Current MS1 seeking Neuro advice!

[Kanayo2008]

Hello! I'm Kanayo, and my eyes have JUST been opened to the maze that is the brain and the spinal cord ! Up until I started med school last quarter, I had not had any neuroscience class. In anatomy, I used so spend hours literally going over just nervous system stuff bc it was so perplexing and fascinating to me. Now that I am taking NeuroAnatomy, I find my self more challenged and motivated to learn than ever before. I am in love with Neuro!!

I've always felt drawn to surgery bc I am so detail oriented and I take much pleasure in working with my hands and eyes. I used to spend hours in the anatomy lab alone (creepy, i know ) dissecting out 1 or 2 nerves. Now I'm genuinely and surprisingly interested in neurosurgery. I love the clinical correlations, the convolution of the brain, and the delicacy of the entire field . I love the daily challenge that the field proposes!

But I need serious advice on where to go from here. I'm kind of scared to approach any surgeons about shadowing them because I don't want to embarrass myself bc I know that there's so much that I still don't know about Neuro.... I'm currently taking my first formal Neuroscience couse ever. I had already applied for a summer research program months ago, and will be working with someone in Pathology doing research on Intestinal Bowel Disease. This spring quarter, I am doing a preceptorship with GI surgeon that I'm also excited about. I also won a national internship to go to India for a month this fall doing clinical work (Yay for international medicine !!). However, I know that these opportunities are great, but at the same time these are times that i could have been using to develop my interests in NS. I believe that in India I will have an opportunity to work with neurosurgeons too so that's def a plus.

What advice would you have from me from here on out in terms of developing my interests in Neurosurgery in my 4 years here? I'm kind of nervous bc I feel as if I may have limited my likelihood of getting into a top residency in this field later as I have occupied much of my free time in medical school (my first year) with experiences that I genuinely found interesting before I fell in love with neuroscience. I don't regret my experiences and opps by any means bc I've learned so much, but I'm wondering, given the work load of 2nd year and onwards If you guys have any advice for me on strengthening my candidacy in addition to developing my NS interests from here on out (summer between MS1 and MS2 and onwards). I keep reading advice to do research and get publications in an NS journal, but since I will spend my summer research in a GI path lab, do you think I can still get involved with Neuroscience research for my subsequent years? I am a very hard worker and have been know to bend over backwards in terms of effort whenever necessary to achieve a goal near to my heart such as this one now...that's kind of how I got into medical school , lol. Thanks so much!

~Kanayo

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[Vermian]

Meet your surgeons and tell them you want to shadow them, or work on a project with them (be sure you have the time to commit). No one really expects you to know anything about it right now. That is part of the mystique surrounding neurosurgery (and to some extent neurology). Few people ever really get or seek exposure in medical school.

I realized it my fourth year of medical school. Did no research in the field, and am currently a PGY5 in neurosurgery.

Good luck.

 

[Kanayo2008]

Thanks for the advice. I guess the more and more I peruse this board (great board!) the more I see that it's about showing interest, eagerness (Dean's Letters and Recommendations from connections), and scholarship (Board Scores and rotation grades). I will try to get up the nerve sometime this quarter to shadow one in our dept here. Any other advice?

 

[MSTPbound]

Thanks for the advice. I guess the more and more I peruse this board (great board!) the more I see that it's about showing interest, eagerness (Dean's Letters and Recommendations from connections), and scholarship (Board Scores and rotation grades). I will try to get up the nerve sometime this quarter to shadow one in our dept here. Any other advice?

Well, FWIW, here's my story:

I'm a non-traditional (read: "mature" ) research scholar at an urban biomedical center where I'll begin an MD/PhD program in July of this year - so technically I'm not even an MS1 yet (although I have been able to start taking immuno and micro this month)... anyway, by last year, I had already started feeding my interest in neurosurgery by reading a few books about the field (Michael Bliss' biography of Harvey Cushing is a great place to start, I think) and scouring the web for information. When I felt ready to shadow a neurosurgeon, I went to the dean of the graduate school here (a neuroscientist) and asked him whether there were any academic neurosurgeons I could contact about shadowing for the day. Well, he gave me a list of names, and I started contacting them, and one thing led to another... next thing I knew, I was meeting the chief resident at 5:30 AM on a Tuesday morning to go on my first shadowing venture. Got to observe morning rounds, a neuroradiology meeting, and four surgeries - a carotid enderarterectomy, a vertebral fusion, and two pituitary tumor resections. THAT'S when I really got hooked on neurosurgery. So I'm pursuing my PhD in cancer biology, and when I get through this program, hope to match to a research-heavy neurosurg program.

Hope this helps.

Good!

 

[Kanayo2008]

Thanks, guys! I have work to do but am SO excited that I have finally found my niche. I look forward to rotations and being immersed in this stuff . I certainly have work to do, but I am so pumped about it. Good luck to you all!