Fourth Year Fun

Anna Brown, MS4

Hi, I'm Anna, an MS4 who is busy with the interview season but always up for a fun time with volunteering. This past Saturday I had a blast with Duke in Durham Day helping with HubFarm, a great organization that promotes sustainable farming and health education for adolescent children. I particularly enjoyed the role of DJ and getting to choose songs we could jam out to while planting strawberries, helping build a tiered wall for gardening space, or painting fun signs.

It was raining but we still had a great time and just wore colorful ponchos. The medical school's dedication to service and volunteering as well as community involvement is one of the main reasons I chose Duke for medical school. It truly is a fantastic, fun community and I've enjoyed being a part of it.

You can check out the HubFarm here: http://www.thehubfarm.org/

Davison Ball

Mimi Xu, MS3

Hi! I’m Mimi, an MS3 and the Social Committee Chair on the Davison Council, the student council for the School of Medicine at Duke.

This past Saturday, we hosted Davison Ball, an annual formal event that brings together all class years of current Duke medical students. On this evening, everyone dresses in their finest to have a great time with familiar faces and to meet soon-to-be familiar ones. This year, the Davison Ball took place at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham; the exhibits were open to us, which, as you might imagine, was the perfect venue for a bunch of doctors in training.

               

 The photobooth is a constant favorite! We had tons of treats including (but not limited to) towers of cream puffs; mini red velvet cupcakes; madeleines; chocolate chip mini muffins; chips and hummus; meat, cheese, and cracker trays; and, so that we can get our fiber, veggie trays. We had a fantastic time catching up with old and new friends and dancing the night away! Can’t wait to see you at next year’s Davison Balll!

Duke in Durham Day

Aladine Elsamadicy, MS3
Photo Credit: Mimi Xu

I am the Davison Council Chair of the Service Committee. One of my tasks is to organize Duke in Durham Day (DIDD). DIDD is a bi-annual event where Duke Medical Students from all classes volunteer with local organizations. We had over 90 students volunteer, at over 10 volunteers sites. The sites included: Duke Remedy, Durham Rescue Mission, ReStore Habitat for Humanity, Urban Ministries, Diaper Bank, Sandy Creek Renovations, The Hub Farm, Scrap Exchange, Reach Out and Read Carolinas, El Centro Hispano/Durham County Health Department, and Veterans Health Fair. This is an opportunity for students to understand the needs in our community and to give their time to help better it, even if it is just for 3 hours. These organizations are very appreciative of our time volunteering and try to maximize the volunteering efforts with the group of students.
 

Durham Rescue Mission

I receive emails from the volunteer sites expressing their appreciation, which would make anyone happy. Sandy Creek stated, “What a group!  They got three important jobs completed, in spite of the rain.  Thanks to them and to your program for reaching out to Sandy Creek Park.” Another site, Hub Farm, emailed me, “Thank you all so much for coming out to the Hub for a very fun, wet, and productive workday! It was wonderful to work with you and we are so grateful for all your help and enthusiasm!”.

Reach Out and Read Carolinas

What are you waiting for? Most organizations in Durham would love to have you volunteer and spend time with them. DIDD fosters this collaborative connection with the community, and I cannot wait to see how we can make it even better in the Spring!

 

For more info, check out:
Duke Davison Council Service Page: http://www.dukedavisoncouncil.org/?page_id=50

Organizations:
Duke Remedy: http://sites.duke.edu/remedy/

Durham Rescue Mission: https://www.durhamrescuemission.org/

ReStore Habitat for Humanity: http://www.restoredurhamorange.org/

Urban Ministries: http://umdurham.org/

Diaper Bank: https://www.facebook.com/DiaperBankOfNorthCarolina/

Sandy Creek Renovations: http://www.sandycreekparkdurhamnc.com/

The Hub Farm: http://www.thehubfarm.org/

Scrap Exchange: http://scrapexchange.org/

Reach Out and Read Carolinas: http://www.reachoutandreadsc.org/

El Centro Hispano/Durham County Health Department: http://www.elcentronc.org/

Veterans Health Fair: http://caareinc.org/?page_id=72

Let's Be Well RED

Rajvi Mehta, MS3

Currently a third year medical student at Duke, I am also the founder of Let’s Be Well RED (LBWR) a social venture in India which aims to combat the widespread prevalence of iron-deficiency anemia (80% Indians are anemic) by providing iron-rich nutritional bars called GudNeSs. Each bar contains the WHO recommended daily dosage of iron.

Before I get into my time at Duke, a little more background may help: I was born and raised in Mumbai, India and pursued my undergraduate studies at Brown University. During my first semester there, I started feeling sick and pale—I was exhausted all the time, couldn’t focus while studying, and my grades suffered. When I went back home over winter break I got tested and found that I had iron deficiency anemia and through my interactions with local physicians, I also found that Iron deficiency is a huge public health problem in the country. Two things intrigued me: one, I was born and raised there, but had never heard of anemia being such a big problem and two, why is anemia such a huge problem when the solution is very simple—all you need is an adequate amount of iron in your diet! To understand the situation a little more, I conducted anemia testing and treating camps in urban slums in Mumbai and through my interactions with anemic women I realized that while most of them understood the importance of adding iron to their diet and many of them had already suffered the consequences of the condition, they were looking for a simple solution to the problem—they were looking for one food product that contained the WHO recommended daily dosage of iron. When I surveyed the Indian market, I did not find any such product, so to fill this need we created our very own iron-rich nutritional bars called GudNeSs.

GudNeSs bars launched in 2012

By the time I graduated from Brown, I had a small startup in India but I decided to go to medical school. I wanted a medical school with a great global health program, a good affiliated business school and one that encouraged an entrepreneurial spirit within the student body. Duke met these expectations and when I started medical school at Duke, I had two goals: I wanted to continue growing my company and I wanted to conduct a clinical trial to prove efficacy of GudNeSs. What I wasn’t ready for was the support I received from my Duke family! 15 classmates joined me in spreading the movement and 10 of them spent their spring break in India to start our clinical trial. Dean Andrews and Dr. Clements supported us from the start and provided the necessary guidance and encouragement. The trial proved efficacy of the bars and the results will be published shortly.

Duke medical students with LBWR health scouts in Mumbai

Medical students spreading awareness about anemia in India

Patient recruitment for a clinical study

Press meets and fun in Mumbai

At the same time, we participated and won the Duke Start Up Challenge--a yearlong program business plan competition. This allowed us to spread our services to 3 more states in India, establish our own production unit and today we have 40 employees looking after manufacture, marketing and sale of 100,000 bars/week.

LBWR wins the Duke Startup Challenge

I had no idea I would get so much support from the faculty and the medical students at Duke. I am confident that with this continued support, we will achieve our goal of combatting iron-deficiency anemia in India!

More about LBWR: http://www.home.letsbewellred.org/

Connect with us: https://www.facebook.com/SpreadGudness

                            https://twitter.com/spreadgudness

Fry Me Over The Moon

Even second years make time for the most glorious, fattening, farm-animal-filled 10 days in North

Stephanie Roses, MS2

Carolina: the NC State Fair in Raleigh! I had just finished my surgery rotation and the shelf exam Wednesday before opening day and had spent weeks planning my route for maximum intake of sugar, salt, and fried Oreos (a food group in itself). My classmates Victoria, Valentine, and I took a break from our hectic lives in the operating rooms of the Duke Medical Pavilion and dark recesses of radiology to enjoy the sunshine, pet bunnies in the rabbit barn, and watch as souped-up tractors raced each other on a dirt track at volumes that could lead to noise-induced hearing loss.

 

MS2s take on the NC State Fair: Victoria Bendersky, Valentine Espositio, Stephanie Roses status post “Fry Me Over The Moon” (Reese’s, Hostess Cupcake, Moon Pie, Oreos stacked then fried)

We thought about joining the turkey shoot, where one competes with shotguns and targets to win a turkey, but reconsidered due to our lack of hand-eye coordination and that whole “do no harm” thing. Only after sufficiently stuffing our faces with all of the food we tell patients not to eat (until nearly vomiting) did we decide that rides would be a poor decision - so we took a selfie in front of the ferris wheel instead before heading home and passing out by 9 pm, just as we would have after a long day in the hospital. Until next year!

The midway from above - Part of the first year curriculum is making sure your Insta game is on point (kidding)