Appreciation, Niceness, and Generosity – Why Being Kind is Best

Joshua Liu — Fri, 07 May 2010 06:42:29 +0100

Last night I was at dinner with a couple of friends. A good friend of mine from class was sitting across from me, and at one point, the topic of generosity came up. The discussion helped elucidate a concept that I’ve always believed, but never really put onto paper, so I guess now is a good enough time than ever.

The Liberation Treatment

Michael Chan — Wed, 05 May 2010 04:40:48 +0100

So we are currently in the middle of our Brain and Behaviour course. Last week, we had a PBL session focussing on multiple sclerosis. Our discussions of the disease naturally included a consideration of the Liberation Treatment which was developed by Dr. Paolo Zamboni in Italy. Dr. Zamboni believes that many cases of multiple sclerosis are due to a condition called ‘Chronic Cerebrospinal Venous Insufficiency’ that can be treated with endovascular therapy. Dr. Zamboni’s work Read More...

So I think I know why my marks have dropped...

Joshua Liu — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 08:57:41 +0100

So I'm happy to say that I passed my Brain and Behaviour midterm - barely, with a 70.96 (a 70 is a clear pass). It was a pretty difficult midterm, with a bell ringer for neuroanatomy in the morning and then a written exam in the afternoon.

It's funny how easily I went from not only wanting and getting 80's and 90's in undergrad to hoping I get a 70 in medical school. For the most part, I don't think the material is any harder, and often times it's actually easier. Read More...

Hidden Luck

Joshua Liu — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 09:51:55 +0100

Luck, variance, randomness - whatever you want to call it, it has an undeniable influence on the course of events.

Taking a simple case, you get lucky when your medical school interview is conducted by a physician who turns out to be life long buddies with one of your referees, or perhaps you get unlucky when you realize your interviewer and you are complete opposites.

Or maybe you were lucky (in the way that I was) to only have two organic chemistry passages on yourRead More...

Kevin's video blog

Kevin L — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 05:07:59 +0100

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M09EYAuooY 550x350]

iPhone 4G leaked!

Michael Chan — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 19:45:57 +0100

So, I was reading the paper the other day and I was surprised to see that the next iPhone had accidentally been leaked by an Apple software engineer, especially because Apple is so secretive with these things. I feel really bad for the engineer who leaked it...

For more information, see:
http://gizmodo.com/5520164/this-is-apples-next-iphone

So I went to the doctor today...

Joshua Liu — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 03:08:47 +0100

...to get a referral.

I got the referral, but also left with a splint on my pinky finger and a form to get an X-ray done tomorrow morning.

I have a bump on the distal interphalangeal joint and the tip of the pinky remains bent downward.

I hope it's a mallet finger and not early signs of osteoarthritis... fortunately there isn't any pain or inflammation, so I guess it's unlikely to be osteoarthritis.

Here's a photo of a mallet finger... I'd rather not post photos ofRead More...

Internal Medicine 2010

Michael Chan — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 06:10:52 +0100

The American College of Physicians is in town this weekend for the Internal Medicine 2010. They have a few programs for medical students including "Mastering the Match" and "Interacting with Pharmaceutical Industry Representatives".

For more information, see http://www.acponline.org/meetings/internal_medicine/2010/.

MedChatter - The Book

Kevin L — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 07:32:03 +0100

.... is writing a book????

Recently, an idea occurred to me that I thought was worth sharing. Many premeds out there are very unsure of what it takes to make it into medicine. Although resources regarding medical admission are widely available, most of such resources provide scattered pieces of information that require significant amount of time Read More...

O Canada like you've never heard it!

Jerome L — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 07:45:07 +0100

Hey Guys,

So during one of my many rounds of procrastination leading up to our 2nd Foundations of Medical Practice exam, I was reading the Toronto Star website and came across an article about our National Anthem. Featured in the article was a link to a video of a couple of the worst renditions of O Canada.

The first person really should have considered going through the lyrics before singing in front a crowd of people. She even tried to fake it too for a bit. Oy big mistaRead More...

Physican to Mogul - Dr. Kevin Ham

Kevin L — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 10:56:00 +0100

So it’s 2:20 AM right now, and I’ve just spent the last 14 hours studying. I think I’ll call it a day. But before I head to bed, I just wanted to share this interesting success story that I’ve recently come across. This is the story of Kevin Ham, a graduate of UBC medicine who took a career detour in 1999 and built a $300 million empire. Business magazine calls him “the man who owns the internet” and “the most powerful dotcom mogul you’ve never Read More...

Gotta Give Props

Joshua Liu — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 23:00:43 +0100

I'm all about giving credit where credit is due, and I have to say that UofCalgary's medical school made the best interview weekend video I've ever seen this year.

Check it out:

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETrQvZ_fHT4 560x340]

This is such a cool Master's program

Joshua Liu — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 22:49:40 +0100

I was reading about the courses in Harvard's Masters of Science in Health Care Management program and it just screamed awesome to me.

If you read my where do I see myself in 10 years reflection, you'd remember that solving problems in our health care system outside my own future clinical practice is something that I'm interested in.

The schedule is pretty sick too. A few weeks each summer, several 4-day weekends per year, and then bam, you've learned a ton of cool, relevant sRead More...

Canada's Commitment to the G8 Maternal Health Initiative

Michael Chan — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 17:20:57 +0100

So during this past week, there was a lot of commotion regarding Canada’s commitment to the G8 Maternal Health Initiative. The tension, specifically, revolved around the issue of including legal and safe abortion in Canada’s maternal health initiative in Third World Nations. Whereas Canada’s closest allies recognize that maternal health must include reproductive health, family planning, and access to safe abortion, Canada&rsquoRead More...

Chasing Prestige

Kevin L — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 02:58:55 +0100

I'd like to start this blog with a short video: [video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THNPmhBl-8I&NR=1 500x400]

It's no secret that the medical profession is a prestigious one. The society often looks up to physicians and equates the word "doctor" with "intelligence, wealth, and importance". It's no lie that physicians play an important role in society. But what are the consequences of putting the medical profession on such a high pedestal? Not only can it breed a sense of elRead More...

The BIG Decision - The Conclusion

Jerome L — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 04:12:54 +0100

Hey Guys,

So it is final! I am officially in WB-F (Wightman-Berris Academy, rotation F)!

In the 2nd year class at UofT medicine, the whole academy/rotation schedule ranking process has come under heavy fire because MANY people got choices low on their ranking. More than one friend of mine got their 12th choice out of 18 choices, and I heard that one person in our class actually got their 16th choice!

So you might be asking, what happened?

Those who Can't Do, Teach - Why? And when is this False?

Joshua Liu — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 05:40:28 +0100

I don't know who said it first, and to me it sadly seems like to suggest a rather negative intention when spoken, but the phrase "those who can't do, teach" is quite common and as someone who genuinely enjoys teaching and sharing what I know, see it as a phrase that can actually lead to some valuable insight.

I think the original intention of the phrase was to suggest that teachers are those incapable of doing - for who in their right mind would rather coach, say, Sydney Crosby insteadRead More...

Day 2 of Brain and Behaviour

Joshua Liu — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 03:22:08 +0100

I can't write Day 1 because I already failed and didn't blog yesterday. Guess this is harder than I thought (actually that's not true, I expected it to be hard).

I have to say that so far I'm enjoying Brain and Behaviour (B&B) more than the other topics we have covered in medical school so far. I'm not particularly surprised, considering that neurology is one of the few reasons I went into medical school in the first place.

They did a nice job of easing us into tRead More...

Reunion, Reflection, and Time for a Change

Joshua Liu — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 05:47:56 +0100

Yesterday there was a reunion for Toronto MacShad 2005 alumni, with about six of us in total. I don't think I had seen many of them in a super long time, despite many of us not being too far away from each other, and quite a few of us relatively close, in fact. They are all fantastic people, and I had an awesome time, and wish I had reconnected a lot sooner. Shad has introduced me to so many great people and opened a lot of doors for me, I really can't be grateful enouRead More...

The Art of Pimping

Kevin L — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:49:33 +0100

For those of you who don’t know, PIMPING is a legitimate term used in the medical field, and is defined as a time when a attending physician (the Pimper) poses a series of very difficult questions to the student (the Pimpee). It’s a term that had been popularized by Dr.Brancati in his classic 1989 article “The Art of Pimping”. Those who are not in medicine may not appreciate the degree of distress in which pimping may cause among medical students. Nevertheless, each meRead More...

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