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What are your plans to keep busy until May 14th???


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After I finish exams (very late) I'm headed back home and intend on enjoying Thunder Bay for the last two weeks while working, as I'm not sure how long that will last if i get in :P

 

 

 

I've heard 'May Run' maybe 5 times in my life. It's May TwoFour in NWO, regardless of the actual Victoria Day.

 

 

 

Honestly they must have been from Northern Ontario. I've used it other places in Ontario/Canada and they all have no idea what I'm talking about.

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I'm writing an exam tomorrow for an elective course that I'm taking for another application, then I'm free! I'll just be working and continuing to plan my wedding, which is taking place back home in Ontario mid-August :)

 

Good luck on the exam tomorrow and congrats on the upcoming wedding! Can imagine you must be very excited :D I'm thinking about proposing this summer if things work out well. Been with my girlfriend for almost 9 years now, so I'm thinking it's about time to pop the question. I've heard wedding planning can be quite the nightmare though :P

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Good luck on the exam tomorrow and congrats on the upcoming wedding! Can imagine you must be very excited :D I'm thinking about proposing this summer if things work out well. Been with my girlfriend for almost 9 years now, so I'm thinking it's about time to pop the question. I've heard wedding planning can be quite the nightmare though :P

 

Thank you! :D I'm quite excited and as of yesterday, my fiancé and I have been together for 9 years.. what a coincidence! I will admit that wedding planning can be stressful at times (especially doing it from another province!), but if you stay on top of things, it can also be really fun :)

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If you get accepted to NOSM and/or spend anytime in Northern Ontario it's referred to as May Run weekend. Some interesting Northern Ontario lingo there for you.

 

No, it's May 2-4... Have never heard may run and grew up in Sudbury.

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I'm thinking about proposing this summer if things work out well. Been with my girlfriend for almost 9 years now, so I'm thinking it's about time to pop the question.

 

I hope your girlfriend doesnt read the forums for amusement. I am pretty sure mine has creeped the site in the past just to see how much of a jerk I am :)

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Thank you! I'm quite excited and as of yesterday, my fiancé and I have been together for 9 years.. what a coincidence! I will admit that wedding planning can be stressful at times (especially doing it from another province!), but if you stay on top of things, it can also be really fun

 

You're most weclome! That's a funny coincidence about the 9 year mark :D Our 9th year "dating anniversary" is near the end of may, so we're a little behind you guys. Great time to get married though! Hopefully I will get to start experiencing the fun of wedding planning this summer :P

 

I hope your girlfriend doesnt read the forums for amusement. I am pretty sure mine has creeped the site in the past just to see how much of a jerk I am

 

Haha, that is a scary thought. She spends way too much time on pinterest to venture on over here, or at least so she makes me think. Now that I think about it though, I have shown her the forum several times and she is definitely familiar with my user name :eek: ...... hmmm.... to delete previous post or not ...... nahhh, I have faith in her obsession with other social media sites / blogs that she won't bother browsing these forums. Haha, I can only imagine if she is reading this right now though :P By the way, how's your summer looking RB?

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I really enjoyed my time in TB for my interview. The people were all very nice - reminded me of here in newfoundland. i'm gonna start looking for some new television seasons to watch to bide my time, open to suggestions! haha

 

Breaking Bad, the Walking Dead, Arrested Development (new episodes on Netflix as of May 26th!), and Dexter

 

I also really enjoyed my time in TB for the interview :)

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By the way, how's your summer looking RB?

 

Summer looks relatively busy. Going to be continuing to do some contract dietitian work once a week, going to be doing hypertension research with a NOSM prof. and going to be doing a non-credit rural family medicine/emergency medicine elective throughout most of the summer. I still need to go into the family health team to set up my schedule but ideally I would like to go to the clinic 3 afternoons a week for the summer to maintain/improve my history and physical examination skills as well as do a 2 week block full time covering the rural emerg in July. So the money wont be rolling in like in previous recent summers working 60 hours a week as an RD but it will be varied and satisfying in a different way.

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Summer looks relatively busy. Going to be continuing to do some contract dietitian work once a week, going to be doing hypertension research with a NOSM prof. and going to be doing a non-credit rural family medicine/emergency medicine elective throughout most of the summer. I still need to go into the family health team to set up my schedule but ideally I would like to go to the clinic 3 afternoons a week for the summer to maintain/improve my history and physical examination skills as well as do a 2 week block full time covering the rural emerg in July. So the money wont be rolling in like in previous recent summers working 60 hours a week as an RD but it will be varied and satisfying in a different way.

 

Wow! Awesome plans Beef :D You got a ton load of amazing activities going on between research, a clinical elective and your contract work. Where are you doing the elective? For the research, if you don't mind me asking, what are you investigating? I'm assuming it's mostly clinical (vs. wet lab). Also, are you receiving a stipend for the research or is it more for experience? Final question, how is it funded? In other words, did you need to obtain any grants / funding for the PI your working with to take you on?

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Lol ... Ill try to answer all of your questions within your text ...

 

Wow! Awesome plans Beef :D You got a ton load of amazing activities going on between research, a clinical elective and your contract work. Where are you doing the elective?

 

On Manitoulin.

For the research, if you don't mind me asking, what are you investigating? I'm assuming it's mostly clinical (vs. wet lab).

 

Here is the description of the research on the CIHR website.

 

Country: Canada, Tanzania

 

Research title: DREAM-GLOBAL: Diagnosing hypeRtension - Engaging Action and Management in Getting LOwer Bp in Aboriginal and LMIC – A Research Proposal

 

Summary:

Heart disease and stroke are the number one killers world-wide. When someone has hypertension, the constantly elevated blood pressure damages their blood vessels and the organs that they supply blood to. This causes stroke, heart attack, heart failure, kidney failure and dementia. Finding and lowering high blood pressure to normal with lifestyle changes and if necessary medications, lowers the risk of these outcomes. Canada has high rates of blood pressure control compared to other countries in the world, due in large part to the successful dissemination of hypertension guidelines. However remote and disadvantaged communities have not been as successful and need additional measures to help achieve the same level of blood pressure control as the rest of the country. The DREAM-GLOBAL team has extensive experience with project management and cell phone technology as well as working with Canada's Aboriginal Communities and a large community in Tanzania. The DREAM-GLOBAL project will integrate innovations in technology with the implementation of guidelines-based blood pressure control and through partnerships with experts in government and industry, overcome barriers to lowering blood pressure in Canada's Aboriginal Communities, and in a community in Tanzania. We will develop and test tools that will close the circle of care around people with hypertension by bringing measurement data to the medical record and health care provider and also sending useful medical feedback to the person with hypertension via secure data servers and routine SMS messaging on cell phones. We will test the effectiveness of this system for diagnosing and also for managing hypertension. To begin the process of preventing hypertension we will explore with Aboriginal Communities how to create policies to reduce the sodium content in their food. We have a track record of success in managing hypertension and believe that DREAM-GLOBAL can also become a platform for managing other chronic diseases.

 

Also, are you receiving a stipend for the research or is it more for experience?

 

I am receiving a stipend for doing the work but I am mostly doing it for the experience/ CaRms resume building as honestly I could make more doing more RD stuff.

 

Final question, how is it funded?

 

It is funded through NOSM through their NOSM summer research award. I think they had 8 research awards and you submit an application in December (?) once a prof has agreed to take you on from the list of available profs/research and you may or may not get one.

 

In other words, did you need to obtain any grants / funding for the PI your working with to take you on?

 

I chose to go with the internal award as it is less hassle than trying to round up external grants though there is some hypertension research grants that we would have tried to round up if I wasnt selected for the NOSM award.

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By the way I do not get to go to Tanzania. My prof just came back from 3 weeks in Tanzania as well as the Nephrologist who is also a principal investogator. They will be going again to Tanzania in October. I get to go to the local Aboriginal communities involved in the study and work from home ... so MUCH LESS exotic then going on an all expenses paid trip to Africa :D

 

Beef

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Thanks Beef for the detailed responses :D I would have asked you in private, but I figured I should ask it on the forum in case anyone else is interested. If I get in, I would love to return back to conducting research projects throughout the summer and so I was interested in finding out how you got involved. I'm glad to hear that they have 8 internal awards for summer research as getting external grants can be a pain. If you don't mind, I have 2 more quick questions. 1. Do you know approximately how many people apply for those internal awards? and 2. Do you know if any of the recipients go on to do wet lab research? I noticed NOSM's lab (Sudbury, haven't seen T-Bay) is very well equipped for cellular / molecular medicine research, which is my cup of tea :D Of course, I'd be more than thrilled to develop clinical research skills, but I'd love to follow through with some basic research ideas that have been brewing in the back of my mind.

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sounds awesome RB, lots of great opportunities

 

who was asking about TV shows to watch? well, if you want an intense, superbly acted action film, watch 'The Hurt Locker'. just saw it last night, omg. It won Best Picture a few years ago. awesome.

 

thought I'd watch the Iron Lady tonight.

 

hang in there!! just over 3 weeks

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Unfortunately I do not have a good answer for either one of your questions. Certainly there are more applicants than awards but what the ratio is I dont know. Rest assured it is better than the odds of getting into NOSM :) ... probably not that funny for people waiting for May 14th and on edge :D

 

I am sure one could get involved with the wet lab if they really wanted to although I dont know anyone in my class, prior wet lab experience or not, who is all that thrilled to be going back to do pipeting or some other menial lab duties. People seem to be concentrating on trying to figure out what type of medicine they are interested in ... that is doing clinical experiences and clinical medicine related activities rather than wet lab type stuff.

 

Beef

 

Thanks Beef for the detailed responses :D I would have asked you in private, but I figured I should ask it on the forum in case anyone else is interested. If I get in, I would love to return back to conducting research projects throughout the summer and so I was interested in finding out how you got involved. I'm glad to hear that they have 8 internal awards for summer research as getting external grants can be a pain. If you don't mind, I have 2 more quick questions. 1. Do you know approximately how many people apply for those internal awards? and 2. Do you know if any of the recipients go on to do wet lab research? I noticed NOSM's lab (Sudbury, haven't seen T-Bay) is very well equipped for cellular / molecular medicine research, which is my cup of tea :D Of course, I'd be more than thrilled to develop clinical research skills, but I'd love to follow through with some basic research ideas that have been brewing in the back of my mind.
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Awesome insight Beef.

 

Once I'm in, I definitely want to load up my summers with research. I have to admit though that I do miss benchwork. There's something oddly meditative about pipetting sometimes. I REALLY miss working with animals too.

 

Anyways, good to know NOSM supports summer research :)

 

Officially 3 weeks left! I have my last exam today, then I begin my true wait. With no job lined up yet for the summer I do think I'll be going a little stir crazy.

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Lwu the facilities in Tbay are pretty good as well, especially if you like hypoxia research. Cell culture equipment, flow cytometry etc. While I'm not a huge fan of open concept labs its not really an issue due to a pretty low density of students/ techs. There's also a good mix of established and young/ hungry PIs.

GI- The animal facility is off- campus which is a bit of a pain but its Thunder Bay so everything is within 10 or 15 minutes.

Hopefully we can cook up some cool science if we're all successful.

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Lwu the facilities in Tbay are pretty good as well, especially if you like hypoxia research. Cell culture equipment, flow cytometry etc. While I'm not a huge fan of open concept labs its not really an issue due to a pretty low density of students/ techs. There's also a good mix of established and young/ hungry PIs.

GI- The animal facility is off- campus which is a bit of a pain but its Thunder Bay so everything is within 10 or 15 minutes.

Hopefully we can cook up some cool science if we're all successful.

 

Thanks for the info tb123 :D Certainly would be awesome to collaborate with you and GI Geoff to brew up some creative research projects if we all get in! I love flow and was super impressed with the one at the Sudbury campus. Think the tech said it was 8-color and either duo or triple laser :cool: That blew me away as the lab I did my Masters in (which was part of OHRI and Uottawa) had only recently purchased a Cyan-adp 9 (9-color, triple laser), before that we were working with an FC500 (5 color, duo). The flow at the Sudbury campus, and it sounds like T-bay has something similar, would definitely allow for some pretty intense cell characterization, which would be really useful for regenerative medicine based experiments. Given the high prevalence of diabetes in Northern Ontario, I would love to get involved in research addressing diabetes through regenerative strategies. I guess the biggest hurdle though is the lack of PIs involved in such research. In fact, I think the only researcher in the regenerative field (muscle regeneration specifically) and who is affiliated with NOSM is Simon Lees. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Even still, it seems like there are many other excellent basic research opportunities at NOSM, especially in Hypoxia. Of course, as Beef clearly demonstrated, there is ample opportunity for exciting clinical research projects as well :D

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