Columnist and Editor Emeritus: Former Medical Student Editor (2012-2015)
Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine
Jimmy is residing in Phoenix, Arizona. He received his undergraduate degrees from California State University of Long Beach. Actively involved in research, his interests include internal medicine, cardiovascular medicine, and medical humanities.
Jimmy also volunteers at local community events and non-profit clinics in the Phoenix, Arizona and Orange County, California areas.
Web: jimmytamhuypham.com
Tonight is not any different. A list of twenty-five patients to be seen. A standing room full of eager volunteer medical students — who just can’t wait to do some doctoring — and a lone attending physician, a family physician who probably enjoys seeing the medical students acting important, walking around with their shiny stethoscopes around their necks, more than anything else. On second thought, maybe the doctor is here every week because he wants …
Author’s Note: Special thanks to the McQueen twins for letting me mention them … twice. Still can’t tell you guys apart to save my life. There are a lot of words you could use to describe the average med student: tired, burnt-out, hard-working, haggard, (and more often than not) seated. But one word that rarely comes to mind is bored. That’s because we associate boredom with having nothing to do, and believe you me, we …
If you have some time today (I know, I’m hilarious), take a minute to look up a YouTube video of someone running a 400-meter dash, and specifically watch their last 100 meters. This is the part of the 400-meter where you get what is affectionately referred to as “buttlock” in the track and field world. For that last 100 meters, even Olympic athletes are trying their damnedest to keep form, relax, and stride it out, …
Awkward. is a witty TV show about the awkwardness of being a teenager and surviving high school. Sometimes I feel like the awkwardness of being a medical student and surviving medical school is worthy of a TV show. Medical school is particularly awkward when starting third-year clerkships. Depending on how prepared you are for the wards, you may not know where to go, what to do, or what to say. Some students will dive in …
Ladies and gentlemen, the mood this week is pensive, in a count your blessings sort of way. Fortunately, given that it’s Thanksgiving week and all, I’m thinking my timing is appropriate. Enjoy. Every stage in life, it seems, has its purpose. And by all accounts the purpose of this stage seems to be worrying about all the rest. I don’t mean med school specifically (not that this particular chapter is exactly “worry-free”), I just mean …
If you have the chance to work with veterans during your medical school career, take it. I had the unique opportunity of working with veterans during my psychiatry rotation where I was confronted with the reality of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. I saw the effects of PTSD on veterans who served in past or current wars. It didn’t matter whether they served in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan or Iraq — they were all haunted by …
Considering how much of an effect this presidential election has on the future of medicine, I’d be surprised if every med student isn’t taking the night off, or at the very least keeping a tab open, to watch the states as they as they pick the color they’ll be wearing for the next four years. Unfortunately, that also means that none of you jerks are gonna read this column. For the rest of the night …
“I dream of being back in Huancavelica. In my dream, I was already there. Somehow I skipped all the flying and bus travelling. I was among the Andean mountains, hiking up to the highest peak, and looking down the gorgeous valley. From the horizon, the first blood-red ray of sunlight — untainted of any poison, undeterred of Spaniard conquistadors — rose behind the rugged mountains, painted a mural of warrior figures, llamas heads, potato fields, and …
A 77-year-old retired schoolteacher presented to the neurosurgery outpatient clinic to go over her lumbar spine MRI results. After looking at the computer screen for a matter a seconds, one of the leading spinal surgeons in the country turned to me and declared the diagnosis: “Spinal stenosis. There is nothing I can do for her. She is elderly, has a weak heart, and a smoking history. The risks are too great.” We went into the …
I remember when I was young, my parents told me they wished to be a kid again. Now I understand why. Do you miss the days when your only task was reading one of Aesop’s Fables? I do. Do you remember “The Cobbler Turned Doctor?” If not, I’ll refresh your memory. It’s about an unsuccessful cobbler who decided to move to another town where no one knew him so he could work as a doctor …
Conventional wisdom dictates that the meaning of life can be found in friends, family, and love. That’s right, guys: step away from the textbooks — apparently they don’t bring happiness. I know, I was shocked too, but hey, there’s always money. Now, on the off chance you’re wondering why I’m writing a column about friendship and the meaning of life, I should probably mention that I just watched the movie from which I stole my …
No one, and I mean no one, appreciates a vacation like a medical student. I’m only two days into my first week off since the start of school and I keep catching myself sitting for long periods of time staring at nothing in particular, and I’m not upset about it one bit. In the past, a week off usually involved restless opening and closing of my laptop and insanity producing boredom. But not this time. …
Columnist, in-Training Staff Member, and Editor Emeritus: Former Medical Student Editor (2012-2013)
University of Alabama School of Medicine
Writer, editor, motorcycle enthusiast and medical student, Dragos almost achieved the impossible early in life by nearly failing fifth grade. Born in Romania, raised in Colorado and somehow now in Alabama, Dragos graduated magna cum laude from Auburn University in 2011 with a degree in biomedical sciences, making his way shortly thereafter to Birmingham and the UAB School of Medicine. Over the next several years he hopes to make a few friends, learn a few things, write a few articles, and just maybe find himself as a physician-journalist in a fulfilling surgical career somewhere down the line.
