It's tough to put together exactly what happened as far as education over the first few post-Wesleyan years. Most of it consisted of in-house training at Lutron (a.k.a. "Lutron U"). But I did take a legitimate course at Lehigh University, and a Biology course at UPR Humacao in the spring of 2001. Then, in March of 2002, I cashed in all my vacation (plus unpaid time) to take a Wilderness EMT course at SOLO in Conway, NH. Zach, Bill, Mark, and Andy made sure I was honest, and in the end, I ended up with the EMT certification which would carry me into the VMSC and ultimately, medical school.

That summer, I completed Biology in evening classes at Temple University Ambler. After the MCAT and a spectacularly failed attempt at medical school applications in 2004, my good friend Mark Yoder, in a trip to Peru in May, 2004, reminded me of what's important in life...two months later, I left my job at Lutron to tackle the Interdisciplinary Medical Sciences Program at Drexel University College of Medicine. With help from Suresh, Kate, Grace, and Chris, I did great in that program, which sent me on to Drexel University College of Medicinen the next fall.

In August, 2005, I started in DUCOM's Program for Integrated Learning (PIL), which was a rather weak abbreviation (even for an acronym-obsessed school like DUCOM) for "small-group-based curriculum". The basic concept is simple: approach learning in the same manner you would a project team. Our first day in a week, we gather all the info we can find, form some theories, and assign action items to each member of the group. We meet two days later, review things we all have studied, and add material that people have garnered beyond that. More action items, more studying, more reviewing in meeting after a few days. Simple, elegant, and much better that sitting in a classroom and being talked at!

The first semester is anatomy-based. My small group was Heather Parsons, Lindsey Pharmer, Andrew Blakeley, Raphael Yoo, and Chris Miller, all under the apt supervision of Dr. Churchill. Though we experienced a few new-group-style bumps in the road, we powered through what often times is considered the crux of medical school. By early November, we had learned all we could about the structure of the human body in our groups in gross anatomy (Chris Miller, Sharad Sharma, Jody Litrenta, Erin Butler, and Paul Phelps) and microanatomy (Maggie Lee, Betty Tsang, Bao Tram Tran, Steve Choe, and Garrett Yee). I filled in my free time by running my first activity through the Drexel Wilderness Club - a backpacking trip to Sproul State Forest, and also took on the webmaster position for the Health Policy Student Interest Group. I wrote a journal entry on my first day of Gross Anatomy class, which I later read at the Philadelphia Celebration of Remembrance. You can click here to read it... Our first forays into Clinical Skills and the Standardized Patient, that bastion of medical education, were also experiences to be remembered.

Our second semester was Physiology and Neurosciences. Dr. Amy led our not-quit-gender-balanced team of Ingrid Hyder, David Lin, Garret Yee, Jon Pitcher, Dan Moon, and Grant Swisher. Because of it's male dominance, the group ran a lot like those I was in at Lutron - tended to flow well, for those of us who were bold enough to speak up, but tended to keep anyone unsure quiet. Of course, it all worked out well, and I think we got good grades, but this wasn't exactly the gender-equality progress I had been hoping for outside of engineering.

The third semester was back to a more equitable format, this time with Biochemistry/Nutrition and Immunology/Genetics. Dr. Hiner led our team of Emelia Cuneo-Justin, Andrea Poisson, Angela Richardson, David Lin, Jody Litrenta, and Steve Choe. Though we overdid it with feedback from time to time, most people were by this time settling into the concept and flow of PIL, and functioning at a pretty high level. This semester was roughly bisected by spring break, and many of us (Lori and I separately) headed up to VT to get in some late-season snow activity. On a day that I was on the slopes at Killington, Lori took a pregnancy test - which was positive - and the end result was this. Back in school, and into early spring, our class was ready to get out of the building, and into some clinical settings...

Our fourth semester was by far the most interesting - the Primary Care Practicum and Community Health Component. My PCP was with Dr. Kassutto in Pediatric Emergency Medicine. I was a little intimidated at first, because though I'd had several years' experience as an EMT, I'd only a few times had a pediatric patient. Add to that that I felt I should know more, and I think you can see where I was headed. But I guess I was surprised by what I had learned, and even more surprised by how much I didn't know yet (particularly with respect to rashes). The rotation also complemented well my CHC, which was with Covenenant House PA's crisis center in Germantown. I got a lot out of this first experience in a social work setting - it's nice to know that all that stuff I read at Wesleyan and in Harper's could be put to practice a bit. I even arranged to do a summer internship there though Bridging the Gaps.

So a third year in school learning to help people - armed with our PCP experiences in 4th semester, it was time to take problem-based curricula to a new level, learning pathology, pharmacology, and microbiology of all kinds of mean, nasty, ugly things. My fifth semester group included Larissa A., Rajit C., Steve C., Megan G., Jimmy H., Katy J., and our rockin' facilitator, Dr. Sue Zern, who kept us challenged us all to raise our scientific application to a new level. The new year also meant more extensive work in the hospital (Hahnemann) and clinics.

But the fall of 2006 was about much more than academia - in addition to directing the AMSA Philadelphia Residency Fair on October 6, Hannah was born on October 10. Hannah was in the NICU for a week after birth, so it meant I missed a lot of school, and was not feeling the most emotionally strong. The semester ended up being a constant struggle to pass, but all was good in the end, thanks in large part to the help of my group and faculty at Drexel.

The sixth semester had a smattering of organ diseases, but focused mostly on psychiatry. My group: Emelia C., Katy J., Maggie L., Ashlee S., Bao Tram T., RJ Y., and our facilitator Dr. Romano. Again, extracurriculars dominated much of the semester. In addition to attending the AMSA regional conference in Pittsburgh in early Dec, I coordinated the second session of Wilderness First Aid for Medical Students in early January. A career path? We shall see...

Our seventh and final undergraduate medical semester was a repeat meeting of the semester 5 crew, plus a change of facilitator to Dr. David Wagner. And what a great change! Wags (and 4th year phenom Amar) coached our flighty and sporadic group through a rough schedule, when half the group really only wanted to prep for the USMLE Step 1 board exam. In addition, Dr. Wagner offered his cabin in Vermont for any travelling wishes, an offer that Lori and I capitalized for a few days over Spring Break. For me, more extracurriculars - organizing journal clubs on Universal Healthcare and as the AMSA National Conference Delegate in March, plus the Mt. Penn Mudfest again and didn't I have a family in there?

Clif, Rick, Grant, Lisa, Me, and Kate warming up before the Legs Against Arms 5k (Apr, 2007)