January Blog Post

    This month has been a flurry of activity, as I get adjusted to the new format and new classes of the Spring curriculum. While the ol' reliables of Principles and MedPharm fit like a glove thanks to them being repeats from last semester, the addition of a number of new classes that are lead more by independent research by the students instead of a strict curriculum set by the professors has been interesting to get used to, to say the least. I'm sure this is the point of these classes, but not having the luxury of blindly following a set guideline of study material, and instead having to go out into the "world," so to speak, and research on my own, in order determine what the rest of my classmates will learn in this course, has been a daunting task to come to terms with. This week, fellow classmate Magda and I have been working on our presentation for Neuropharmacology regarding novel treatments to rescue Schizophrenia-like cognitive deficits, and having to teach or re-teach myself things like Brodmann Areas, the basics of Electrophysiology, and neuronal structures has been challenging but mentally stimulating. I also enjoy the challenge of not only learning about these things, but learning them in such an in-depth manner that I can both explain them clearly to my fellow classmates, and answer any questions that I might receive about them; it makes me feel like an expert in my field, even if that field is limited to this one presentation about this specific paper about this specific receptor class and its specific actions on the brain. 

    Also, I was extremely worried that the uptick in Omicron cases, followed by the subsequent "We're going online for a week or two" message that seemed very familiar, meant that this would be another semester of online learning and lack of interaction with my classmates, but I'm glad that the Tulane SoM has been able to take such quick and decisive action to both keep their students safe and provide them with a fully fledged education, in person.