1. My first main project activity was histology work which involved the handling of rodent brain tissue through sectioning, mounting, and staining followed by imaging, calculations, and analysis. My second main project activity was brain preservation through procedures of perfusions and extraction. My third main project activity was behavioral work that consisted of running mice through different model setups and recording facets of behavior like freezing.
2. While completing my STEP signature project, my view of myself and my capabilities grew. I truly feel like I learned more in the summer during my project than I did the whole year prior to it. I used to be more hesitant to engage in experimental procedures due to the risk of making mistakes, however, after being pushed to take more initiative and actually jump onto a task with full force, I realized that I knew more than I had previously thought because of all the times that I had shadowed my mentors while they performed their experiments in the past. I also was surprised by how much I was able to apply the knowledge I had gained in my coursework to the research I was conducting in lab, especially as it pertains to the scientific literature that I was reviewing to familiarize myself more with the project I was involved in.
My view of the world also changed/transformed because I used to shy away from asking for help, but now I collaborate more comfortably with the peers of my lab after I embraced the fact that there are a lot of people in the world that want to see the best out of me. I also learned about how much time and dedication it takes to really get good at something, because at every stage that I would reach in my progress, I saw new heights for me to reach. It taught me the importance of humility and consistency, because if it wasn’t difficult, it wouldn’t be worthwhile.
3. One of the biggest factors in my growth in confidence of my abilities was due to my grad student mentor Kiara putting a lot of trust in me to do lots of things on my own after showing me how to do it herself like perfusions, extractions, staining, IHC, and injury volume analysis. Doing perfusions by myself for the first time after being asked to by Kiara was a transformational experience for me because at a certain point when I had first started in this lab, perfusions/extractions seemed like the hardest procedure to perform after mice surgeries. However, after Kiara walked me through it step-by-step, she finally pushed me to take that leap and do it on my own, and when I actually did it successfully, it instilled an unbelievable amount of self-confidence.
However, it wasn’t just through the successes that I grew. It was through the challenges as well. During the summer, I was able to help others out with behavior experiments, but at first, I wasn’t allowed to run the tests independently. Therefore, it was my goal to get more trained in behavior and get approved to do it on my own which would require the assistant director, James, to monitor me as I ran behavior on a practice mouse and assess how well I performed. The first time I did it, I failed my approval run. There were many mistakes I made that I didn’t even realize were mistakes. I was somewhat confident going into it that I knew what I was doing, so it showed me how much humility I needed to grow from this experience. I had to be humble enough to learn from others to recognize and fix my mistakes so that I could improve for the next run. Surely enough, I did the necessary work, ran through the approval run one more time weeks later, and got approved by James.
What pushed me to take more initiative was a few key moments. For one, a little before the beginning of my STEP project, I had a conversation with James about wanting to get involved in his CaMKII study. He agreed to let me, but advised me that in order for me to be successful, I cannot simply let tasks be handed to me. I would have to go out there and “catch the fish” myself, and that no one is going to do it for me. This taught me that although everybody would be willing to help, I would need to volunteer to do work myself. What guided me through this process was Kiara and witnessing her be a good role model of what it means to be a young leader who rises to the occasion.
4. My goal is to become a medical doctor, and in every phase of that journey, it would be useful to utilize skills I learned during my STEP project. Medical schools require teamwork and conversation skills when participating in clinical rotations, professional student organization, research, study groups, and projects. Residency and beyond requires teamwork when working amongst other healthcare professionals in a medical team. In a similar fashion, this emphasizes the importance of leadership in becoming a doctor. Additionally, confidence is essential to that leadership, especially when you’re faced with high pressure situations on an everyday basis. Circling back to the topic of medical school, tenaciousness and patience are necessary to dealing with occasional failures and lackluster performances during medical school examinations and important due to the lengthiness and arduousness of the medical journey, especially if pursuing a surgical specialty. Understanding that medicine is a constant, ongoing journey of learning even after becoming an attending physician is important to the growth process.