TEN FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN CHOOSING A SPECIALTY The proliferation of specialties (and subspecialties) means that every physician practices a different type of medicine. Even within the same specialty, no two doctors are alike. Faced with all this diversity, how do medical students commit to a single specialty? Many go through a “process of ‘trying…
PIONEER OF MODERN SURGERY The pioneer of modern surgery, known in the West as “Abulcasis”, Abu al-Qasim Al-Zahrawi was not just a pioneer in surgical innovation; he was also a great teacher whose medical texts had shaped the European surgical procedures up until the Renaissance and later. His most famous piece of work was the…
MISSING CONTACT LENS FOUND 28-YEARS LATER While playing badminton one spring day in England, a 14-year-old girl discovered the vision in her one eye to be blurry. Later she discovered she had lost one of her contact lenses. She didn’t think much about it until three decades later, doctors found the contact lens embedded in…
SHERLOCK HOLMES + DR HOUSE = FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST Do you love the idea of being a detective and a doctor? Do you love procedural crime dramas on television where the detectives rely on the data provided by a medical examiner to solve the case? Are you interested in coupling the basic sciences with clinical sciences?…
STUDY HABITS OF SUCCESSFUL MEDICAL STUDENTS Medical student success has sometimes been attributed to simply having a high IQ. In other words, nature over nurture. However, research over the past two decades have identified several habits that highly successful medical students have in common, regardless of IQ level. So, why not put these habits to…
General Surgery: Satisfaction of Immediate Results Surgeons save lives and heal the sick with their own hands. Surgery is the ultimate curative therapy for many patients and is an essential part of modern medicine. It is a career of constant excitement, high energy, quick decisions, and intellectual stimulation. No day is the same as the…