The Medical Lecture Series

As a medical student, sometimes we cannot help but lose sight of what our finals goals are in the medical field, particularly because of the vast (and varied) scope of material that we are expected to cover within class. “Where does it all fit in? ...is it really of any use?”

Thus, it was rather timely that this semester has witnessed a fledgling effort by SIS students to bring more medical professionals from the WMC’s affiliated hospitals to the Chashan campus to give us a kind of ‘practical medical orientation’. The inaugural event consisted of a lecture held by Dr. Teng Hong Lin (’96), a spinal surgeon, and it covered Bone degeneration disease. The most recent lecture, held on April 29th at the Xu Guang Hall, featured Dr. Zheng Xiao Feng (’87), a general surgeon, who presented a case study on Perforation of the Ascending Colon, interspersed with video displays of laparoscopic surgery.

Truthfully speaking, the lectures were well-thought out and presented, and introduced us to the complexity of the DDx - ‘differential diagnosis’. In addition, it presented us with a tangible example of what the “finished product” of a fine medical education should look like – the elegance and poise that comes from the dedication to detail, with a resultant display of ‘Excellence, Honour, and Compassion’ in caring for any patient

Students who have had the chance to visit the 1st affiliated hospital for “Doctor-shadowing” during the last summer and winter holidays can attest to their familiarity with these two alumnae; and for the rest of the students, it was a wonderful chance for them to become acquainted with both the Dean and Vice-Dean of surgery at the hospital. Similarly, the doctors were enthusiastic about the response shown by the students in attendance and have agreed to work with the students towards broadening the scope of subsequent lectures by entrenching a ‘lecture series’ as a staple of the semester’s calendar.
(An immediate fruit of this was the invitation extended to all students to attend the surgical demonstration by Ohio State University’s Bradley J. Needleman, MD. this past Sunday - May 16th 2010 - at the 1st Affiliated Hospital’s Medical Center)

.......A heartfelt vote of thanks goes out to the doctors of WMC for availing themselves to remind us why we are proud to be part of the WMC family. (Also deserving noteworthy mention are Navin Chutturghoon and Mohamed AlHalwachi, two students whose antecedent efforts paved the way for the rapport between the perennially busy doctors and the underclassmen).

[Photography by Usman Asaf]