My parents made the long trip East to visit us in Pittsburgh. Perfect timing for us, as Lovis was celebrating her 20th birthday!  I also had to run away during the weekend to be at my final MD/PhD retreat!  One night while everyone was here, we went out to Mercurios to celebrate Lovis' birthday! The dinner was excellent, I love their pizza, and of course, everyone loves their gelato!

As an MS4, we are in our last year of the MD/PhD program, which is typically an 8 year program.  After 8 years, you really begin to get to know one another since spending the greater part of a decade with one program and administration.  This year I applied for the graduation awards that are given to MS3's and MS4's.  I was honored to be elected for the Hamilton Translational Science Award!  Such a cool experience. I remember as a first year MD/PhD student, sitting in the audience as they gave away the Hamilton award to the graduating seniors, and I was simply in awe of their accomplishments. I imagine some of those same feelings were stirring in our junior members.  WELL, I am here to say, that you can do it - despite what adversity you may face along the path to completion - you can do it!

Also as a graduating senior, you have the opportunity to give a quick talk about your experiences in the program and give any wisdom that you have for students. The talks were originally scheduled to occur on Saturday. Last minute, they switched the talks to occur on Friday night.  I was balancing a family and work scheduled that weekend and had planned my weekend to revolve around the Saturday evening talks. So, I missed them.  Yep, I missed my fourth year talk - the talk that we plan on giving for like 8 years hah! What?!  Interestingly, my message was essentially, that you need to live your life in addition to complete all of the tasks and milestones within the MSTP.  Notably, I missed my talk for my family.  It was very ironic. I was bummed that I wasn't able to share my story with younger classmates, but also proud of myself for sticking to my priorities and living out my message.

For those who didn't get to see my talk (aka, everyone), here's the gist:

MS1/MS2 - Study, enjoy your free time, there's a lot of it. You're going to be an MD.  Study, even if you'll forget the material in grad school.

G1-G4 - You'll make it. Live the grad school life. Life, science, writing (lots of writing), disappointments (lots of these), but ultimately, PHD!

MS3 - Fake it,  until you make it! Play catch up, and be a real person.

MS4 - Unsure what this year is for?? Haha! JK, enjoy interviews and self exploration.

A few pearls of knowledge from my experience:

Make friends, cherish your relationships, especially your partner. Take risks and bet on yourself and your perseverance.  Rely on your MSTP friends for childcare (hah, real talk). Learn to love writing (this blog is case in point).  A lot of life will happen during your MD/PhD years, mostly good, embrace it!

All the different ways you can ask to leave as an MS3: 

Anything else I can help you with?   Need anything?? (with hand on the door, coat on)

Ahh, was that the last patient??  Is that it for the morning?

I think I have a lecture...

Let me check my schedule, oh yep, teaching!

So, I have a WISER session?

Not that you should ever use any of these ;)

Bottom line: enjoy this time, this ride, this adventure and the growth that you're about to undergo. The time goes quickly and here we are, preparing for the next step of this career!

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