Elaine's MS Pharmacology Blog

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...