Emory Master of Arts in Bioethics Open House

The Doctor Is In: Volume VI

Welcome back to The Doctor Is In, a blog series featuring photographs and thoughts from PHA Executive Director, Dr. Don Batisky.

The Paradox

As I write this post, I’m sitting in an office at CHOA.  I’m on service this week, and I’m covering the nephrology patients that I and my colleagues care for.  As I drive to work in the morning, it’s noticeable that there is less traffic. I don’t live far from work, but with school buses, commuters and all, it can typically take 25-30 minutes to get here.  And now it takes about 10.  Winding my way through Druid Hills and snaking my way up Eagle Row, it’s a quiet campus.  Not unlike spring break…or summer time…or a long holiday weekend, except it’s not.  I get to CHOA, and it’s easy to find parking.  I come up from the garage, head into the lobby and instead of a lobby full of people, and therapy dogs, and arts & crafts, I see a table with people in masks taking temperatures of the people arriving to visit.  Visitors, as of now, can only come in one at a time.  Lots of handwashing, lots of Zoom meetings (even for clinical rounds), lots of anxious people – staff and families.  And very likely some COVID in our midst.  Testing, as you’ve probably heard, has been very limited, so not everyone who might need a test gets one, and yet people (including those presumed to have it) are being treated as though they do.  Everyone is doing their best to stay focused.  But everyone hears the news, has family and friends impacted by what is going on in the world.

I escape the realities of work for a bit, yet work is also done at home.  Zoom meetings, Zoom teaching sessions, Zoom Match Day…all the while blurring, and maintaining, that sometimes elusive work-life balance that we all try to achieve.  Bike rides help me…yet I try to get out there early, before the crowds and knowing full well there’s little to no traffic.  There’s a little bit of me that thinks that even if I pass someone while I’m on a bike, by zipping by fast enough, I can avoid contact.  When I’m out on the bike, as I was last evening, I can often get some thinking done as well.  It was quite rainy for a couple days earlier this week, but when I was driving home yesterday the sun was shining.  I had Zoom meetings literally at 3p, 4p and 4:30-6p.  I arrived at home and wanted to be planted in front of my computer for the one starting at 4:30p, but when that was over, I needed to ride.  And on that ride I snapped the pics attached here.

Those pics crystallized for me an idea in one word:  Paradox.  I’m not a poet, by any means, but now and then I come up with a haiku, so indulge me as I share it with you here.

Paradox

What a paradox.

Such beauty in the world,

and yet suffering.

And despite all that’s going on, nature shows such beauty around us…but we cannot share it together.  The hospital setting is different, strange, quite…yet there’s sense of shared purpose, collegiality, and communication.  People say ‘good morning’ and ‘how are you?’…and they mean it.  Such a paradox.

The last pic does sum it up for me: the sign reads, ‘We are in this together’.  As I sign off to get back to work, just remember that.  Reach out (figuratively) and reach within.  Be physically distant, yet connect with others through Zoom, and email and texting, etc.  Use a time like this to really figure out your strengths and your weaknesses.  Stay well and stay safe.

Dr. B

Veterinary Medical Virtual Admissions Fair

Join the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) for the Veterinary Medical Virtual Admissions Fair. This free online fair is an opportunity for pre-vet students to chat live with veterinary school admissions officers from all over the world! Learn how to prepare and also speak with VMCAS application service representatives.

Log in anytime from 10:00am - 4:00pm EST on Tuesday, March 31 to participate. Register here: https://www.careereco.com/events/aavmc.

PHA Fall 2020 Registration Advising Open Hours

Questions about your Fall schedule? Log into the PHA Zoom Room (https://emory.zoom.us/my/prehealthadvising) during our Registration Advising Open Hours to speak with an advisor about registering for classes for the Fall 2020 semester. No appointment is needed!

Registration Advising Open Hours are from 12:00-4:00pm EST on the dates listed below. For the most fair and efficient advising, we ask that you only attend open hours on the day that aligns with your credit hours:

• Monday, March 30 (Students with 75+ hours earned)
• Monday, April 6 (Student with 45 - 74.99 hours earned)
• Monday, April 13 (Students with 0 - 44.99 hours earned)

AAMC Virtual Medical School Fair

At a time when recruitment fairs have been canceled and opportunities to meet with admissions officers have disappeared, the AAMC invites you to join their free Virtual Medical School Recruitment Fair on Friday, March 27, from 11 a.m. - 8 p.m. ET.

Medical schools across the country will be in attendance (see the list here) to help answer your questions before the start of the next application cycle.  

Register now to view information sessions about applying to medical school, financing your education, and making the most of your "glide" years - the time between your pre-med studies and medical school. You can also chat privately with AAMC experts about the MCAT® exam.

The AAMC recognizes that you may have questions about applying to medical school and we are here to help you navigate the process during these especially challenging times. I look forward to welcoming you to this virtual fair on March 27.

Volunteer to Assist Healthcare Workers during COVID-19 Pandemic

If you are a student who will be staying in the Atlanta area in the coming weeks, please see the message below:

I am Zach West, fourth year medical student at Emory University School of Medicine. Inspired by a project initiated by fellow medical students across the nation, we are reaching out to recruit health professions students and others who are willing to offer their time to assist Atlanta healthcare workers serving on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. School closures, shortages of healthcare workers, and travel restrictions have had unprecedented effects on families in our community, and we as students have an opportunity to alleviate some of the stress placed on healthcare workers and their families during this trying time.

Here at Emory, we have created a program where we will pair you with a healthcare worker (HCW) in need of services that may include grocery delivery, pharmacy pick-up, childcare, meal preparation, or pet care. With school closures, there is a vital need for child care so these HCWs can go to work and focus on treating patients. At this time, we have sent surveys to the Emergency Medicine residency and Internal Medicine residency programs for residents to sign up for these services. As of now, we are able to provide for the amount of requests coming in, but we know that the coronavirus and burden on the healthcare system is only going to get worse as the system is stressed and HCWs become sick or need to be quarantined. If you are interested in assisting, please sign up using this form. We have a plan to slowly roll this out to healthcare workers depending on the amount of volunteers we have.

During this unprecedented, stressful time, it is so crucial that we come together as a community to support our healthcare workers. We would love as many students to volunteer as possible, but want to emphasize that there is risk as the HCWs, especially EM workers, may be bringing coronavirus into their home. We also cannot stress enough the importance of following hygiene protocols recommended by the CDC, especially if students will be working in homes of healthcare workers. We need to protect the HCWs as best we can.

Special thanks to Caroline Coleman, Zoe Listernick, Beret Amundson, Isabel Hardee, Taryn DeGrazia, Peyton Hanson, Charles Marvil, and others who have helped set this up. We see this as an amazing opportunity to come together as a community in support of our HCWs. If you have any questions or concerns feel free to email me at zwest@emory.edu.

Emory PA Program - Online Open House

Due to COVID-19, the Emory School of Medicine Physician Assistant Program is streaming their upcoming open house as an alternative to the in-person event. Join them via Zoom at 3:00pm EST on Friday, March 27 to learn more about admissions and the application process, curriculum, the student experience, and much more.

Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/349082893

Emory MA in Bioethics Online Open House

Do you want to further your career in healthcare, public health or academia by engaging with ethical issues? If so, Emory’s MA in Bioethics degree may be your path forward! Emory University offers a Master of Arts in Bioethics designed to prepare you to identify, evaluate and respond to the social and ethical challenges that face healthcare, public health and the life sciences. Join the program for their upcoming online information session to learn more about their undergraduate and graduate dual degrees.

• Thursday, March 19, 2020 from 12:00-1:00pm
• Log in at http://emory.adobeconnect.com/bioethics

Humans of Pre-Health Emory: Izzy Saridakis

Izzy Saridakis is a senior majoring in Applied Math/Statistics and minoring Anthropology. Izzy will return to campus this Fall to complete the 4+1 program in Biostatistics at the Rollins School of Public Health. 

We had a chance to sit down with Izzy and talk about her Public Health journey and how she found the right program for her.

What are your plans post-graduation?

After graduation, I am interning at Humana, a health insurance company out of Louisville, Kentucky. I will be on their pharmacy analytics and data science team within their analytics department. The focus of my work will be determining how best to improve the health of Humana members.

After this summer, I will be returning to Rollins School of Public Health at Emory complete my Master of Science of Public Health (MSPH) in Biostatistics. Since I did the 4+1 program, I only have one additional year of school to obtain the MSPH. After this, I am not quite sure where I will end up, but the Health Insurance industry is one of my top interests.

Why did you choose to do the 4+1 program with the Rollins School of Public Health?

I chose to do the 4+1 program in biostatistics because I knew I had a passion for social justice and healthcare, but medicine was not the right track for me. My dad and almost his entire family works in medicine and would have loved If I went down that road as well. However, I never found biology, chemistry, or anatomy all that interesting. In reality, the only science class in high school I really liked was physics and that was just because I liked the math behind it. I thought healthcare was interesting and liked the field but practicing medicine was of no interest to me. I knew math was a subject I wanted to study so I went to Emory planning on majoring in math since I knew at the end of the day it was a useful degree and I could go into just about any field with it. When I was trying to decide what specific math major, I wanted to do, I came across the 4+1 program in biostatistics. As I investigated, I found that public health and specifically biostatistics was a path where I could continue doing math, but have it focused in the field of healthcare. So basically, since I was a freshman my plan was to get an MSPH in biostatistics and I chose my major (applied mathematics and statistics) and minor (anthropology) to be what I thought would help me best obtain this goal.

I chose this track specifically because even after I decided I wanted to do it, I questioned if it was the best option. I would go on websites and look for jobs of interest to me and they all required a master’s degree of some sort. Either in statistics, biostatistics, or another closely related field. It seemed like I was going to want the additional degree eventually anyway so might as well go for it with this program so that I only needed one additional year of school instead of two. I couldn’t be more thankful for it. 

What are some things you wish you knew 5 years ago?

5 years ago, I was a junior in high school. I wish I knew that I could take almost anything I was interested in, choose it for my undergraduate field of study, and apply it to almost any field I am interested in. There is no need to try and force yourself to like a subject because you think it will make you the most money or get you the specific job you want. When you are choosing your job, it is not like all math majors have to get a job that is specifically just math. A lot of people have asked me if I am planning on being a math teacher with my degree because they don’t realize how many possible careers I could have with it. I can go into the healthcare world – in insurance, pharmaceuticals, or research—but I could also decide that is not for me and be fully equipped to work in almost any analytics department, no matter the field. Our areas of study provide us with tools to use in our future careers, but they don’t determine what our job has to be. 

What is the best advice you could give to a student interested in Public Health?

I would advise someone to study what they find most interesting and then figure out how to factor it into their choice of career field. I minored in anthropology and volunteered in activities which gave me a look into the public health world. I’m getting a degree in public health, but I didn’t have to major in it to get there. I am working in healthcare without having taken any science classes in college besides an intro to psych course and anthropology course.

What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

My biggest challenge has been that most people don’t know what I’m trying to do or how to advise me in it. Grad schools don’t have many specific requirements to get accepted like medical school does. They want to see that you are interested in the field you want the higher degree in but that doesn’t mean your entire undergraduate career had to be focused on that. You can explore other classes and fields before settling and use these experiences to build your path to whatever field you eventually end up in.

T.E.E.M.S. AmeriCorps at Georgia State University

T.E.E.M.S. AmeriCorps at Georgia State University, housed in the Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence, is accepting applications for part-time AmeriCorps members.

The mission of the Alonzo A. Crim Center is to optimize the life opportunities of children and families in urban communities, by ensuring the availability of a prosperous and equitable school environment. The Crim Center and AmeriCorps have collaborated to develop comprehensive day and after-school programming for elementary, middle and high schools known as T.E.E.M.S. (Technology, Engineering, Environment, Math and Science) AmeriCorps. AmeriCorps members are responsible for providing supplemental instruction and support in the areas of math and science during the school day. AmeriCorps members also lead dynamic after-school programming designed to provide homework assistance in math and science while creating fun strategies for learning.

In addition to having the opportunity to serve and effect change, part-time AmeriCorps members will receive a living stipend, loan forbearance of federal loans while in service, and an educational award upon successful completion of service term.

This is an excellent opportunity for undergraduate juniors, seniors,  & recently graduated STEM scholars attending metro-Atlanta area colleges/universities, with a desire to serve in local schools and community learning centers. 

• Application Deadline: Monday, May 4, 2020
• TEEMS AmeriCorps 2020-2021 Application: https://tinyurl.com/TEEMSApp2020