Moving Forward!

An exciting (and admittedly tiring) journey lay ahead of us today! We met up with ENS Sophia Yang and LT Katie Hager at the Rockville Metro Station in the early morning. With tennis shoes on our feet and adventure on the mind, the team headed out to Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) on the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where we were greeted by Joan C. Stearman, M.S.W.,Director, Office of Admissions.

Joan C. Stearman, M.S.W Director of the Office of Admissions!

Mrs. Stearman provided us a unique inside look into the medical school admissions process. Given that one of our own (Alyssa Falise) is currently in the process of applying to medical school, this golden information certainly went a long way! The entire admissions staff was helpful, welcoming, and enthusiastic at the time of arrival.

After our discussion, we went down to the anatomy lab to meet with the anatomy lab curator. Did you know, that there are three medical schools in Maryland, and that it costs USU only $137 per cadaver? After an eye opening question and answer session with the anatomy lab curator, we took a look at $400,000 worth of medical textbooks and a laboratory the length of a football field. That’s some amazing stuff! We were even fortunate enough to see a cadaver of a human body and learn how the process of dissection can help medical students learn about the complexities of the human body. Med students from the USUHS School of Medicine- Ophthalmology Program were preparing to learn about the major arteries in the head and brain by way of dissection. We were able to see the cadaver portion of just the head as the anatomy lab curator showed us some of the major arteries in the head and brain.

Following our tour of the anatomy lab at USUHS, we headed directly to National Institute of Health (NIH). Met by two lovely two guides Mrs. Sharon and Mrs. Sharon (that was not a typo) we marched on to the Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Center. This facility is absolutely enormous; in fact, it is the nation’s largest hospital dedicated to entirely clinical research. With 234 beds patient beds and up to thirteen floors, the Mark O Hatfield Clinical Center includes a gym, chapel, library, indoor play area, and much, much more.  After stopping for lunch on the lower levels (yum!), we waved goodbye to Mrs. Sharon and Mrs. Sharon and headed onwards to the final leg of our journey.

The National Library of Medicine was our last stop. We marched the grounds, inside and out. Two ladies presented a short bit on web resources and phone apps designed by the National Library of Medicine to provide accurate and up to date medical information for daily life and in case of emergencies. We proceeded to walk around various parts of the library, including but not limited to the Native American Exhibit and the History of Medicine.

All in all, it’s been a phenomenal, awe inspiring, and utterly tiring day. There’s no doubt about it; the entire team is in agreement--it’s time to nap. Happy snoozing!