Week 9:
My Last Week at Mayo

August 18, 2017

My last week at Mayo Clinic was bittersweet. I was very excited to be able to come home and spend time with my family before the start of my senior year (woah), but I am also so sad to leave Mayo. During my time here, I have met so many brilliant people, and have been able to do things I had never dreamed of being able to do as an undergrad. I now have 50+ hours of shadowing experience in fields ranging from psychiatry to cardiology. I have attended neurology conferences with some of the best neurologists in the country every week, two times a week, and of course, I have learned about REM sleep behavior disorder and other sleep disorders in about as much depth as one can in 9 short weeks.

On Tuesday, Dr. St Louis took us out as a lab to pizza as kind of a closing event. We were able to talk about the summer and the things we have been able to accomplish. It was very nice to sit down with everyone and reminisce on this amazing summer and all of the things we have learned and accomplished. It is very sad to have to leave these wonderful people who I have spent basically my entire summer with, inside and outside of the lab. Dr. St Louis mentioned many times that he believes this was the best, most productive summer they have ever had. We, as a group, had a great dynamic that was productive and fun at the same time.

I had a meeting with Dr. St Louis as a bit of a closing/debriefing. We spoke about the 4-limb pilot that I began and that the lab will be continuing with as more subjects/controls become available. With enough data, Dr. St Louis is hopeful we will be able to publish a paper on this topic, as this is a novel technique. I did not go into this summer thinking I would be able to publish, and am now walking away with, hopefully, two papers with my name on them. During this meeting, Dr. St Louis extended the offer to have me back next summer and/or during my gap year. To me, this is one of the greatest compliments. To have him acknowledge and appreciate my hard work so much that he would have me back to work in the lab again is gratifying. Although I do not yet know what my gap year will entail, I am surely going to keep the Mayo Clinic Center for Sleep Medicine in mind.

Overall, my summer at the Mayo Clinic will forever be one of my favorites. It was a summer spent learning incredible things about the medical field, and reaffirming my love for medicine. I am so grateful towards Dimensions, Berry Career Institute, Cornell Fellows and the Wallman family for allowing me this opportunity. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have been able to do this. I am also incredibly thankful to my parents for pushing me to pursue my dreams, no matter how big. This part of my life is just beginning, and I am so excited to see where I go next.