Tulane Tales

Hello again! It's nice to know the shelf exam is past us, but there's only one month left in this program. I'm honestly surprised at how fast this semester has gone by! This month was very busy as we had the the NBME shelf exam to prepare for. We've all taken finals in college before, but this was another beast. We were required to remember almost all of the drugs from the beginning of the year to now, their mechanism of action, contraindications, and serious side effects. Although it was difficult, it was also sort of fulfilling because I was able to apply my learning from this school year, which can only help me in medical school. This month, a lot of my classmates and I volunteered with Top Taco Fest in New Orleans. This festival was a competition to help raise money for One Heart NOLA, a non-profit organization aimed at helping provide vital resources to families and children in need. Aside from this event, I also worked at "Wednesday's at the Square&

Hey everyone! I hope your February was good like mine! This month went by pretty quickly, but then again it's the shortest month of the year (ha ha). I celebrated my 23rd birthday, enjoyed my 5th Mardi Gras, and I ended up on the news for tree planting with SOUL NOLA, which was neat. We finished up our last Brain and Behavior block this month, which was nice but also sad because I really enjoyed this block. We have the NBME shelf exam coming up in about a week, which is very intimidating to say the least. It's crazy to think how we have 2 months left in this program, with some of us going on very different paths afterwards. I continued to work with Salvation Army and SOUL NOLA this month. It was nice to continue to work with these community partners because of the familiar faces I encountered again, and it's always nice to be able to serve the community of New Orleans. Our recent tree planting session was actually covered on the news, which was really cool! You can ev

Hey everyone!      It's nice to be back after a nice winter break. Over the break I visited Dallas and Oklahoma City to watch different sporting events, which was really cool since I never spent an extensive amount of time in either city.      Soon after New Year's, we moved back to New Orleans to begin our second semester. We jumped right back into our brain and behavior unit, which was very manageable since we finished the first of three blocks of this unit.      As far as community service goes, I am continuing to work with the Salvation Army since I really enjoyed my time working with them last semester! Additionally, I volunteered with some classmates this weekend with Soul NOLA as we planted trees in different neighborhoods. This was a cool experience for me because it gave me an opportunity to see a different part of New Orleans that was very different than what I'm used to. In the coming months, I hope to work with other organizations that will give me the cha

     The semester has finally come to a close, which makes me sad and relieved. It's going to be nice to have a long break after having been in school since mid July, but it means that I'm almost done with the Master's program-crazy to believe.      This block's material (Brain and Behavior) was interesting and refreshing from my neuroscience courses as an undergraduate. I liked how I was able to learn about the different neurological pathologies and how they're treated in clinical situations-pretty neat to me. I look forward to the new classes that we get to take next semester.      During this month, I closed out my community service by continuing to work with the Salvation Army. I had an awesome collecting toys for their annual toy drive, as well as seeing smiles on people's faces as they received home-cooked meals. I'm excited to continue to work with them next semester, as well as other community partners! Until next time, -Joshua          

     Although another month has gone by, the New Orleans weather doesn’t make it seem like fall. This month was also nice because it was the first long holiday we had, so we were able to go home, see our families, and have delicious thanksgiving food.      This month, we focused on the pharmacology of the endocrine and reproductive systems, which was really cool. Most of our learning was focused on diabetes, methods of treatment and maintenance, and complications of insulin resistance. I felt that this block was very informative but also very applicable since my family has a history of Type 2 diabetes, so I was able to use some of the information and relay it to family members.      As for activities outside of the classroom, I started volunteering with the Salvation Army! Being in New Orleans for so many years, I’ve seen many people on the sides of intersections, asking for meals and money, so I decided that to best help that specific need, why not give these people free meal

The other day I realized we only have three more block exams before this semester is over. A lot of people might think “Oh that’s a good thing! You’re closer to medical school!” and while that might be true, this program has been awesome so far, and it’ll definitely be a big change in my life when it does come to a close. My classmates and I have done a lot of things together, including exploring new places to eat brunch (like for Mashli’s birthday pictured below!)             After 4 years of living here, I’m still amazed by the sudden changes in weather-having to wear shorts one day and then a full sleeved shirt a few days later. The best weather is when there’s a chilly breeze without strong winds because that’s the best time to rock a hoodie, and who doesn’t like to study in a hoodie?             I’ll tell you a quick story now. One day back home, I was getting my oil changed and as I sat in the waiting room, I was on my phone like everyone else in the room, scrolling through