Medical Scholars Program (MSP)

MSP handout

As always, SO MUCH has happened between this week thus far. Most of my Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday was consumed by the Medical Scholars Program (MSP), which is a tutoring program run by mostly by fourth and second-year UCSF medical students to help first-year UCSF students with anatomy and basic concepts. This quarter, the new MSP leaders are practicing their teaching skills by preparing lessons for BMB, and my first MSP lesson was this week on the amazing brainstem. It was an experience similar to Clinical Sciences Journal Club, in that you prepare intensely on a particular topic and present it in a public speaking forum to your medical school classmates, but it was also more didactic and had a different approach, using chalkboards and xeroxed handouts and whatnot.

At the beginning of the year, Albert asked me how I would prioritize seeing patients in the clinic, research, and teaching. I told him that I would rank 1) seeing patients 2) research and 3) teaching as a distant third, because teaching did not really appeal to me at the time. However, somehow, I was bitten by the "teaching bug" by watching the incredibly talented and inspiring MSP leaders this year who helped me so much and by realizing in our daily small group discussion sections that it was genuinely fun explaining medical concepts and factoids to peers (um, when I actually read and sometimes when I actually didn't). "Teaching" first-year medical students (peers) and 4th and 5th graders through MedTeach (with Craig and Sarah) this year has really given me a lot of joy. Nowadays, I might rank 1) seeing patients and 2) a tie between research and teaching.

So anyway, most of this week was consumed by preparing for my first MSP lesson, presenting it in a practice session to my fellow MSP leaders, and then giving the lesson last night in front of some 6-10 peers. I was particularly touched to see Paul and Albert there, because I know that Paul doesn't bother to attend MSP (this is taken by me as a fact of life) and Albert occasionally drops in.

Yesterday was so busy! Besides class from 8-12, there was basic science journal club, a meeting, an amazing UCSF Iraq Teach-In (check the UCSF Synapse page next week for more coverage), and then MSP.

Today, there was class from 8-12 (an exam review in the morning), a Synapse meeting, a session to learn how to use otoscopes and ophthalmoscopes, and then a few wayward medical students and I walked over to Japantown to eat some mochi, crepes, pearl milk tea, and go shopping at a Japanese market.

Busy month!