Author: Jennifer Evan

Jennifer Evan Jennifer Evan (6 Posts)

Contributing Writer Emeritus

Indiana University School of Medicine

Jennifer Evan is a 2011 graduate of Purdue University with a degree in liberal studies and a minor in chemistry. Having interests in a range of subjects, she enjoys participating in a variety of fields and experiences, from art and music, to writing and research. Her professional interests include international medicine and culture, while her academic passion is neurological studies. She is a member of the Indiana University School of Medicine Class of 2016.




The Grapes of Breath (2015)

Published by Jennifer Evan

My inspiration for this piece stemmed from my experience working on the pulmonology service during my internal medicine rotation. I was moved by the vitality of our bodies and the organs that allow us to function. The lungs are one of the few organs that directly associate with the outside environment. Everything we breathe becomes part of our body, and as much as our body and respiratory epithelium can filter the air we breathe, it is not a perfect system. As a result, we breathe the world around us.

Breaking the Barriers to Mental Health Diagnoses

Published by Jennifer Evan

As second year winds down and I approach the ultimate exam of medical school, Step 1 of the USMLE, I have spent a lot of time in reflection, and on one stark dichotomy in particular. The vast majority of medicine that we studied has been physical; we study the art of physical diagnosis in order to best assess our patients’ pains and murmurs and abrasions, leading to verifiable diagnoses. In addition, we have objective blood work showing …

Running Out of Gas, Burning Out, and Extinguishing Oneself

Published by Jennifer Evan

Today I was told that, because of the profession I have chosen, I am at a high risk for suicide. And so commences the medical ethics portion of medical school. While this was not the line with which the lecture began — which I’m sure would have evoked terror in most of the stern-faced-but-wide-eyed first-years that faced the front of the room — it was stated directly and at point-blank, roughly halfway through the introductory …

Remembering Our First Patients

Published by Jennifer Evan

On Friday, January 25, 2013, my classmates and I prepared for a ceremony of remembrance, a ceremony which would represent our sentiments of honor and solemn appreciation of the lives and selfless acts of donation to the medical field of the men and women who were our anatomical donors. Over a nine-week course, we spent countless hours in the anatomy lab studying the human body from the inside out. Among our tools in mastering the …

Remember, Appearances Can Be Deceiving

Published by Jennifer Evan

In histology, we are taught that ‘structure dictates function.’ It is a simply stated phrase that tells medical students to think about how the structure of a tissue determines what its role is in the human body. Does it secrete substances? Is it involved in mechanical abrasive stress? Does it have a large layer of muscle? Of collagen? Many ducts? Extensive folding of the epithelium? These questions, answered entirely by staring at a slide of …

Shame, Shame Go Away

Published by Jennifer Evan

We have all been told that there’s no shame in asking for help. Yet asking for help is a hard thing to do for many of us. Shame is a funny thing; it is defined by a fear we have of what others think of us, but yet may come from a fear we have in ourselves, in acknowledging things about ourselves, or a fear in what we actually think of ourselves.

Jennifer Evan Jennifer Evan (6 Posts)

Contributing Writer Emeritus

Indiana University School of Medicine

Jennifer Evan is a 2011 graduate of Purdue University with a degree in liberal studies and a minor in chemistry. Having interests in a range of subjects, she enjoys participating in a variety of fields and experiences, from art and music, to writing and research. Her professional interests include international medicine and culture, while her academic passion is neurological studies. She is a member of the Indiana University School of Medicine Class of 2016.