VITAL SIGNS CLASS REPORTS

May '05

            Right now we find ourselves in that curious position with no T4s left in school, and yet we're still T3s - as if we aren't ready for fourth year (and, oh, we are so ready).   You know it's bad when its noon and you're looking at the time, wondering what the heck you're still doing here.  

            While most of us are heading straight into fourth year, several of our classmates are taking the year off for other academic endeavors.   Pursuing the new combined M.D.-M.B.A. program, Ash Bowen, Kapil Dhingra, Adil Fatakia, Vivian Hoang, Liet Le, and Chris O'Brien will all be at the Business School for the next year.   And pursuing their own dual-degree program, L Jensen and Adam Oskowitz will be starting up the Ph.D. portion of the M.D.-Ph.D. program next year.   Also, L will be needing a little time off as she and her husband, Craig, are expecting a baby in September - congrats L and Craig!

            In the public health realm, Doug Lincoln will be spending the next year working on his MPH in Community Health at Tulane, with an interest in public health policy and politics.   Biba Nijjar will be pursuing her MPH at the Harvard School of Public Health.   She plans to concentrate in Health Policy, particularly in maternal health issues and human rights policy.   And Kristina Lewis will be taking time off starting in September to do virology research with Dr. Thomas Voss at Tulane, take some public health classes, and complete her Epidemiology capstone.   And in between all of that, she'll be planning her wedding!

            Thu-Ba Leba will be doing stem cell research with Dr. Ernest Chew, a plastic surgeon at LSU.   They will be investigating whether stem cells can increase the rate of healing of diabetic wounds.   Craig Conard received the Fogarty/Ellison Overseas Fellowship to study malaria prevention in Bamako, Mali in western Africa.   He will train at the NIH in July and then head to Mali for 10 months.   Also heading to Africa, Matt Ladra will be in Rabat and Casablanca, Morocco, working for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital on pediatrics AML research.   The research will involve investigating treatment outcomes of AML for the past 15 years in these cities.   I've probably missed a few others, but to all of those leaving our class we wish the best!

            In other news, it wouldn't be a Class Report for us without a few engagements to announce.   On April 2 nd , the night of Cadaver Ball, Kapil Dhingra became engaged to (his now fiancé) Vinita. Congrats Kapil and Vinita! Also, a week earlier on March 26th, two of our classmates, John Peterson and Lindsey Leuthen, became engaged! Congrats John and Lindsey!  

            Our class has also been busy working on our service project, the Tulane Expectant Mother's Project, spearheaded by Sharon Mason and Maya Mathew, to provide expectant mothers at University Hospital a more pleasant and enjoyable stay.   Many donations of books, magazines, and videos were received, and there's even a mural on the OB floor - thanks to everyone who helped make this a success!  

            In more administrative news, we recently elected a new Class President, Chris Hasney, and a new VP, Prasad Sawardeker, while Darren Kies and I are continuing on as treasurer and secretary.   The class also has a new website - you can check us out at http://www.som.tulane.edu/student/2006/ .  

            And somehow, we made it out of third year.   Most of us would agree it wasn't as hard as we feared, and it might have actually been a little more fun than we expected.   But enough about third year.   Let's get that sub-I out of the way, finish off those last few required courses, and then it's fourth year vacation!   Oh yeah . . . and figure out what we're going to do for the rest of our lives.  

March '05

            First off, the Class of 2006 would like to congratulate the Class of 2005 on all of their matches and we wish them the best as they finish med school and begin their medical careers!   It doesn't seem that long ago that '05 was leading us through orientation weekend, being our T-2 buddies, giving us their notesets and books, and advising us on med school.   And with the match, I think all of us T3s realizing just how little time is left of med school.   You can over hear us talking about when we're going to schedule our sub-internships, our externships, Step 2, and that infernal overpriced Clinical Skills exam - and when we're going to stop putting off those Interdisciplinary Seminars!! (I have sneaking suspicion that the last 5 seminars offered during our 4 th year will be very much sought after)   And, of course, the big question is, What are you going into?? Regardless, we're all looking forward to 4 th year and to some much needed R&R.

            For our announcements this month, one of the more recent additions to our class, Jane Moore, became engaged on Christmas Eve to Thomas R. Brown of Anchorage, Alaska - her home town.   They will be married in Anchorage this summer and they plan on driving from New Orleans to Alaska before the wedding (some 4,000 miles) - stopping along the way to visit family, friends, and to do some sightseeing.   Congratulations Jane!

            More recently, Arianne Ferguson became engaged to Tom Efird (a Tulane Med alum and currently an intern at Tulane) on March 12 in New Orleans.  Congratulations Arianne and Tom!

            We'd also like to give a big thanks to our own Gayle Soskolne for her tireless efforts on lobbying the administration to get us access to UpToDate.com.   If you haven't checked it out, let's just say, its money.

            In the community service department, Jessica Shank collected videos for a pediatric patient of hers and for the entire Tulane Pediatrics Unit.   The response was great, and many of the videos not fit for kids will go to the class service project, the Tulane Expectant Mother's Project (TEMP).   Our class is undertaking TEMP in an effort to provide expectant mothers with a more pleasant and enjoyable stay at University Hospital while they are hospitalized for complications related to pregnancy.   This project was actually initiated by our own Sharron Mason and Maya Matthew after their OB experience at UH.   We're hoping to collect movies, books, magazines, and donations from local businesses to donate to these women in need.   If you'd like to help out, please email our Class President, Craig Conard at cconard@tulane.edu .  

January '05

October '04

While we've always prided ourselves on the hands-on learning opportunities afforded to us in our medical education at Tulane, we've also come to value the first-hand education we've received in meteorology here in New Orleans - and this year was no exception. Back when we were wee T1s, Hurricanes Isidore and Lili were kind enough to delay some tests for us, and this year Hurricane Ivan left us temporarily without those pesky clinical duties and sent us heading for high ground (like Michigan, for some people).   A couple classmates, Ryan Gould and Bridget Brown, were in the direct path of Ivan while at Pensacola Naval Hospital for their Family rotation, but thankfully evacuated in time.   They ended up missing a week of the rotation, but made it back to Pensacola to find the hospital still intact and in full operation, although much of the base was damaged or destroyed.

But right before all this chaos descended on us, we had an opportunity to celebrate!   Not only did August 27 th mark the end of our first block as T3s - reason enough to celebrate, as many of us did at the Blue Nile - but that night, our very own Darren Kies and Kristin Higgins got engaged!   They are planning on a wedding in the spring of 2006 in New Orleans.   Congratulations Darren and Kristin!

And that's all from the 2006 desk.   We're a third of the way done with third year.

August '04

Third year is upon us!   We've tossed aside Robbins, sold our microscopes, and burned First Aid in solemn remembrance to all those hours of studying that we'll never get back again - let's hope they were worth it!   Now we've donned our white coats, loaded our pockets with reference books and light pens, armed ourselves with our trusty stethoscopes, and we've hit the wards running!    You'll find us everywhere: from the forests of Pineville, to the hills of Fort Benning, Georgia; from the beaches of Pensacola, to the concrete jungle of New Orleans.   We're on the hunt - for zebras, for board scores, for S3s and S4s, for a free meal, for knowledge, and for those ever elusive jewels: sleep and free time.
It seems like we just wrapped up second year and a gauntlet of Shelf exams.   And it's been barely a month since we all went into our respective hermit modes for Step 1, but we fortunately made it out of the boards alive (battered and beaten, but alive).   Afterwards, with what little free time was left of our summer, we tried to relax. And relax hard.   Some went back home, some went abroad, some just took it easy in the Big Easy, and some had this to report:  

Danielle Stackhouse got a phantom teacup poodle and, in a move totally out of character, named her Princess Spanky.   Princess is a puppy, but acts more like a parrot - she likes to sit on Danielle's shoulder, and is an avid toe and ear biter.
Despite the short summer break, we have plenty of announcements.   Josh Bales and Shannon Armstrong got engaged on June 23 rd in Montana - congrats Josh and Shannon!
In a matter of two weeks, we had four T3s get married!   On June 19 th Rachael Dawson married Randy Cresap in Baton Rouge.   They went to the Virgin Islands for their honeymoon.   Congrats Rachael!  
Also on the 19 th , Christine Tanjutco and I wed in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.   Sam Zeim and Luke McDonald (T4) were among the groomsmen, Corbin Downey was a reader in the wedding ceremony, and Jenny Robinson was the designated gift card box wrapper. We went to San Antonio for our honeymoon.   So . . ., " Congrats to Christine and me!" I guess.
On July 2 nd , Torang Sepah-Mansour married Ron Shatzmiller (T4) in San Franscisco in a Persian-Jewish wedding ceremony officiated by Dr. Rodenhauser.   In the wedding party were our own Pooja Sukhwani and T4s Monica Rau, Fasih Hameed, Zia Khan, John Berberian, Ben Wycherly, Ed Kwon, Mark Reddick, and Rahul Prasankumar. Torang and Ron went to Hawaii for their honeymoon.   Congrats Torang and Ron!

And we have a few brave souls - namely, Jenny Robinson, Matt Strickland, and Ine Leus - who have started their third year in N'zerekore, Guinea (in western Africa) .   Jenny reports, "Everything is going well, although I have reached the point where the novelty of eating nothing but bread and mangoes has worn off and I would die for a crunchy roll."
All in all, the class is in good spirits.   We're happy to be done with the lecture rooms (for the most part) and we're glad to be learning on our feet and on the wards. We're half-way through with this magic carpet ride called med school and, as our esteemed Class President Craig Conard says, we've earned the "M." in M.D.