I guess I'm blogging a LOT these days, trying to enjoy what I feel are my last days of being unemployed. In fact, the "VERY difficult" interview I had last week I completely misread because not only have I heard from 2 of the folks I interviewed with that I did extremely well, it seems almost certain that they're close to making me an offer I won't be able to refuse. And the 5-10 minute commute to work is just an added bonus. So it's looking like I'll be going back to Big Pharma after all because: 1) We don't really want to move, not for a job/fellowship and 2) Doing a "practice run" of the commute pretty much KILLED the idea of commuting 90 miles one way for the next however long. An additional plus mentioned by the MAN who may be my next boss is that that will pay for my degree or cert in Bioinformatics and that they're currently building up the Bioinformatics division of this section of the company. We'll see, I'm STILL concerned about working with that ONE woman........................
Moving on, one of the required elements of the research I've chosen to do over the years is that it must in some way, address illnesses that are critical in the Black community or health disparities. So when I completed my first Master's degree, my thesis project looked at sickle cell anemia. My second master's thesis looked primarily at ER negative breast cancer cells lines, with ER negative cancers being far more likely in minority/Black women. Yesterday this realization, combined with the "clinical" turn my medical interests have started to have, led me to think long and hard about the field of Hematology/Oncology. Ironically, or maybe not ironically, when mentioning clinical medical specialties on my blog, all of them involve an IM residency except Preventative Medicine. Infectious Diseases, Neurology, and now Hematology/Oncology ALL involve an IM residency. So I'm pretty certain if I go the clinical route, IM is very likely be "it" for me.
That said, there's also a new Hospitalist who should get some credit for my new found interest in IM, she being otherwise known as Efex on oldpremeds and Mommd. Besides having an enormous amount of respect for her as former member of the military, wife and mother and now doctor, I've always appreciated her candor in talking about what a career in medicine is really like. And because I've been able to appreciate a good Hospitalist as a patient, I'd always respected her professional choices in an era when some people naively think that smart Docs ALWAYS considering positions "sexier" than Hospitalist. But then I've always wanted a research career too, so I figure I'd have to find something within IM that could potentially "work" for me research wise too.
Right now, there doesn't seem to be a better clinical choice for me that IM/Hem/Onc. My already strong background in cancer research would be an obvious plus but my research portfolio could also include Hematology/sickle cell disease too. I don't know how realistic that kinda of research pursuit could be, but from what I already know of both cancer and sickle cell disease there's definitely some room for overlap, besides the fact that some researchers often do look at more than one disease, like the advisor I did the sickle cell project with. Topped off with my pathology and hospice experience, this would again just be another significant plus to my consideration of IM/Hem/Onc.
Okay, I'm going come back down to earth now because I realize I'm getting waaaayyyyyy ahead of myself. But the prospects in Hem/Onc certainly look pretty darn good from a premeds perspective!
Finally, one quick blurb about my MCAT prep. Following in the spirit of me being "all over the place", I decided to take the next few days to wrap up the book one of the TBR Physics review instead of finishing up Biology, and expect to have it complete by Sunday (which I hope isn't wishful thinking). Once again, I think because I focused so intensely on verbal first, this section which has previously been VERY difficult for me, is now so much easier, if easier can be used in the same sentence as the word Physics, LOL!!!! At any rate, I'll be about 50% done with my MCAT review (yeah, I should be further along by now), having found it much easier to just study whatever topic I feel like studying for that week. Whatever works is what I always say, though finding what would work for me wasn't the easiest thing in the world!
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