Samir P. Desai's Blog
March 12, 2015
Go Red Multicultural Scholarship Aims To Support Minority Women In Medicine
The year 2003 was a remarkable year for U.S. medical schools. For the first time, over half of U.S. medical school applicants and enrollees were women. Although we have made significant strides to increase the number of women in medicine, we clearly need more minority women in medicine. Several organizations, including the Institute of Medicine, have studied minority representation in medicine. Their findings highlight the importance of expanding such representation in medic...
March 9, 2015
Medical Student Receives Lucien Rubinstein Award For Promising Brain Tumor Research
Over the past 50 years, the survival rate for childhood brain cancer has more than doubled. According to Dr. Paul Fisher, a pediatric neurologist, we are curing brain cancer in about 68% of children. Unfortunately, survivors often face a variety of struggles, including chronic headaches, nausea, and seizures. Nearly one-third require special education.
Researchers across the United States are looking for ways to minimize the adverse effects of treatment on cognition. Recentl...
March 3, 2015
Persistence Pays Off For Medical School Scholarship Winner
Founded in 1958, the Houston Medical Forum is a component society of the National Medical Association. As an organization consisting predominantly of black physicians, its mission is to promote the art and science of medicine, stimulate engagement in the community, and foster relationship among its members.
Its members also include resident physicians and medical students, and the organization stronglybelieves in supporting these young physicians during training. Recently, I...
February 16, 2015
Pathology Awards And Grants: Q & A With University of Chicago Pathology Resident, Dr. Alex Gallan (Part 2)
By Dr. Samir Desai
In Part 1 of our Q & A with Dr. Alexander Gallan, a pathology resident at the University of Chicago, Alex discussed why he chose pathology as a career, described two awards he received from the American Society of Clinical Pathology as a medical student, and offered tips and strategies for students interested in winning these awards. In Part 2 of our Q & A, Alex tells us about the Project Grant he received from the American Society for Investigative Pathology during medical...
January 30, 2015
LIFT Program Provides Medical Students Interested In Urology With An Intensive One-Year Research Experience
The Department of Urology at the University of California Irvine School of Medicine is offering up to two medical students the opportunity to participate in the Leadership and Innovation Fellowship Training (LIFT) Program. During this one-year program, students can immerse themselves in basic science, translational, and clinical research projects. You do not have to be a medical student at the University of California Irvine to be eligible for this fellowship program.
The pro...
January 25, 2015
Pathology Awards And Grants: Q & A With University of Chicago Pathology Resident, Dr. Alex Gallan
Dr. Alexander Gallan
As a medical student, Alexander Gallan made the most of his opportunities outside of the classroom. With a deep interest in teaching, curriculum development, and research, he was able to make important contributions in these areas at the Boston University School of Medicine. Alexander took some time out of his busy day as a pathology resident at the University of Chicago to tell us about his experiences as a medical student and the awards he received.
Wh...
January 17, 2015
10 Scholarships For Medical Students With Certain Health Or Medical Conditions
By Dr. Samir Desai
After being diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia at the age of 4, Hyram Judd completed four years of chemotherapy, and has been in remission ever since. Now a third-year medical student at Midwestern University in Arizona, he is grateful to the Beyond the Cure Scholarship Program for providing him with themonetary support to reach his professional goals.
Hyram is certainly not alone in having experienced personal illness prior to medical school. When I read over AMCAS...
January 6, 2015
Annual Scholarship of $30,000 Available to Ohio Medical Students Interested in Primary Care
Over the past several decades, the United States has seen a decline in manufacturing. Among the hardest hit areas are parts of the Midwest where there have been tremendous job losses. As once thriving towns and cities decayed, residents had to make hard choices about their health. "Many of my friends and family members had to choose between visiting the doctor and paying monthly bills," said Chris Yohn, a medical student at Northeast Ohio Medical University. "The people I kn...
December 23, 2014
Take Steps to Become Financially Literate in Medical School
One month before graduating from medical school, Valerie Brooke attended a workshop where she received some sobering news. After crunching some numbers, she discovered that it would cost her $500,000 to repay her loans. "I just really didn't think about the long term repercussions about taking out the full amount of loans," said Brooke in an interview with Oregon Live. "If I had had that information earlier, my husband and I would've tightened our belts and not taken out the...
December 19, 2014
Excellence in Public Health Award for Finding New and Exciting Ways to Integrate Public Health into Clinical Settings
At the age of 33, Candelario Estrada received some startling information about his health at an annual health fair organized by Parkview Medical Nurses in Pueblo, Colorado. He was morbidly obese, and lab test results showedelevated blood glucose and cholesterol values. The information that he received galvanized Candelario into action. After making changes in his lifestyle, he was able to lose 65 poundswith an improvement in hisglucose and cholesterol numbers. He credits his...
