Arthur Dalley (1 Posts)Contributing Writer
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Arthur F. Dalley, II, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, where served as Director for Medical Gross Anatomy and the Vanderbilt Anatomical Donations Program. He held adjunct appointments in Orthopaedic Surgery and at the Belmont University School of Physical Therapy. His work at Vanderbilt was preceded by 24 years at the Creighton University School of Medicine and 1-year sabbatical at the Mayo Clinic. He received Bachelor of Science (Zoology) and Doctoral Degrees (Anatomy) from the University of Utah.
Vanderbilt student and peer teaching awards include Excellence in Teaching and Research for Innovations in Educational Programming Proven to be Effective, election to the AΩA Medical Honor Society and the Vanderbilt Academy for Excellence in Education, recognition as a Master Basic Sciences Teacher, and the graduating class’ annual Shovel Award for Outstanding Faculty Member. National awards include the AAMC/AΩA Robert J. Glazer Distinguished Teacher Award. He received 10 Golden Apple Awards while at Creighton University.
In addition to co-authoring multiple editions of textbooks and an atlas with Drs.Keith Moore and Anne Agur (Moore’s Essential Clinical Anatomy, Moore’s Clinically Oriented Anatomy, Clinical Anatomy Cases, and Grant’s Atlas of Anatomy) that have translated into many languages, he served as the Gross Anatomy Consultant for the Stedman's Medical Dictionaries.
Dr. Dalley is a founding member of the American Association of Clinical Anatomists, for which he served in all executive offices and editorial board of the journal CLINICAL ANATOMY. He also received the AACA’s highest honors, Honored Membership and the R. Benton Adkins Jr. Distinguished Service Award. He has been a member of the American Association of Anatomists since 1973, serving on the Board of Directors and the Sr. Advisory Board for the journal, Anatomical Educator. He was awarded the AAA’s highest educator honor, the Henry Gray Distinguished Educator Medal, and was named a Fellow of the AAA in 2015.
The recent article “Language Matters: Reflecting on Bias in an Anatomy Textbook” looks at the premise that “the sanctity of medical ‘truth’ and ‘evidence’ should preclude any bias.” We agree with this sentiment and acknowledge that historically there has been a lack of diversity and sexual equitability in the presentation of anatomy in textbooks and atlases. In this article the textbook referenced by the writer was printed in early 2014. While we acknowledge that there have been deficiencies in our textbooks in the past, a lot of content has been updated in newer editions.
In September 2020, I started to volunteer as a health educator in sexual and reproductive health and rights with mobile clinics of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, reaching marginalized communities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). I worked in the villages of two cities in the West Bank — Jenin and Qalqilya.
Unlike other specialties, radiology is often an elective rotation that focuses on diagnostics and image interpretation. Such tasks are mainly done by the specialty’s residents with little care for medical students to be involved with.
Discussing women’s sexuality is uncomfortable. Sociocultural messages that portray the ideal woman as passive, soft and naïve belie our often-espoused values and institutional policies that support women’s rights, health and equality.
When I first started learning how to write SOAP notes, I was under the impression they would serve as objective documents to detail the medical history and current health problems experienced by patients It seemed these notes were to be created by — and for — clinicians. I now realize this perception could not be more wrong.
Bright Light Therapy (BLT) has efficacy in treating mild-to-moderate SAD. A meta-analysis of eight randomized controlled trials found that BLT was effective at treating symptoms of SAD with an effect size of 0.84, which are comparable to the benefits of antidepressants.
Last year, I walked into a big hospital room towards the tiny NICU bed with a tiny baby in his space helmet. The moment he came out of that helmet, which was pumping in 100% oxygen, he would start deteriorating.
One crisp Sunday morning in October, I arrive at the community free clinic to find four student volunteers — two of whom are in their third month of medical school like I am — and one attending physician. As usual, we are overbooked.
Awareness of mental health and burnout concerns amongst physicians is simply insufficient; there is a dearth in actionable guidelines for training programs and medical schools to better medical student wellbeing.
The interviewer smiled, gave a vague answer and followed it with a diatribe about how present-day residents have it so “easy.” How his generation had to “walk through feet and feet of snow” to get to work and how work hour restrictions did not exist. Caught off guard, I wondered what sparked such an emotional response to a common interview question.
Blue, white, red, yellow, pink, brown. These are the colors of the ties and strips of fabric around the scrub pants and tops indicating their size. At the start of medical school, I would squeeze into a red top and red pants: these were the larges.
During my Step 1 dedicated study period, I remember looking at these visual comparisons of an early version of First Aid and the most recent edition and feeling righteous indignation bubble up inside me. The former was thin and worn and tattered while the latter was thick, hefty, solid. Hundreds of pages longer, the newest edition felt impenetrable and impossible to commit to memory, expanding yearly with new minutiae to scrutinize.
Apshara Ravichandran (3 Posts)Contributing Writer
Saint Louis University School of Medicine
Apshara Ravichandran is a third-year medical student at Saint Louis University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO. In 2018, she graduated from Williams College with a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology and chemistry. She enjoys reading, running, and going to the local dog park in her free time. After graduating medical school, Apshara would like to pursue a career in a pediatric specialty or child psychiatry.
