How do you manage to stay balanced and healthy in spite of the busy med school schedule?

I try to exercise, avoid fast food, read something “non-med-school-related” before I go to sleep every night, and listen to NPR on my way to and from school to remember that there are, in fact, other things happening in the world.  I try to do like the second years say and make school a job that I leave when I go home every day.  It doesn’t always completely work out that way, but trying to leave school at school and have free time at home has really helped me.    

What’s the most important piece of advice you would give to an incoming MS1?

Remember, it’s pass/fail for a reason – not because doing well doesn’t matter, but because medical school is hard, and it’s important to maintain (and develop) both your health and perspective as you adjust to this new (and, it turns out, really wonderful) lifestyle.  If you really want to be a doctor, you’ll do just fine here. 

What is your favorite artery, organ, or nerve; and why? 

The appendix – it’s so much smaller, cuter, and tail-like than I expected.

Tell us your favorite joke.

What’s some cheese that ain’t yours?
NACHO CHEESE!

If you could be any element on the periodic table which would you be and why?

Rhodium – it’s the most reflective.  My high school theater teacher used to tell me to “be the mirror, not the light.”  I try to remember to do this, even though it sounds cheesy.  I also really like shiny things (kind of like Jeremy the crow from The Rats of NIMH). 

If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Peanut Butter.  Delicious, nutritious, salty, sweet, and satisfying. 

Give us your favorite first year “one-liner.”

Again, the problem is that few of these are appropriate.  So, a warmer memory:  Dr. Kernick kept coming around to our table (as he did with everyone) and saying, “You all do good work, I’d let you operate on my arm,” or operate on whatever we were mutilating at the time.  Of course, none of us were really doing top-notch dissections, but it meant a lot to us that the faculty were so supportive of our germinal skills, rudimentary as they were, and still are.  But we’re learning, and that’s the point.