Poorna Sreekumar (3 Posts)Contributing Writer
University of Maryland School of Medicine
Poorna is a Class of 2019 medical student at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Before attending medical school, she studied chemistry at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her interests include health policy, health tech, and health journalism. When she's not studying, she's probably reading, writing, hiking, or indulging in the occasional Netflix.
We began medical school orientation with several anonymous ice breakers. The idea was to learn more about the class’s demographics through a few clicker questions. Most were innocuous: are you in-state? Did you take a gap year? Were you a science major? They were standard questions in the boring small talk repertoire of medical school orientation. One question though, incited murmuring among students: How many of you came from households with six figure incomes?
Coming from an Indian-American background, yoga and Ayurveda were a part of my life even before yoga pants and juice cleanses became popular. As a child, my parents had all kinds of alternative remedies for common childhood afflictions. Instead of taking Tums for an upset stomach, I drank a concoction of ginger, cumin and lemon to relieve my discomfort. And I still do.
Everyone told me medical school would be hard. I thought I was prepared, but nothing actually prepares you for medical school like being in medical school. I was accustomed to working long hours, the constant stress of exams and little sleep. What I wasn’t accustomed to was the absolute dearth of creativity in the coursework.
Poorna Sreekumar (3 Posts)Contributing Writer
University of Maryland School of Medicine
Poorna is a Class of 2019 medical student at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Before attending medical school, she studied chemistry at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her interests include health policy, health tech, and health journalism. When she's not studying, she's probably reading, writing, hiking, or indulging in the occasional Netflix.
