Goals
Career Goals
Whether I end up designing surgical instruments as an engineer or using them as a physician, my ultimate goal is to help people through my knowledge of STEM. (Photo Credit: CPT Medical).
When it comes to a future career, I am currently exploring whether I would like to improve human health as a physician or a biomedical engineer. Both of these goals match my interest in the human body, play to my scientific strengths as an analytical thinker and problem-solver, and align with my value of serving others. I am leaning towards medicine currently because the relational aspects of my jobs as a swim instructor and interfaith council leader were deeply fulfilling, and I believe I would find this same satisfaction in doctor-patient relationships.
To find this best fit where my passions and talents collide, I am diversifying my experiences across engineering, medicine, and research. In addition to my current internship work, I have shadowed several physicians and will be interning with a pharmaceutical company over the summer. I hope to continue my research with the Veronesi lab for additional time and also to gain clinical experience through scribe work or volunteering.
As I work towards these goals throughout the academic year, I want to inform my own discernment process by learning more about my supervisor's path as an MD-PhD. Throughout my time at IUPUI, I also want to learn about the various career paths of my professors, especially those with industry experience, to expand my knowledge of opportunities in engineering as well as medicine. By building these connections, I hope to reach a decision about my goals while developing my professional identity and gaining mentors along the way.
LHSI Internship Goals
Goal 1
Learn how research, medicine, and engineering can be integrated into new medical technologies and disease treatments, and where in that trifecta I’d like to pursue a career
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I have started working towards this goal by applying skills from my engineering coursework such as 3D design and MATLAB to optimization of the aerosolizer. To continue towards this objective, I need to continue learning more about the animal handling and imaging aspects of the project, as well as how drug delivery is intimately connected to these objectives. Understanding how my passions fit into the research objectives will help to inform my career goals as I decide between pursuing medicine and engineering tracks.
Goal 2
Improve my background research, scientific paper writing, and scientific presenting skills
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I am learning how to prepare more effective background research by collecting and summarizing references to support later scientific writing. By the end of the academic year, I will have also improved by presentation skills by sharing my work at an intern symposium in addition to the weekly lab meetings. These skills will make me a better physician or engineer because in both disciplines, scientific communication is essential to medical treatment advancement.
Goal 3
Improve myself as a team member by getting better at a.) communicating challenges/progress and b.) giving/receiving feedback
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I have improved my communication skills through the process of developing a protocol for testing the aerosolizer. While this task presented several technical obstacles, I leveraged feedback at weekly lab meetings to continue improving and progressing.
As I've planned in vivo experiments this spring, I've gotten better at conveying challenges and progress. I will have a chance to demonstrate these abilities through my culminating intern showcase presentation. Becoming a better communicator will help me to reach my broader goal of becoming a more well-rounded and team-oriented professional.
How has the time at your internship affected your career planning journey and goals?
My internship has strengthened my interests in medical school. Last semester, my research was engineering-centered as I worked with the aerosolizer in vitro to modify CAD designs, devise a novel testing method, and analyze data from experimental trials. This semester, I have begun planning in vivo experiments, completed training in rat handling, and observed animal procedures. While I enjoyed many elements of my fall semester work such as strategically designing MATLAB scripts to analyze the ImageJ data, I have found it more rewarding to work with animals and see firsthand the significance of the aerosolizer to the overall goals of the lab. If I continue on the engineering route, I am interested in positions which allow me to see the immediate clinical relevance of my work, such as clinical specialist or biomedical engineer for a VA hospital. If I decide to pursue medical school and become a physician, I am excited that I will get to work with people directly and know the impact I am making on their lives.
How confident do you feel in your self-knowledge and preferences and in using that to make career-related decisions?
As I gain more work and research experiences, I am gaining insights on my strengths and workplaces preferences. Between my experiences in the Veronesi lab and as an interfaith intern at Butler's Center for Faith and Vocation, I have discovered that I enjoy working on small, close-knit teams which are collaborating on a mix of independent and group objectives. I value being known as a whole person and getting to know my teammates in the same way. In addition, I enjoy getting to see the impact of my work on larger team objectives and on human individuals or communities. Going forward, I will be looking for this attributes in my future career path as a physician or engineer.
What are your goals for the summer and the remainder of your time at IUPUI?
This summer, I will be interning with Eli Lilly's Medical Innovations Hub. I am exciting for the opportunities I will have to network and learn new technical and project management skills. As a professional, my goal is to explore how chemistry and biomedical engineering degrees can be applied in industry. I hope my experiences and increased understanding of various job roles will inform my own vocational interests. Beyond this summer as I continue my education at IUPUI and Butler, I might TA for a BME class if my schedule allows. Outside of the classroom, I am also looking to volunteer at a health clinic or hospital to round out my medical exposure before I potentially apply for medical school next spring.
Goal Setting: Going to Medical School
Because medical school is an option I am considering, I need to plan for the logistics of the application process. To reach this goal, I need to continue shadowing physicians, prepare for the MCAT, and gain clinical volunteer experience. The graphic above demonstrates how I've broken that larger goal into smaller steps.