I know why the caged bird sings July 2014 - Part 2

So I was contacted by a member of a organization of minority students at my school about attending their meetings to see what they're all about and possibly join their organization. And as I've mentioned too many times to count, support especially as an underrepresented minority student is absolutely critical for academic and professional success. I didn't attend the meeting which was held last week but this coming school year, I'm definitely planning to see what they're all about.

This of course, has me thinking about my options for the PhD and where my best options for support are. What I do know is that I don't have enough support where I am now however, I need to do more research before deciding on a definitive program. And that brings me to my fall schedule, I have NO IDEA which classes I should enroll in although I'm pretty sure that I won't be in my current department a year from now, so that's easy. Combined with the invite to an organization that is already in place to support minority students earning PhD's in the basic sciences, it would seem to be a no brainer for me to enroll in at least one course in the basic sciences department.

Right now, I'm feeling like public health won't have enough "science" to keep my interest besides the fact that's the reason I got out of the field in the first place. But translational medicine (a basic science course of study at my school), with it's clinically relevant coursework/rotation requirements, sounds like it could be a great match for me. Other pluses include the opportunity to choose the cancer track with a translational informatics flavor, the already joint program with the MD/PhD program, and my established relationship with a few of the faculty in this area means that this could be a good fit.

As my recent posts indicate, I'm doing a lot of thinking, meeting/talking with people, and analysing of my situation so as to stay on my target date of the Fall of 2016 to matriculate into an MD/PhD program. Luckily, the work I've already done/am doing, counts toward my elective credits and toward one of the 3 required rotation requirements, so that's especially good because it means I haven't wasted any time.

I also realized that I really missed having NO clinical contact with patients this summer, so I've registered to be a volunteer at another county hospital in the area. The one previous county hospital where I shadowed a Doc was great but it's really far away from where I live/attend school so volunteering there would be kinda difficult given my fall work/class schedule. But there is a county hospital within walking distance (who knew?) from where I'll be taking classes this fall, so I'm hoping a get a volunteer spot there. If all else fails, all of the Docs I shadowed for my class this spring told me I could come back if I wanted to and since I'll be attending class/working in essentially the same general area, that's obviously a great option that happens to be super convenient too.

I've often likened my research career/path to being a LOT having to make a way out of no way, or as my late grandmother would say, "if folks won't let you in through the front door, crawl in through a window. If that doesn't work, dig a tunnel."

When it comes to the field of Biomedical informatics and the fact that based on my observations, over 80% of the folks in the field are Asian, I guess you could say that I'm in the "tunnel digging" phase in my career again. And that's nothing new. But what I will NOT do is allow this fact to discourage me from a field that I'm an absolute superstar in. I'll simply have to find creative ways of getting my professional needs met while dealing with the fact that for as long as I've pursued higher education, I've NEVER "fit in" and probably NEVER will. I simply need to focus more on the fact that there ARE people in my life who want to see me succeed and be open to that fact that I may need to go back into a lab setting to achieve my ultimate academic/career goals.