Elaine's MS Pharmacology Blog

March Service Hours: 15 hours; Cumulative Spring Service Hours: 25 hours And just like that, there are less than two months until graduation.  We finished up the Psychopharmacology module last week, and I'm so glad I did well on those exams. CCM had me worried, but I'm glad it worked out in the end! I ended up going back home to visit my parents the weekend before the exams, so it was nice to have home-cooked meals and be with my family while studying. My sister even came to visit and brought her dogs! I still have two more presentations and an exam before the program ends, but I like that I'll have more time to dedicate to studying for my MCAT because that's coming up soon now too.  This month, I continued volunteering at Manning Family Children's Hospital, but I was especially excited to get involved with some of the Tulane Brain Institute's initiatives. I worked a shift during the New Orleans Book Festival with them where I was responsible for showing anybody...

February Service Hours: 7 hours; Cumulative Spring Service Hours: 10 hours I can't believe it's already the end of February. Time is flying by a little too quickly for my liking, and it doesn't feel real that we really only have two more months of the program. I'm glad we got through the first Cellular Control Mechanism exam because now I know what to expect, but I'm still adjusting to studying for this course. I did relatively well on this first CCM exam, so I guess whatever I did is working! We're currently in the Neurology module, and I've really been enjoying it because it feels more familiar, especially because I majored in neuroscience during undergrad. The first two lectures with Dr. Mostany specifically reminded me of a class I took in college called Biology of Mental Disorders, and I love that I still feel like I'm learning on top of the information I already had about this topic. Now, I better understand the molecular mechanisms/pathways that u...

January Service Hours: 3 hours; Cumulative Spring Service Hours: 3 hours First month back for the spring semester! We finished up the Reproductive module and are currently in the Endocrine one. I think I've enjoyed learning about insulin signaling the most so far. I've grown up knowing the basics: insulin is released when blood glucose levels are high, people with diabetes either struggle to produce insulin or have defective insulin receptors, etc. But the past few lectures really opened my eyes to how wide-reaching the effects of insulin are, as well as what can happen when any step in the insulin signaling pathway is impaired. Who knew insulin stimulated protein synthesis? I've also been busy with preparing for the MCAT, so it's definitely been a big adjustment time management-wise juggling that with coursework, exams, and presentations. This will be my new normal for the next few months, but I'm surprisingly looking forward to it! This month, I continued voluntee...

November Service Hours: 7.5 hours; Cumulative Fall Service Hours: 17.5 hours I can't believe we only have one more round of exams before we are halfway done with the program. I've spent the past week and a half with my family surrounded by our three pets and eating lots of good food, but I'm excited to get through the rest of the GI/neoplasia module and spend most of winter break relaxing. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the renal/pulmonary module, especially because we learned how to treat so many different conditions (asthma, UTIs, pneumonia, BPH, ED, etc) that I never considered to implicate similar organ systems.  This month, I continued volunteering at Manning Family Children's as a Family Resources Center volunteer, and I also volunteered with BMSSA Tulane at Zeus' Rescue. At Manning Family Children's, I saw one of the patients I had previously done arts and crafts with, and we doodled and painted some more. We also played a few board games like Conn...

October Service Hours: 10 hours; Cumulative Fall Service Hours: 10 hours And just like that, it's the end of October. Time seems to fly by, and I can't believe I'm more than halfway done with the first semester of this program. We started the CV pharmacology module last week, and it's been interesting/slightly overwhelming to see how this module has built off of the information from the ANS/CV physiology module. That last module was definitely the most challenging for me so far, but I loved seeing how all of the concepts clicked in the end. It was interesting learning each individual component at first, from the different parts of the autonomic nervous system to the results of different stimulation on effector cells and how those responses change with agonists and antagonists. Even though I'm nervous about this upcoming exam, I'm excited for that "aha" moment when everything begins to come together and make sense.  This month, I finally finished the on...

Community Service Hours: 0 hours; Cumulative Fall Service Hours: 0 hours          I can't believe it has been almost two months of living in New Orleans and being in the Pharmacology Master's program! I was definitely apprehensive about starting graduate school and taking graduate-level exams while balancing other aspects of this transition to a new city, but after three rounds of exams, I'm feeling mostly  comfortable/confident with the study methods I'm using. We're currently in the Neuromuscular Physiology module, but I think the Inflammation module has been my favorite so far. It was so interesting to learn about acetaminophen overdose and the actual mechanism underlying those adverse effects, especially because I grew up with warnings to be careful with acetaminophen dosing without really taking the initiative to figure out why. I also appreciated the Antihistamines lecture as someone with ridiculously severe spring allergies, and I'm sure the thi...