My career goals are to graduate from IU Indianapolis with a Bachelors of Science in Biology, attend medical school, and become an orthopedic surgeon. For as long as I can remember, I have always been interested in science and helping others, and pursuing medicine seemed like a natural fit for both interests. There were also multiple orthopedic injuries in my family throughout my life, which led me to develop a particular interest in fracture healing and bone loss. I am confident that orthopedic surgery is the best career option for me, considering that orthopedics has been a nearly lifelong interest of mine and I enjoy highly precise tasks that require problem solving. I recognize that these goals can change over time, which is why I am grateful to have been selected for LHSI so that I can experience orthopedic surgery in some capacity. LHSI has only reinforced my belief that orthopedics is the direction I am meant to take as I found the information fascinating and my favorite tasks were observing surgeries and assisting with care of the mice. Through the program, I have gained confidence in skills related to my career path and more knowledge in the field which makes me feel more confident in my abilities to make career decisions in the future.
My primary goals when entering LHSI were to explore my desired career path and take advantage of every opportunity. At the time, I was interested in orthopedics, but wasn't sure if that was the career I wanted for the rest of my life. Through LHSI, I had the opportunity to work in an orthopedic surgery research lab and experience the field firsthand.
My goals only changed slightly over the last year. Going forward, I intend to keep taking on every opportunity that comes my way and will continue to try new things when I can. However, this experience has reinforced my love of orthopedic surgery and has further inspired me to pursue this dream. Because of this, I will continue to explore this career, not because I want to find a field I love, but because I love the field I'm in. I am especially inspired to complete my goals by all of my teammates that helped me succeed throughout my internship. Many of them are at different points in their journey to becoming a physician or researcher, and it is inspiring to see how they achieve their goals and replicate them myself. A new goal that I had set for myself relatively early in this process was to learn as much as I can from the fellow students in the lab. Many of whom have taken me in and given me advice and information to help me succeed, whether it was lab information, medical school advice, or even notes in a class I had difficulty in. As a follow up to that, I hope that when I continue working in the Kacena Lab next year, I can serve as that person for someone else.
Learning Goal #1: Develop New Laboratory Skills
One of my biggest goals in LHSI is to develop new lab skills. Lab skills will help me succeed in my classes, and will help develop the fine motor skills I need to become a good orthopedic surgeon.
Action Plan:
I will learn a variety of different wet lab tasks and procedures
I will ask many questions to ensure that I understand how to do each task and why we are doing it
I will ask to participate in more experiences when I feel that I can take on more
Progress:
This was my primary goal when entering LHSI, and I would say that this was a success throughout my internship. I had the opportunity to learn a variety of lab techniques, and have been invited to learn more when I return in the Summer. Honestly, there were no significant struggles when achieving this goal. However, from the very beginning I was sure to ask as many questions as I needed to and took lots of notes. When I was learning a procedure for the first time, I would write down the process as well as any tips I learned from the person training me. This allowed me to earn independence much more quickly as I had a deeper understanding, and recall, of the skills. I was often called a "quick learner" by teammates, and I had the benefit of strong laboratory skills from my courses. Because of this, my supervisors trusted me with additional lab tasks.
Learning Goal #2: Create New Interpersonal Connections
My dream is to go into orthopedic surgery in the future. I got very lucky that the lab I matched with focuses on orthopedic surgery and my principal investigator has many connections in the field. I hope to make a good, lasting impression and meet new people.
Action Plan:
I will always present myself well (on time, dressed appropriately, positive attitude, etc.)
I will take on additional commitments that aren't required, but encouraged, such as attending the lab meetings
I will have open and effective communication with all of my lab members
Progress:
I have made tremendous progress in this goal. At the beginning of my internship, I had to become accustomed to checking my email regularly, which occasionally led to misconceptions or altogether missed messages. However, I have become much more effective with my communication skills, which makes my job significantly easier. Throughout my internship, I held up showing up on time, being dressed appropriately for lab, and attending optional events (ex. seminars, AI meetings, etc.). I have developed good relationships with all of my teammates and have been introduced to many people who have already achieved my dream and offered to help me get there. This was made possible by showing up, working hard, and having that work be noticed, which then opened additional opportunities to help me succeed.
Learning Goal #3: Expand My Understanding of Lab Work
Since my lab's research is strongly related to the career path I hope to take in the future, developing a solid understanding of how this portion of the human body works will be very beneficial.
Action Plan:
I will ask my supervisors questions to help develop my understanding of concepts
I will attend lab meetings and take notes to develop my understanding of what the lab is currently doing
I will take on additional tasks to build my frame of reference and ability to answer more questions in the future
Progress:
I have followed through on this goal as well, once again without any significant struggle. As listed above, I attended lab meetings, I took on additional tasks, and I asked my supervisors plenty of questions about what we were doing and why. A lot of information came from reading my lab's published papers on my own time, and it was quite satisfying to surprise my supervisors with what I knew. For example, I had read about a specific study that my lab had conducted, and I asked my supervisors a few questions about it because I was curious, which surprised them. Of course, with my limited education and time in the lab, I will not understand 100% of everything there is to learn in my lab. However, my work so far has lead to a solid foundation that I hope to continue building upon as I continue to work at the site.
Baseline:
A few of the skills that I am confident in already are my ability to receive criticism and my drive to confront challenges and failures. Through previous life experiences, I have developed a strong ability to receive criticism and use it for self-improvement. Moreover, I will often seek out criticism to ensure that my performance is the best it possibly can be. This also ties in with my drive to confront my challenges and failures. When I am struggling, and I have issues improving on my own, I will seek feedback from those around me to see if their insights will help me understand what I am missing. For example, I am currently learning how to handle mice, and I am having particular difficulty with scruffing them. Since I am struggling to learn this skill on my own, I have asked others in the lab that have more experience with mice for any corrections or insights that will help me learn. While not perfect yet, their help helped me figure out what I am doing wrong, and additional methods I can try in the future.
Reflection:
One of the skills that I have improved with the most was my independence. When I first started LHSI, I was eager to have independence in the lab as I considered it a sign of trust and my supervisor's belief in my abilities. I often wrote about how I was eager to reach that point, and eventually it did come. By the end, I was entrusted with various independent tasks, and I had the opportunity to train new lab members in some basic tasks. For example, one of my first tasks in the lab was IACUC pre-operative paperwork, which requires multitasking and keeping track of time. A few months after learning this task myself, I had the opportunity to teach a new lab member how to do it, which was very exciting.
Baseline:
The skill that I would like to continue to work on is gaining more independence. At this point, I am technically still in training for my lab, as I will have numerous tasks that I will be expected to complete. While I am learning the skills, I still have to ask occasional questions to ensure I am doing the lab correctly. Once I gain more skills and complete all of my training, I will have more independence and will be able to solve more problems on my own. In the meantime, I will continue working on my training and taking notes so that I can use them to answer questions later on.
Reflection:
One of the skills from this survey that I would like to continue to work on is communication. While I improved signicantly from the start of the semester, I would say that I still have a long way to go. At the start, I was often missing emails, largely due to not being used to checking it often and I struggled to ask for help. While the former has improved, and I rarely miss emails, I still struggle to ask for help when needed. I have managed to do this when absolutely necessary. For example, calling out if I am sick or giving my supervisors the heads up in advance when I have exams. However, for smaller tasks such as asking for help on a given job I still struggle. This will continue to improve as I get more comfortable in my lab and a working environment in general. As I continue to work at this site, this will be a priority to prevent any potential issues.
My internship helped me develop a deeper understanding of both my major and work required to make advancements in my future career. I am working towards a bachelor's of science in Biology on the Pre-Medicine track at IU Indianapolis, where there is a lot of focus on how the human body functions. Working in this lab has allowed me to develop more insight on how the musculoskeletal system functions, as well as the potential interactions that it has with other bodily systems.