Richland, Washington, United States
I am a recent graduate from Allegheny college with a major in Neuroscience (honors) and double minors in Global Health Studies and Biology. I am an international student from Vietnam. I am currently working as a pre-med medical/surgical assistant at a private practice to gain more clinical hours while preparing for the MCAT and medical school application. I believe that the more I expose myself to real medical settings and patient care, the stronger evidence I would have to support my "WHY" in pursuing a career in medicine. Some of my interests in research are topics related to neurological pathways of psychopathology, global health issues in Southeast Asian countries, and unique Christian approaches to medicine. I want to integrate faith into my passion for medicine and hold Christ as the center of my daily practices, work, and life. "Community service" is one of the core values of my personal interest in medicine. I want to continue cultivating a unique definition of this term through my own interpersonal and professional growth. Thus, one of the important next steps in this journey is further learning and exploring my passion for medicine in medical school. I am passionate about serving and learning more about healthcare assessment and equity in underserved and immigrant communities.
Northwest Endovascular Surgery’s Pre-med Medical Assistant/Scribe program (PMA) I am working under the mentorship of Dr. Saravanan Kasthuri, serves as medical director at Northwest Endovascular Surgery (NWES). He is passionate about providing students with a holistic view of healthcare and hands-on experience to learn and engage with every aspect of running a successful practice. In this position, PMAs are trained in four key aspects of the practice: front desk work, medical assisting/scribing, assisting with minor surgical procedures, and scrubbing in to assist on endovascular surgical procedures. PMAs support the NWES team and provide ideas to promote efficiency in the care process while gaining key clinical exposure to prepare for our future in healthcare. This is an excellent opportunity for premedical students on a gap year looking to gain key clinical exposure and invaluable insights into the workings of a medical practice that will prepare us for our future in medicine.
Independent Senior Project: "The effects of Caffeine and Vitamin E on LPS-induced Cognitive Deficits in Adult Female Rats"
- Learn about the behavioral pharmacology approach to understanding the mechanisms underlying pathological behaviors using preclinical models - Our research is aimed at examining stress- and gonadal hormone-related changes in rat models of psychopathology, with a particular emphasis on substance use (especially alcohol), anxiety, PTSD, and depression. As it is increasingly understood that sex as a biological variable (#SABV for short) is an important consideration in research, projects our lab use both female and male rats - Read the primary literature in this field to familiarize themselves with prior research and in techniques related to future studies in the lab - Ongoing experiments examine the effects of gonadectomy (surgical removel of ovaries or testes) in adolescence or adulthood on sex differences in alcohol drinking, with the hypothesis that adolescent (prepubertal) gonadectomy will eliminate the typical sex difference in alcohol drinking observed - Receive hands-on training in the surgical and behavioral techniques, data management and analysis
- Weekly in-person meeting with patients to discuss and set achievable short- and long-term goals - Empower patients to take their health into their own hands and help them understand their motivations and create behavior change - Support patients in developing sustainable meal, exercise, or other wellness plans tailored to their goals - Attend weekly group case reviews to report patient’s progress with local doctors, nurses and community health staff
-Shadowing doctors from different department in the hospital: Neurology, General Surgery, Anesthesiology
- Clinic site: Can Tho, Vietnam - Direct patient care experience - Translate conversations between physicians and patients in Vietnam - Assisting doctors with taking vital signs, medical history, chief complaints, writing prescriptions, and basic medical procedures - Observing, learning and understanding medical system in Vietnam
As part of this program, I was paired with an ACC Fellow Mentor for one academic year and joined them for monthly webinars of introduction to the basics of investigational research, as well as discussions about careers in cardiovascular medicine