Pediatric Neurosurgery

After a lengthy break, I was able to go and visit Dr. Weprin around 2 weeks ago. The morning started off with rounds and one of the most interesting things about this visit was the variety of personalities that were present. Each individual had a distinct manner of carrying themselves but they were all incredibly brilliant. Going to the clinic is always exciting because I learn something new with each experience - although it may not always be about pediatric neurosurgery. I was also able to meet with Ms. Stefanie Beavers who will be helping me a lot and giving me guidance on my Final Product. I was also able to sit in on a lunch conference in which some of the latest research was being discussed. It was particularly interesting to me how all the doctors bounced ideas off of each other and offered their own opinions to ultimately come to one conclusion or action plan. To read more about my visit, click here.

15 hours. To some, that is just a number. But for me, that is the total amount of sleep I got last week between Monday and Friday. Even if you are not brilliant at math, that averages out to three hours of sleep a night. In perspective, I got more sleep during my junior year of high school, which is supposedly the hardest year. Everyone said senior year would be very relaxed and stress-free. Needless to say, this past week proved otherwise.
However, to be completely fair, I think majority of my friends in ISM also faced an unprecedented amount of sleep last week. Original Work, which some might consider a mini Final Product, was due on Friday. Though this project had been assigned months in advance, many of us mistakenly made the choice of waiting until the last week to even begin working on it. Originally, I had planned on doing a statistical analysis of the growth of tumors. But because of some unforeseen difficulties, I decided to shift my topic to a more missional topic: global surgery.
I have mentioned this in previous posts, but in regards to my career, I am more interested in pursuing something along the lines of medical missions. However, what exactly is the need? Is it providing treatment for diseases such as HIV and Malaria? Or, is it developing proper healthcare systems? Is it surgery? These are just a few of the questions I researched more thoroughly in my Original Work.
Though it took an incredible amount of effort and numerous sleepless nights in a row, I am proud of the work that I completed.
To see my final report, click here.

Over the past two years or so, I have come to learn quite a bit about the field of pediatric neurosurgery. From intensively researching hydrocephalus to seeing tumor resections, I think it is safe to say that I have been exposed to a considerable amount within this field. However, I have always felt that something was missing. On a personal level, I have always had more of a missionary mind-set. A few weeks, I reached out to medical missionaries all across the United States and was able to interview two of them. To my memory, I cannot remember an interview that left me feeling more happier than that one. Throughout the entire conversation, I could not help but identify and sympathize with everything that was being said. The passion for helping others was so evident in their responses and it excited me. As a person of faith, I have always been curious to see if it was possible to tie together my passion for my faith with my passion for medicine and helping people. It was not until recently that I even considered medical missionary as a potential career but as I have explored it more, it seems as if there would be no other job that suits me so perfectly. This being said, for my Original Work, I have decided to take a different approach that what I had initially planned. Through my interview, I became more aware of the fact that there is an immense need for safe and affordable surgical procedures in developing countries. With this as my basis, I want to explore more comprehensively what is lacking within low and middle income countries in regards to health care systems. This will help me better understand what kind of services I would be providing if I do indeed decide to venture down the path of medical missions.