Making the best of your free time

Entry, Experiences
Joshua Yoo, Ohio State

"Take full advantage of your free time," is some of the best advice I have received in recent years from a respected mentor last spring.  While it seems trivial at first, it reminds me to live life to the fullest while also maintaining a sense of balance.  I'll never forgot the first day of class, we had a lecture on erythropoiesis and thinking that it was going to be a long semester.  Oddly enough, before I could blink, finals were around the corner.  While finals sometimes seemed to drag on, our class persevered with purpose and were delighted when break came.

 

I returned to Los Angeles to visit my family and catch up with old friends which was terrific.  I also took a fun short road trip to catch up with colleagues and mentors.  Sure, we keep in touch with people through email, phone, text, and etc, but nothing can replace a face to face meeting.  It was comforting to share stories with current and past veterinary students as we have all experienced many of the same joys and challenges of veterinary school.

 

Cleft PalateI was fortunate to schedule an externship at a southern California referral hospital which quite frankly, blew my socks off.  This was my first externship as a veterinary student and I really enjoyed the camaraderie, education, and support that the specialists, interns, and technicians gave me.  Working with interns who were recently in my shoes gave me a tangible idea of what to expect when I pursue internship.  Words can't describe how much I learned and enjoyed accompanying surgeons and interns on consults and then watching surgery being performed.  I saw a number of orthopedic and soft tissues surgeries but will especially remember watching a 7 pound gastric foreign body removal, laparoscopic gastropexy, and a secondary cleft palate repair.  I will definitely apply to the rotating internship at this hospital in my 4th year and look forward to other visiting other externships down the road.

 

I'm really thankful and glad for my externship as nothing can replace the clinical education.  In additionSeven pound gastric foreign body! to that, being able to experience the culture of the hospital through externship is something that can only be done face to face.  That said, I also caught up on Dexter and Homeland over break, so I'd say my break was a success. 

  

Primate Research Center Externship

Entry, Experiences
Keiko Petrosky, Tufts 

During my externship at the New England Primate Research Center Division of Comparative Pathology and Primate Resources at the Harvard University, I had the opportunity to work with Dr. Andrew Miller, a veterinary pathologist who is an expert in experimental and diagnostic pathology. Along with four Kyoko Okabe (Osaka City University) and Keiko Petrosky (Tufts University), both STP Travel Award winners.summer students in the department, I attended gross and histology rounds, observed a necropsy, and interacted with residents and scientists. Dr. Miller also lead us through mystery slide readings, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology slide readings, and slide examination of classic lesions in the non-human primate.

 

The highlight of my summer was working with Dr. Miller directly on a project to describe more thoroughly lesions found in the brains of SIV-infected rhesus macaques. For this project, I worked closely with a histologist to learn immunohistochemistry and to perform this task independently. I was also able to attend the Society of Toxicologic Pathology Annual Symposium that was held in Boston with Dr. Miller and the veterinary pathology residents at Harvard, where I interacted with students from all over the world!

Fun activities included an ice cream social and a pool party with Gregory Miller’s lab (no relation). The NEPRC is located in an idyllic forest, worlds away from the nearby residential and industrial areas of the city of Southborough. I saw a white-tailed deer en route to the NEPRC, and Dr. Miller illustrated bracken fern toxicity during rounds by going outside and harvesting a frond! Dr. Miller and his team make pathology entertaining and after my experience, I would highly recommend that anyone curious about veterinary pathology, non-human primates, or research in general spend some time at the NEPRC.