Pharmacology in the Wild

McDonalds hash-brown and coffee in stomach, I made my way to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore location early on a Saturday morning. ReStore is both a fantastic little pun as well as the second arm of Habitat for Humanity. While Habitat's main function is building houses for those in need, at ReStore locations, Habitat collects donations of furniture, appliances, and building supplies, and resells them. These sales go into funding future Habitat builds. We began by reorganizing couches that patrons would see as soon as they entered. It was not something I expected to do at the ReStore, but it forced our group (a collection of Pharmacology students as well as ReStore regulars) to call upon our inner interior designers. The rest of the day, when we weren't helping customers load heavy wares into their trucks, was spent moving merchandise into more presentable positions and moving trash out of the way. This involved the fun yet labor intensive endeavor of breaking down wood palle

Almost two months ago, I stepped into 1430 Tulane Ave (the Hutchinson building) for the first time. That moment now feels like forever ago, much like the first time I stepped foot on my undergraduate campus. The past two months have been eye opening, allowing me to grow as a person and scholar.   I moved from a small liberal-arts college in semi-rural Northfield, Minnesota (population 20,000) to a graduate program at the Tulane school of medicine, in New Orleans. I don’t think it’s worth expounding on how these environments are different; no-one in their right mind could confuse Northfield for New Orleans. However, I’ve been struck by the similarities between these institutions. Caring professors and bright, collaborative classmates have thus far marked my experiences.   So far, our program has covered two blocks, basic principles and ANS/CV. We’ve covered a lot, but I’ve found that between the accessibility of my professors and group studying with my classmates, the work has