

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Dell Children's Medical Center to spend more than $300 million over next 3 years to expand Mueller campus - Community Impact Newspaper

Presidential Politics Taking Toll on Young Doctors, Study Finds – The Heartland Institute

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The survey by BMJexamined how political and current events have impacted the moods and stress levels of young doctors over time. The survey looked at nine political events and eight non-political events between 2016 and 2018 and questioned 2,345 participants on their mood from their time as medical interns to their time as residents.

The survey found statistically significant mood declines of at least 25 percent after the 2016 presidential election and subsequent inauguration, with women experiencing more than twice the mood decline as men following both events. Developments of a conservative political nature, such as the Muslim travel ban and the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, also correlated with a decline in mood. By contrast, events of a more liberal political nature prompted a positive mood shift. The margin of error for the poll was plus or minus five percent.

The directionality of these findings is consistent with evidence that young voters and voters with postgraduate education tend to identify as liberal leaning, and supports previous work showing a strong left shift in political affiliation among physicians over the past 25 years, the report stated.

Politics in Medical School

The findings raise a key question of whether more left-leaning individuals are pursuing the medical profession or if medical schools are making students identify more as progressive. The answer is both, say two physicians and a medical student.

I think young doctors are getting a heavy dose of indoctrination in medical schools, partly from the student section of American Medical Association, said Jane Orient, M.D., executive director of the Association for American Physicians and Surgeons and policy advisor to The Heartland Institute, which publishesHealth Care News.In fact, social justice is now insinuated in bioethics and protocols concerning resource stewardship and the like.

Orient says she doesnt recall politics being a part of her medical school education at Columbia University in the 1970s. Now, students at medical schools increasingly engage in political activism from a decidedly leftist perspective, Orient says.

Indoctrination and immersion and peer pressure work, Orient said. Conservatives fear career damage.

Origins in Undergraduate Programs

Anthony Fappiano, a third-year medical student at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine and an out-of-the-closet conservative, traces the lefts influence back even further than medical school.

In my opinion, this is due to four years of college education with predominantly liberal professors, Fappiano said. Additionally, the MCAT (medical school entrance exam) is putting more emphasis on traditionally liberal dominated topicsespecially sociologyrather than pure science.

The spike in liberal-leaning students and faculty suggests that science and medicine are no longer immune to politics, a trend Orient says should alarm patients.

The system comes first, and somebody elses idea of justice, instead of the patient, Orient said. It also means less time is available for learning medicine.

Viewpoints Change with Age

There may be reason for hope, says Chad Savage, M.D., founder of YourChoice Direct Care and policy advisor to The Heartland Institute.

While the study shows that young physicians tend to be liberal, the findings could simply reflect the students age and the fact that progressive politics tend to be more popular with young people, Savage said.

Fappiano says he agrees.

I have found that the working doctors I do my rotations with are more level-headed and at most, will gripe about their political ideology but never act on it, Fappiano said. The students are much more active in pushing political goals whether it's through clubs, bringing in speakers, or changing course teaching.

In the end, it may take the free market to truly break the liberal bias that has taken root in academia, Fappiano says. The first step is to lift the licensing restrictions currently in place, says Fappiano.

The entire health care industry is controlled by the two licensing agencies, the National Board of Medical Examiners and the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners, as well as the AMA, Fappiano said. If schools were able to create their own curriculum and prerequisites it would allow the emphasis to be put back on medicine, rather than political goals. This would require large institutional changes and deregulation of the field of medicine.

Madeline Peltzer(mpeltzer@hillsdale.edu)writes from Hillsdale, Michigan.

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Presidential Politics Taking Toll on Young Doctors, Study Finds - The Heartland Institute

University of Minnesota medical student sues school for suspension over sexual misconduct allegations – Minneapolis Star Tribune

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A University of Minnesota medical student says the college wrongfully suspended him based on allegations of sexual misconduct last year.

In a lawsuit filed this week, Mehdijaffer Mulla says administrators from the medical school informed him in November that theyd received a complaint about him. The school immediately suspended him, without telling him the nature of the allegations or the individuals accusing him, then e-mailed the student body soliciting other allegations, which served to pre-emptively convict Mr. Mulla in the court of public opinion, according to the lawsuit.

Mr. Mulla was improperly suspended from the University of Minnesota and has been deprived of higher education and his contractual rights without due process or equal protection of the law, according to the civil complaint. Mr. Mulla was greatly damaged by being falsely cast as a stalker, a very public stigma he will never be able to escape.

Mulla is still under suspension and his request to address the allegations in a hearing at the college has been denied, the lawsuit states.

University spokesman Jake Ricker said the school has not yet been served with the lawsuit. As always, the university will review the details of the complaint and address the facts and governing law as appropriate, he said.

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University of Minnesota medical student sues school for suspension over sexual misconduct allegations - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Laurent Duvernay-Tardif: The first medical doctor playing in the NFL is in Super Bowl LIV – KTVZ

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This doctor has one of the most important jobs in Super Bowl LIV, but hes not part of the teams medical staff.

Instead, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, who earned his doctor of medicine degree from McGill University in Canada in 2018, plays right guard on the Kansas City Chiefs offensive line. He is tasked with protecting superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes as well as trying to deliver the Chiefs their first Super Bowl win in 50 years.

Duvernay-Tardif, the first practicing medical doctor on an NFL roster, will soon become the first medical doctor set to play in a Super Bowl.

When I stepped on that stage at McGill University and got my MD last year, it was probably the best moment of my life after the one Im going to live (Sunday), a laughing Duvernay-Tardif, alluding to Sundays Super Bowl LIV, said to CNN on Monday.

Duvernay-Tardif, 28, stands at 6 feet, 5 inches and is listed at 321 pounds. When he speaks English, the Montreal natives French accent is evident while also giving a warm smile.

I think I want people to see me as one of the best student athletes in the world, said Duvernay-Tardif, in his sixth NFL season and in the midst of a five-year, $42.4 million contract. Of course you want to be the best football player. You want to be the best doctor. But to be able to combine both at the highest level I think thats my biggest accomplishment.

Sometimes his teammates may occasionally call him doc or doctor, but they also call him Larry, and its evident his intellect transfers to the gridiron.

Without a doubt, especially with the offensive line position, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce said Tuesday. You have to be a very smart dude. Theres a lot of stuff that goes into protections, and how were going to identify the run game. Larrys stepped in. He figured it out early in his career, and he has just taken it for a ride ever since.

Said Chiefs offensive tackle Eric Fisher on Tuesday: Hes a doctor. Hes a football player. I think hes got two passions in life, and hes a professional in both of them. How many of us can say that? Usually everyones just a professional with one thing. Hes a professional with two. Pretty crazy things that not many people can do. What hes accomplished up to this point in life is pretty amazing.

Duvernay-Tardif was no lock to reach the NFL and he had a bit of a scare getting into medical school as well.

Because he had entered the incorrect date on his calendar, Duvernay-Tardif, whose first language is French, missed the deadline to get into French-speaking medical schools in Quebec. At McGill, one of three English-language universities in Quebec, he didnt initially join the football team until later during his freshman season, as he worked on his English to keep up in class.

Meanwhile, Duvernay-Tardif wasnt playing for a typical powerhouse program that produces NFL players. Previously, just one other player had been selected in the NFL draft from McGill defensive tackle Randy Chevrier, who was drafted in the seventh round by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2001.

As Chiefs general manager Brett Veach once alluded on February 7, 2019, When Tardif came out, he had some tape from McGill that wasnt Alabama or Auburn. It was Canadian tape and looked like Division II or III football.

Chiefs head coach Andy Reid explained it further on Tuesday at the team hotel in Aventura, Florida.

You have to understand where he came from, Reid said. McGill University is a great university. However, the football maybe might not be the same level that you see at the college level in the States here.

There was quite a gap that he had to climb there to be an NFL player, and he attacked that, probably just like he did becoming a doctor with the tough classes that he had to take.

But thats the way hes gone about it. Hes worked his tail off. Hes strong. Hes smart. He loves to play the game.

Duvernay-Tardif was in his third year of medical school when the Chiefs drafted him in the sixth round in 2014. There was also a Chiefs tie to Duvernay-Tardifs alma mater: Reids mother graduated with a medical degree from McGill.

With his head coachs blessing, Duvernay-Tardif continued his studies, returning to Montreal during offseasons to fulfill his clinical rotations in pediatrics, obstetrics, geriatrics and his preferred specialization, emergency medicine.

I was confident in my ability to play in the NFL for sure, Duvernay-Tardif said. You look at the stats, and how long is an average career and all that stuff, with studying medicine I didnt know what was going to happen, but everything turned out great. I think Coach Reid is a big part of that, too. He understood what I was trying to do with my study. He gave me the chance to balance both. If it was not for him I would have (just) got my MD and I would not be here this week for sure.

To prepare for his final exams, Duvernay-Tardif isolated himself in an apartment outside of Montreal and studied up to 14 hours a day. And on May 29, 2018, he earned his medical doctorate after an eight-year journey, wearing a white lab coat after the ceremony with his uniform number 76 stitched on the back.

It was a grind, Duvernay-Tardif said to CNN. It was a lot of sacrifice, but at the end of the day it was worth it.

After that, he was right back with the Chiefs for training camp. Now, more work lies ahead this week in Miami.

I dont get any feeling that hes ready to become a doctor right now and go that direction, Reid said. I look for more years with him and continued growth.

Residency indeed does remain on hold for Duvernay-Tardif, and its hard to say when it will begin.

Because I want to do emergency medicine, and they only take anywhere between five and six students at McGill per year, it would put too much stress on the rest of the cohort, Duvernay-Tardif told CNN, adding that he is in contact with the faculty of medicine at McGill.

Well find a way, he continued, but I think this year I wanted to focus more on football.

But, he says, The good news is that I didnt do an undergrad before getting into medical school. So Im still really young. Im 28. A lot of people are not done with their residency, or havent even started their residency, when they were 28. I still have plenty of time. The most important thing is to stay up to speed with the knowledge, for sure.

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Laurent Duvernay-Tardif: The first medical doctor playing in the NFL is in Super Bowl LIV - KTVZ