Foodfest Winter 09'

A special thanks goes out to all who went out and supported our club as well as those who made the event happen. This is the 2nd foodfest the club has participated in and it takes a lot of work to put everything together. We served some fine Italian cuisine as seen in the pictures below and it must have been a hit because we completely sold out everything without resorting to dropping our prices.

"...when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie....."(we actually had this song playing nonstop for the duration of foodfest, Grazie! to Higgy for providing the music, it really put us in the Italian mood.)

more pictures of foodfest

What does it take to become a doctor

The University of Washington every year puts on a series of lectures designed for undergraduate students and the community about medical school along with the problems in health care, innovations, and what it takes to become a doctor. I don't want to sound biased but the University of Washington ranks in the top 5 medical schools in America ever year and serves the WWAMI region (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho all considered "in state" in applying for UW medical school)

These lectures are a great resource to all considering medical school, you will get some insight that you might consider especially useful in personal statements and interviews along with your own convictions about attending medical school. Everyone knows to get a good GPA and do well on the MCAT but it is also important to learn everything you can about the field of medicine and thanks to technology you don't have to commute to Seattle to watch these lectures, so take advantage of it and find some time to watch some episodes via the web. Here's a description along with a link to watch one of the sessions in which I attended and found particularly insightful and inspiring. But feel free to browse around other lectures in the series for something that interests you http://uwmedicine.washington.edu/Global/NewsAndEvents/minimed/Mini-Medical+School+Series+Video+Archive.htm.

"Exactly what does it take to get into medical school? Dr. Terry Mengert takes you through the history of teaching medicine, from Hippocrates to modern day. Aside from highlighting the training today's new doctors receive, Dr. Mengert interviews two students about the challenges and joys of medical school. 'The Colleges', a program which focuses on teaching patient communication at the bedside, is also featured. "

http://researchchannel.org/prog/displayevent.aspx?rID=4084&fID=345

Winter 09' Semester Tentative Schedule

• January 14-16 Worldfest in the Aloha Center


• January 23 Opening Social 5:30 McKay 133
  
• Feburary 2 Kaplan Rep will discuss MCAT 5:30 McKay133
  
• February 7 Foodfest begins at 5PM

Please attend the opening social and have a voice in the club, we have a calendar to fill and lots of possible activities which include: MD/DO application Q&A with Will and Adam, Service opportunities in tutoring at Kahuku High School, Joint service project with Tahitian club at Laie Elementary, Medical Minute short films (will air on school channel), Soccer/Basketball vs Pre Dental, as well as any other great ideas that you the people bring we'd love to hear them!!

Make your break fun and productive!!!

With the Christmas break coming up and for many of us a 6+ hour flight each way I thought it would be nice to share the idea recreational reading (if focused) might help plant the seeds of thought and help formulate informed opinions that you will be expected to have when you are writing personal essays or being interviewed. A good GPA and test score are only part of what is necessary to get into the programs you are aspiring to; experience, personal statements and interviews are equally regarded and in most instances can mitigate a below average GPA or Test score. Not only will reading make you informed and prepared for discussion on a number of different topics, you will be able to cite examples which shape your opinions, and most importantly you will be influenced as to what you are going into and why. Interviewers and admissions people can tell when you are sincere and knowledgeable and can tell when you aren't. In fact I think they can see through your soul so please give them something good to look at, for your own sake. This break I encourage all of you to find at least one book that focuses on an area in which you are interested in and read or listen to it. I personally prefer audio books which I listen to instead of music when I'm driving in the car, working alone, or walking around campus and here are some of the books I've read in the past year (there are more below this post). For example if you plan on going into cardiology and you get asked in your interview "what area of medicine do you want to go into?", you will be able to prove that this aspiration isn't a pipe dream but something you actually know quite a bit about. If you have read King of Hearts: the True Story of the Maverick who Pioneered Open Heart Surgery, you will have an in depth understanding of the major advances and the obstacles overcome in the field of open heart surgery, you will have a small glimpse into the life of a cardiac surgeon and you will know the Who, What, When, Where, and Whys of different treatments for heart disease.
If you plan on going into Public Health or doing service in poor under served areas of the World it would be prudent to read Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Paul Farmer to Cure the World. Paul Farmer was a poor boy living with a big family on a bus and later in a boat ran ashore who was self taught earning a scholarship to first Duke than Harvard Medical School where he bought his text books and left to Haiti where he served the people there only coming back to Boston for exams and to raise money and acquire supplies for the people of Haiti. Paul Farmer is the founder of Partners in Health who have worked very hard to irradiate multi drug resistant strain Tuberculosis in Haiti, Peru, Russia, and other countries. Upon reading this book you will see some of things that are required in this type of service along with the problems and barriers you will encounter along with the example of someone who was able to successfully overcome these obstacles.
In the books Better: A Surgeons Notes on Performance as well as Complications: A Surgeons Notes on an Imperfect Science you gain a better understanding of the problems medicine encounters: learning/practicing, malpractice, career burnout, ethical issues, diagnosis, treatment, etc. These two books will give you a broad look into the world of medicine and inspire the reader to think of the limitations of this science which in many ways is an art.
Outliers: the Story of Success tells the reader what makes some people excel while others struggle. If anything you will be inspired and seek perfection after reading this book. On Call in Hell is a great book for anyone considering entering the military in a medical profession, you see first hand the account of a D.O. who served in the Navy as a field surgeon in Fallujah and the tolls that his experiences had on his life, both good and bad.
and there are more posted below if you are looking for something I recommend them all but don't limit yourself to my selections ask around look at reviews and pick something you think is interesting and if there are no books about the medical field you don't find interesting perhaps medicine isn't your thing and you should focus on another area where you are interested.

Good Reads for over the break!!

ComplicationsIn gripping accounts of true cases, surgeon Atul Gawande explores the power and the limits of medicine, offering an unflinching view from the scalpel’s edge. Complications lays bare a science not in its idealized form but as it actually is—uncertain, perplexing, and profoundly human.

Mountains Beyond Mountains

Mountains Beyond Mountains takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes minds and practices through his dedication to the philosophy that "the only real nation is humanity" - a philosophy that is embodied in the small public charity he founded, Partners In Health. He enlists the help of the GatesFoundation, George Soros, the U.N.’s World Health Organization, and others in his quest to cure the world. At the heart of this book is the example of a life based on hope, and on an understanding of the truth of the Haitian proverb “Beyond mountains there are mountains”: as you solve one problem, another problem presents itself, and so you go on and try to solve that one too.

King of Hearts: The True Story of the Maverick Who Pioneered Open Heart Surgery

Few of the great stories of medicine are as palpably dramatic as the advent of open heart surgery, yet until now, no journalist has ever brought to life all of the thrilling specifics of this triumph. G. Wayne Miller tells the story of Dr. C. Walton Lillehei, who, along with colleagues at University Hospital in Minneapolis and a small band of pioneers elsewhere, accomplished what many experts considered to be an impossible feat: he opened the heart, repaired fatal defects, and made the miraculous routine.

Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance

Gawande gives us an inside look at his own life as a practicing surgeon, offering a searingly honest firsthand account of work in a field where mistakes are both unavoidable and unthinkable. At once unflinching and compassionate, Better is an exhilarating journey narrated by arguably the best nonfiction doctor-writer around. Gawande's investigation into medical professionals and how they progress from merely good to great provides rare insight into the elements of success, illuminating every area of human endeavor

On Call in Hell: A Doctor's Iraq War Story

Blood-and-guts accounts of Fallujah are not in short supply, but Jadick—a career Marine officer and brigade surgeon who took a demotion to battalion surgeon to volunteer for service in Iraq in 2004—tells the story through the eyes of a doctor. Unlike colleagues who remained in battalion aid stations behind the lines, Jadick and his medics accompanied their unit in makeshift ambulances as it battled through the streets. This was not bravado, he writes, but a calculated strategy to reach, stabilize and rush wounded troops to hospitals more quickly. He makes his case many times over, with dramatic accounts of catastrophically injured men from his unit and others who would not have survived a journey to the aid station. This remarkable man's story is well worth telling, although his writer should have discouraged him from frequent pauses for memorial essays on every soldier who died, and to remind readers of the Marines' bravery, of the dedication of the medics, and how much he loves his wife, the Marines and America. Readers who can skim past these segments will find the book a memorable experience.

How Doctors Think

Jerome Groopman pinpoints the forces and thought processes behind the decisions doctors make. He explores why doctors err and shows when and how they can, with our help, avoid snap judgments, embrace uncertainty, communicate effectively, and deploy other skills that can have a profound impact on our health.

Outliers: The Story of Success In this stunning new book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"--the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different? His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing. Along the way he explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player, why Asians are good at math, and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band. Brilliant and entertaining, OUTLIERS is a landmark work that will simultaneously delight and illuminate.

Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking

In this best-seller, a staff writer for The New Yorker weighs the factors that determine good decision-making. Drawing on recent cognitive research, Gladwell concludes that those who quickly filter out extraneous information generally make better decisions than those who discount their first impressions.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

For 2,000 years, cadavers---some willingly, some unwittingly---have been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. In this fascinating, ennobling account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries and, in so doing, tells the engrossing story of our bodies when we are no longer with them.

Medical Insiders seminar

Aloha BYUH Students :
If you're thinking about going to medical school, you know that it's a competitive process. With competition to medical school increasing each year, you need to get an edge on the competition. On November 18, 2008 in Honolulu, Kaplan, the leader in MCAT prep and admissions, will provide invaluable admissions information at a FREE Medical School Insider Seminar. Here, you'll learn: ·What really matters when schools are evaluating applicants ·Admissions into the John A Burns School of Medicine by Dr. Satoru Izutsu, SeniorAssociate Dean · Valuable MCAT test-taking strategies · Career options a medical degree can provide in a panel format so you can ask questions Panelists include:Satoru Izutsu, PhD, JABSOM Senior Associate Dean for Administration- Admissions CommitteeNathan Fujita, PhD, Department Chief OB GYN Queen's Medical CenterLarry Day, MD, Hospitalist and Infectious Disease Specialist, Queen's Medical CenterNanette Judd, PhD, Director of Imi Ho'ola and Native Hawaiian Health, JABSOMKenneth Sakata, JABSOM 4th year student and Medical School Mentorship Program Mentor Here are the details: November 18, 2008 6:00pm-8:00pm John A Burns School of Medicine - Medical Education Building 315 Auditorium651 Ilalo Street, Honolulu, HI 96813(Attendees Parking in Lot C)