By VARUN AWASTHISection Editor

The United States and other developed countries have infrastructure to efficient-ly treat fractures resulting from trauma. However, many low- and middle-income countries do not have such technology, which makes any type of surgery difficult to manage.

The Surgical Implant Generation Net-work (SIGN) was established to combat this resource gap, with the ultimate vision of establishing a global level of equality in fracture care and treatment.

Founded by Dr. Lewis J. Zirkle, SIGN has established a unique orthopedic pro-cedure specifically to be implemented in hospitals in low- and middle-income countries. Hospitals in these countries often lack instruments for real-time im-aging.

As stated on signsurgery.org, SIGN surgical procedures are designed such

that they be conducted effectively even with the lack of these capabilities. These procedures mainly focus on major injuries to the tibia and femur.

This procedure, known as the interlock-ing nail surgery, is conducted using the SIGN Intramedullary (IM) Nail system. This system includes an intramedullary nail, interlocking screws and instrumen-tation. According to a review article pub-lished by SIGN, the nail is inserted into tibia, after which instruments are used to realign the bone structures.

The proximal and distal ends of the nail have posterior bends, which allows for a particular radius of curvature that is comparable to that of the human femur.

The bone structures will continue to contain the nail following the surgery. The nail has broken in less than 0.5 per-cent of SIGN surgeries and has had a deep infection rate of 1.9 percent. SIGN has similar procedures that were de-signed for pediatric femur fractures and proximal femur fracture in the hip.

SIGN works directly with surgeons in low- and middle-income countries to train them to effectively utilize the interlocking nail surgery.

Implants are either donated to hospi-tals or provided to them on a reimburse-ment-basis, as this allows the hospitals to provide treatment to poor patients more efficiently. Currently, there are a total of 3,000 surgeons in the world that have been trained to use the SIGN IM Nail System. �

By ABRAM ESTAFANOUSAssociate Editor

In December of 2013, 13-year-old Jahi McMath entered Children’s Hospital & Research Center in Oakland, California for a seemingly routine procedure to have her tonsils removed. Immediately after the

surgery, she experienced a heart attack and brain hemorrhaging. Three days later, she was declared brain dead and was issued a death certificate.

The case of Jahi McMath is one of many end-of-life scenarios that have ultimately spurred debate and confusion among health

care circles and the general public. It has brought to light ethical dilemmas regarding the personhood of a brain-dead individual and the morality of ceasing life support.

“There is confusion of how to determine whether someone is permanently comatose and meets the criteria of whole brain-death, which is supposedly an irreversible loss of function, versus someone who is persistently

vegetated,” said Dr. Cheryl Lew, pediat-ric pulmonologist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Lew believes that determining the definitions of brain death, a coma and a vegetative state is one issue that stirs debate.

Current medical thought defines the central difference between brain death and a coma, as well as a vegetative state, as involving brain activity. The latter two describe states where brain activ-ity is still present, while brain death is

the total loss of brain activity.

Yet, confusion still abounds. This con-fusion of how death is defined has spurred various health care specialists, such as bio-ethicist Arthur Caplan of New York Univer-sity Langone Medical Center, to argue for a more blunt approach in explaining to fami-

lies the state of the patient. Caplan argues that the main driving

force behind the legal debacle of Jahi Mc-Math’s case was a lack of knowledge by the family regarding whether Jahi was consid-ered to be in an irreversible condition.

However, clearing up the definition of death seems to be more complicated than one would think. The borders of brain death are not clearly defined.

“At the time of the original description of death by neurological criteria, the belief was that if you had complete loss of brain func-tions, your peripheral body functions, even if you were on a ventilator, would deterio-rate,” Lew said.

She added, “But this is probably not the case because it is very difficult to distin-guish between the persistently vegetated individual and one who has permanent loss of brain function.”

Furthermore, Lew believes that confu-sion and debate also results from a current trend by many bioethicists to associate death with personality.

“There is current controversy in that some bioethicists think that perhaps death really means the loss of personhood. The difficulty with that is that people tend to be concrete and it’s hard for many people to understand that the shell of the body is not necessarily the person,” she said.

With increasing medical knowledge, it seems that the debate over the essence of death will rage on, with inevitable perspec-tives that will move to challenge the current notion of death by neurological criteria.

“There have been years of arguing that the current definition of brain death is very flawed and that there should be a redress of the issue,” said Lew. �

Safari of the Soul: Reducing Water Poverty

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ONLINE EXCLUSIVES Spotlight: Interaxon’s NeuroCamp | Pre-Med Update: MCAT Changes | Student Involvement: Disaster Relief

TROJAN HEALTH CONNECTIONU N I V E R S I T Y O F S O U T H E R N C A L I F O R N I A ’ S # 1 S O U R C E F O R P R E - H E A L T H N E W S

Volume IV | Issue II April 23, 2014WWW.TROJANHEALTHCONNECTION.COM

By PAVITRA KRISHNAMANIEditor

In addition to supporting USC, Dana and David Dornsife serve as role models for students by virtue of their work allevi-ating water poverty in Africa with the orga-nization World Vision.

! e Dornsifes spoke about their hu-manitarian work at the Visions and Voices event, “Safari of the Soul,” which took place on February 12, 2014. In an interview with Dana Dornsife, she revealed more about her inspiration to work in water poverty.

“When you witness what clean water can very rapidly do in a positive way to the lives of women and children, in particular, it’s kind of infectious,” Dornsife said.

She added, “We just really appreciated what we were able to do and the change we were able to bring to the lives of the ru-ral villagers in Africa and so, we just stuck with it. We had no idea then [25 years ago] that we would be having this type of impact now.”

One the most impactful experiences she had was also one of the most devastating for her.

“We were at this village in northern Ghana, and we went through the whole celebration. In the background, the drill crew kept drilling, and the drilling foreman just looked at us and shook his head. We weren’t going to hit water, and it was really kind of surreal,” said Dornsife.

She added, “I mean, you’re surrounded

by people who have noth-ing who are so grateful that you’re there trying to do a good thing and bring clean water into their lives. And we were unsuccessful. We really felt like we had failed them.”

When asked what her work inspired in her, Dornsife said, “It just makes us very grateful for everything that we have, for the country that we live in, for the health and the well-being of our families, for the opportunities that living in the United States brings us.”

“I wish that every student could have the opportunity to experience life in a third world country for even just a couple of weeks and I think that it would just have a profound effect on people’s lives moving forward,” she said.

For students interested in humanitarian work, Dornsife said, “For the most part, university is the right place, especially when you are dealing with a university that has developed the kind of worldwide rela-tionships that USC has developed.”

“At a university like USC, you have the opportunity to take advantage of many things from an education perspective, but you also have the opportunity to take ad-vantage of things from a global perspec-

tive,” she added. Dornsife also has advice for pre-health

students.“You’re working for patients, for the bet-

terment of their lives, whether it’s in rela-tion to disease or prophylactic health, and sometimes it’s really easy to lose sight of that,” she said.

“Medicine is hard – it takes a lot of fo-cus and a lot of determination,” she said. “It can be very overwhelming at times – and so it’s important when you’re feeling overwhelmed to take a step back and allow yourself to appreciate the fact that what you are doing is helping other people.”

“If you can allow yourself to appreciate that, then I think it helps you get through the really hard times,” she said. �

SENIOR LIFEGraduating VHQLRUV�UHÀ�HFW�RQ�their four years at USC and give VRPH�ZRUWKZKLOH�DGYLFH�

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RESEARCHNEW METHODS TO CREATE STEM CELLS

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THE USE OF MANNEQUINS IN MEDICAL SCHOOLS

MEDICAL SCHOOLS | PG 10

STUDYING CREATIVITY

IN THE BRAIN USC OPPORTUNITIES | PG. 9

Trauma Surgeries

COURTESY POSITSCIENCE.COMBRAIN death is currently de! ned as a full loss of brain activity.

COURTESY CARIBBEANORTHO.BLOGSPOT.COMSIGN’S IM Nail system is designed for surgeries in low-resource settings

COURTESY NEWSBLOG.DREXEL.EDUDANA and David Dornsife in Ethiopia

2 EYE HEALTH TROJAN HEALTH CONNECTION | April 23, 2014

REBECCA GAO & JESSICA KUO

ANJLIE GUPTA

PAVITRA KRISHNAMANI

FAIZAN MALIK

LESLIE WU

SECTION EDITORS

SENIOR EDITORS

JANIE CHEN

JESSICA DALLAS

ALLIE FARINACCI

IFRAH HASSAN

AISHA LODIN

MORGAN ROGERS

GURLEEN CHADHA & NATASHA SOSA

MANAGERS:

JACQUELINE DINH, Layout Editor; SANA AZAM, SCOTT WEY, Web Managers; ASMAA ALBAROUDI, PETER ESKANDER, ALISON YU, Public Relations Managers; EMILY HE, Advertisement Manager, HAN DAO, GINA LEE, Photo Managers

ASSOCIATE EDITORS:

AUDREY CHAI, VARUN AWASTHI

EDITORS-IN-CHIEFEditors-in-Chief

GURLEEN CHADHA & NATASHA SOSA

Editors

ALINE HESSE

ANJLIE GUPTA

AUDREY CHAI

MORGAN ROGERS

PAVITRA KRISHNAMANI

Section Editors

JANIE CHEN & VARUN AWASTHI

Associate Editors

ABRAM ESTAFANOUS

AISHA LODIN

IFRAH HASSAN

JIANING LIU

MEHUL TRIVEDI

SUCHARITA YELLAPRAGADA

Managers

ALISON YU, PR Manager | AMRIT JAGGI, PR Manager | ANA HILLEBOE, Layout

Manager | ANNETTE EOM, Funding Manager | CAMERON QUON, Videography

Manager | EMILY HE, Advertising Manager | FRANCINE LIANG, Photo Manager |

JUSTIN JOOHWAN PARK, Assistant Layout Manager | PETER ESKANDER, PR Manager

| SANA AZAM, Web Manager

By JANIE CHENSection Editor

Google has created contact lenses that dou-ble as glucose monitors. If ever sold in the mar-ket, these contacts have the potential to revo-lutionize the diabetes industry. Diabetics will no longer have to prick themselves to monitor their blood glucose level; these contacts will do it for them automatically.

! e contact lens is composed of tiny pro-cessing chips and glucose sensors. ! e anten-na that is used to send glucose levels to exter-nal devices is thinner than a human hair.

Instead of detecting glucose levels from blood samples, the sensor in the contact lenses detects glucose levels from tears. Because the human eye is composed of live cells, it has very similar chemical composition to that of blood cells. ! is makes it possible for glucose levels to be detected through tears.

Google’s lenses have the potential to radical-ly decrease diabetic emergencies like hypo and hyperglycemic shock, since this system elim-inates human error such as forgetting to take insulin. ! e glucose sensor sends information to an external device that warns the user if lev-els are abnormal, ensuring that the user is at least reminded to take insulin.

It also eases the daily hassles parents have to endure when dealing with children with juve-nile diabetes, also known as Type 1 diabetes. Children who are fussy and more sensitive to

pain or have a fear of needles may be more re-ceptive to contacts.

How did Google become involved in this kind of biomedical research? Google X devel-opers, also the creators behind Google Glass, have long been interested in the capacity con-tact lenses have to be a platform of communi-cation with the body. Not only are they inter-ested in medical applications, but they also are working towards the use of chips embedded in contact lenses as a form of enhancing reality.

In other words, the lenses would serve as a screen essentially attached to the viewer’s ret-ina. For example, one-pixel screens projected by the lenses allow the viewer to see play by play directions as they’re walking or driving down a street. ! e ability to project instruc-tions or images directly onto the eye serves as an alternative screen through which viewers can receive information.

! us, Google’s nanotechnology has demon-strated the possibilities that can arise from combining di" erent # elds of research. ! e overwhelming increase in obesity rates has led to a directly related surge in diabetes rates, making diabetes a critical # eld of research.

Google’s contacts are just a small portion of diabetes research that is being conduct-ed today; however, these contacts represent the multitudes of future innovative products which are resulting from interdisciplinary re-search and which have the ability to dramati-cally improve quality of life. �

Letter from the Editors-in-Chief

Writers

AISHA VAIYANI, AMNA ELSAYED, AMY ZHAO, BRITTNEY KUO, CODY KANESHIRO, DALTON BANH, EINAV NACHMAN, EMILY VU, JACKIE KRUGLYAKOVA, JACQUELINE COOTES, JEHAN BISTA, JESSICA FRANKEBERGER, JOHN TANAKA, JOLIE COOPERMAN, JUNG-GI MIN, KATRINA MADDELA, LU TIAN, MAGGIE KING, MONICA LIU, MORGAN CHEEKS, NICOLE BASLER, RACHEL DONG, RACHEL POLCYN, RYAN EMHOFF

Contacts Monitor Diabetics’ Glucose

HAO-HUA WU & TAKANORI OHKUBOFounders

Dear Reader,Welcome to the spring edition of Trojan Health Connection! As the year draws to

D�FORVH��ZH�KRSH�WR�ZUDS�WKLQJV�XS�ERWK�E\�UHÁ�HFWLQJ�RQ�WKH�SDVW�DQG�ORRNLQJ�DKHDG�to the future.

Breakthroughs in Glaucoma Research

By JACKIE KRUGLYAKOVAWriter

A" ecting more than 60.5 million people globally, glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. Glauco-ma is a condition that results in damage to the eye’s optic nerve, the eye’s communica-tion with the brain.

Scientists agree that, if le$ untreat-ed, glaucoma can cause total permanent blindness within a few years. However, the rate of blindness due to glaucoma may be decreasing rapidly. According to a study published last month by the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the probabil-ity of blindness due to glaucoma has nearly halved since 1980.

! is study, conducted by a team of re-searchers at the Mayo Clinic, sought to # nd trends in glaucoma-related blindness in the United States and allocate medical and health resources according to those patterns.

! e research-ers studied every incidence case of open-angle glauco-ma (OAG), the most common form of glaucoma, diagnosed from 1965-2009 in Olmstead County, Minn.

! ey found that the 20-year probability and the population incidence of blindness due to OAG alone, in at least one eye, had decreased from 25.8 percent for subjects diagnosed between 1965 and 1980 to 13.5 percent for those diagnosed between 1981 and 2000. Within 10 years of diagnosis, the population inci-dence of blindness also decreased for those groups.

Advanced glaucoma management tech-niques and learned criteria for diagnosis have provided physicians and caregivers with alternative methods of treatment. When studied on an individual basis, the probability of blindness from glaucoma ap-peared to have decreased dramatically.

“! ese results are extremely encourag-ing for both those su" ering from glauco-ma and the doctors who care for them, and suggest that the improvements in the diag-

nosis and treatment have played a key role in improving outcomes,” said Arthur J. Sit, M.D., associate professor of ophthalmolo-gy at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.

Sit added, “Despite this good news, the rate at which people continue to go blind due to OAG is still unacceptably high. ! is is likely due to late diagnosis and our in-complete understanding of glaucoma, so it is critical that research into this devastating disease continues, and all eye care provid-ers be vigilant in looking for early signs of glaucoma during routine exams.”

However, the e" ect on the rates of visual impairment on a population level has re-mained unclear. Despite the clear trend of progression, 15 percent of the patients that were diagnosed more recently still pro-gressed to blindness. ! is statistic shows just how unpredictable glaucoma is. While there is no cure, medications and surgery can halt the progression of the condition.

As researchers strive to understand the full complexity of glaucoma, patients around the nation are being educat-ed about risk factor awareness and timely diagnosis. For exam-ple, the World Glau-coma Association and the World Glau-

coma Patient Association launched their 6th World Glaucoma Week from March 9 to March 15.

As part of World Glaucoma Week, the ‘B-I-G- Beat Invisible Glaucoma’ cam-paign is directed at educating patients on lifestyle factors associated with glaucoma. ! e campaign also seeks to clear up a num-ber of myths about glaucoma, which may be leading people to make lifestyle choices detrimental to their health.

While the incidence of glaucoma re-mains high, medical research is improving the world’s understanding of the disease as well as its outcomes. ! ere is still much to be done, but the decrease in the rate of blindness due to glaucoma is a testament to the potential for future scienti# c advances to decrease the impact of this widespread disease. �

Improvements in diagnosis and treatment have

played a key role in improving outcomes.

Arthur J. Sit

COURTESY GOOGLEGOOGLE contacts contain sensors to monitor diabetics’ glucose levels via their tears.

)RU�LQ�GHSWK�FRYHUDJH�RI�KHDOWKFDUH�QHZV��ORRN�QR�IXU�ther than Page 3, where we examine the impact of the Affordable Care Act, particularly as it applies to young Americans.

We’ve also included several features on health that the average USC student can use. If bodybuilding piques your LQWHUHVW��WDNH�D�ORRN�DW�´6FLHQFH�RI�6XSSOHPHQWVµ�RQ�3DJH�����$QG�LI�\RX�À�QG�\RXUVHOI�ELQJLQJ�DV�À�QDOV�QHDU��GRQ·W�VNLS�´1XWULWLRQ�7LSV�IRU�)LQDOVµ�RQ�3DJH����ZKLFK�RIIHUV�WLSV�WR�NHHS�HDWLQJ�LQ�FKHFN�ZKHQ�VWUHVVLQJ�RXW��

This issue also delves into important ethical issues: our IURQW�SDJH� ORRNV�DW� WKH�VWUXJJOH� WR� LGHQWLI\�GHDWK��ZKLOH�3DJH��·V�́ 7KH�,QYLVLEOH�$V\OXPµ�H[DPLQHV�WKH�VWLJPD�WKDW�remains attached to mental illness.

Finally, this issue is particularly special because it PDUNV�WKH�IRXUWK�\HDU�VLQFH�RXU�IRXQGLQJ��$V�D�UHVXOW��WKH�last of our founding class—members who joined in their freshmen year and have seen the paper grow into what it is today—are graduating.:LWK�WKDW�LQ�PLQG��ZH�DVNHG�VHYHUDO�SUH�KHDOWK�VHQLRUV�

WR�UHÁ�HFW�RQ�WKHLU�PRVW�HQULFKLQJ�DQG�LQÁ�XHQWLDO�H[SHUL�ences here at USC. You can read their thoughts and advice in the centerspread, on Pages 6 and 7.

To our graduating seniors, especially Jessica and 5HEHFFD��\RX�ZLOO�EH�PLVVHG��EXW�ZH�NQRZ�\RX·UH�RII�WR�ELJ�JHU�DQG�EHWWHU�WKLQJV��7KDQN�\RX�IRU�UHDGLQJ��DQG�ZH�KRSH�you enjoy the issue!

Sincerely,� ����*XUOHHQ�DQG�1DWDVKD

Gurleen Chadha

Natasha Sosa

3April 23, 2014 | TROJAN HEALTH CONNECTION NEWS

Novel Method of Creating Stem Cells: Too Good To Be True?

Changing Landscape of Healthcare Brings New Challenges to Physicians

Since the enactment of the Patient Pro-tection and A! ordable Care Act (PPACA) in 2010, there has been a great deal of un-certainty surrounding its highly anticipat-ed implementation. As of January 1, 2014 most of the hallmark provisions of the law are e! ective.

Key provisions include a Medicare ex-pansion, which makes all individuals up to 138% of the federal poverty line eligible for coverage, and the creation of Health Insur-ance Exchanges that allow all individuals to purchase health insurance.

For families and individuals with house-hold incomes between 133%-400% of the federal poverty line, federal subsidies are available to help with premium costs. In addition to these aid expansions, the law includes an individual mandate requiring all individuals to purchase a plan.

PPACA is expected to bring coverage to 30 million uninsured Americans. " is in-crease in coverage will increase the number of patients seeking care, posing a challenge for current healthcare providers to increase e# ciency in order to accommodate the in-crease in patients.

PPACA encourages a variety of inno-vative models of care aimed at increasing e# ciency. " ese include: incentives for providers to form “accountable care orga-nizations” in which physician groups, hos-pitals, and skilled nursing facilities better coordinate patient care as well as share $ -nancial gains and losses.

However, in order to accommodate the increase in long-term patients, there will need to be an increase in primary care pro-viders.

Furthermore, the expansion of coverage will change the population being regularly treated by physicians. " e newly insured are expected to be younger, more ethnically

College Students at Heightened Risk for Meningitis

COURTESY BENEFITSPRO.COM

COURTESY CBS8.COM

diverse, and less educated than the patient population prior to PPACA implementa-tion.

" is is a critical step toward improving the well-being of the nation, but will also provide new challenges for physicians.

Almost one third of the newly insured population will speak a language other than English, as their primary means of communication. " is is a drastic increase from the 12 percent that is in the current patient population. Physicians and hospi-tals must increase the number of medical translators and/or remote translation ser-vices available in the healthcare setting.

Overall, PPACA makes essential changes to the health insurance industry which are critical to improving the declining health of people in the United States. However, these changes will provide a variety of challeng-es to current providers that must be met in order for Americans to see the full bene$ ts of the policy changes. �

Bathe mature cells in mild acid for half an hour and what do you get? Pluripotent stem cells.

" at was the shocking discovery made in late January 2014, when researchers at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Japan and their collaborators published a pair of papers in the prominent scienti$ c journal Nature.

" e two studies, titled “Stimulus-trig-gered fate conversion of somatic cells into pluripotency” and “Bidirectional develop-mental potential in reprogrammed cells with acquired pluripotency,” gained sub-stantial attention from both the media and the scienti$ c community and was hailed as a major breakthrough in stem cell re-search.

In the papers, lead author Haruko Oko-bata and her colleagues described a novel and e# cient method for creating plurip-otent stem cells by exposing mature cells to a stress stimulus, such as low pH. " ey termed their method STAP, or “stimu-lus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency.” In their experiments, the scientists soaked mouse white blood cells in a weak acid bath for 30 minutes and demonstrated that these STAP cells were indeed pluripotent by in-jecting the cells into a normal mouse em-bryo and documenting their di! erentiation into multiple cell types.

“It’s just a wonderful result; it’s almost like alchemy,” said Douglas Melton to " e Boston Globe upon hearing of the an-nouncement. Melton is the co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and was not involved in either of the studies.

" e $ ndings of the two studies are groundbreaking because STAP can utilize an individual’s own mature cells and there-

fore bypass the problem of host rejection during regenerative therapy. However, in a surprising turn of events, the validity of this astounding $ nding is now been seri-ously questioned, in part because no oth-er research group has been able to create STAP cells by replicating the apparently simple methods described by the original papers.

In early March, Okobata and two co-au-thors at RIKEN published a detailed tech-nical protocol in response to the failure of other researchers in generating STAP cells. However, this protocol noted many restrictions for the types and age of cells and conditions that could be used, which is inconsistent with the original papers’ claims which illustrated the STAP meth-od as straight-forward, e# cient, and could be used to convert multiple cell types into

STAP cells.In addition, due to intense scrutiny by

the scienti$ c community, there have also been allegations that several images in the paper have been duplicated from Okobata’s own Ph.D. dissertation at Waseda Univer-sity from 2011, which did not involve STAP cells. Furthermore, the dissertation itself has also been brought into question re-garding proper citation and whole sections being plagiarized.

Some of the researchers involved have provided public statements about their thoughts on the STAP controversy.

Teruhiko Wakayama, a senior co-author currently at the University of Yamanashi, called for the retraction of the papers until external research groups could con$ rm the data.

“It’s better to retract it once and submit

it again a% er making sure that data are all correct and it won’t be criticized by any-one.” Wakayama reportedly received STAP cells from Okobata to use in the mice ex-periments but was not involved in creating the STAP cells.

Charles Vacanti, a senior co-author at Harvard Medical School and one of Oboka-ta’s dissertation advisors, however, has op-posed retraction of the paper. Obokata reportedly performed her $ rst STAP ex-periments as a visiting graduate student in Vacanti’s laboratory.

In a recent interview with " e Wall Street Journal, Vacanti said: “Some mis-takes were made, but they don’t a! ect the conclusions...based on the information I have, I see no reason to why these papers should be retracted.”

Whether or not STAP is a genuine cel-lular reprogramming strategy has yet to be revealed and will currently remain a mys-tery. But if any of these allegations turn out to be true, there will be certainly be serious repercussions for the authors involved and the validity of the studies will be discredit-ed until they can be replicated by another research group.

Paul Knoep& er, a stem cell researcher at UC Davis, runs an active blog where guest bloggers can post their thoughts on the STAP debacle.

Robert J. Geller, a seismologist in Japan, articulates the importance of this contro-versy on Knoep& er’s blog: “I’m an outsider to the stem cell $ eld, but this mess impacts public trust and support for every $ eld of science in Japan. " e longer it’s allowed to drag on the worse the ultimate impact will be. So it’s in the interest of every scientist in Japan that Riken, Nature, Waseda, and other institutions fully and transparently identify the problems and take appropriate actions.” �

By DALTON BANHWriter

COURTESY LBL.GOVPLURIPOTENT stem cells can be viewed through an electron microscope and many see them as the future of medicine.

By MORGAN CHEEKSWriter

“OBAMACARE” has been met with applause and criticism from both sides of the political spectrum.

" e initial symptoms of meningococcal meningitis are similar to a bad cold, but can soon develop into serious medical compli-cations including deafness, brain damage, and death. For Aaron Loy, a collegiate ath-lete, amputation of both feet was a terrible consequence of the disease.

" is case echoed an earlier outbreak on the campus of Princeton University that began in March of the same year which af-fected eight enrolled students and one pro-spective student.

" ough both instances were caused by the same strain of bacteria, the CDC re-ported that the outbreaks were not related.

In the United States, there are three strains of Neisseria meningitidis— the me-ningococcal bacteria that causes meningi-tis— known as serogroups B, C and Y. " e FDA currently approves two types of me-

By ANA HILLEBOELayout Manager

MENINGITIS led to the loss of both feet for Aaron Loy (center).

ningococcal vaccines for use, which protect against serogroups C and Y.

However, the outbreaks at UCSB and Princeton were both caused by serogroup B, for which a vaccine is licensed for use in Canada, Europe and Australia, but not the US.

In order to control the outbreaks on the university campuses, the two-part sero-group B vaccine was recently approved for use in the US only for students of UCSB and Princeton, where the universities cov-ered the costs. Princeton University report-ed that 91% of eligible students received the $ rst dose o! ered in December of last year, and most followed up with the second dose in February.

" is $ gure is in contrast to the statement on UCSB’s student health website, which notes that the vaccine was administered to “nearly 50 percent of undergraduates.”

" is disparity in vaccination rates is alarming.

Ti! any Yeh, a freshman at UCSB, says,“" ere was concern but people still partied as much as they did before the out-break,” said Yeh. “Since a% er winter break there were no new cases, it didn’t seem too urgent,” said Yeh. “But you could never be too safe. My parents told me to get it.”

" e low turnout at UCSB indicate that students at the a! ected universities may not be doing their part to protect them-selves and others.

" is is especially concerning since col-lege students are particularly vulnerable to contracting meningitis. Healthy adults who live in close quarters with each other are at a heightened risk.

USC, like all other college campuses, can be vulnerable to an outbreak like those that occurred at UCSB and Princeton.

While USC does not require students to receive the meningococcal vaccine cur-rently approved for general use in the US, the Engemann Student Health Center still strongly recommends that incoming stu-dents be vaccinated and has additional measures in place to ensure that students are educated about the disease.

For now, receiving the vaccine and stay-ing aware may be the best preventative measures students at USC can take. �

Juice detox, intermittent fasting, carb cutting – these words can only mean one thing: summertime is coming and USC students are prepping for the upcoming bikini season. However, how many peo-ple go on a diet search in hopes of de-creasing migraines, allergy symptoms or lower back pain?

A new fad is sweeping the nation and it refuses to be called a diet.

!e Plan, created and designed by Lyn-Genet Recitas, helps clients create a 20 – 30 day program that best suits the individual’s chemistry and budget. A"er years of su#ering from migraines, Reci-tas began to log her food consumption and discovered a correlation between the foods she was eating and her migraines.

As opposed to focusing on caloric consumption, !e Plan promises weight loss through preventing in-$ammation.

!e %rst three days of !e Plan consists of eating from a menu de-signed to reset the body to a low in$ammatory state. !en, individuals will test the e#ects of dif-ferent foods throughout the remaining month.

!e %rst foods reintroduced are cheese, chocolate and wine. !e ultimate goal is to learn which foods cause your body to chemically react so that those foods can be avoided in the future.

While several testimonies proclaim

that !e Plan is as an excellent way to lose weight, others applaud its other health ben-e%ts. Several accounts of clearing up acid re$ux, joint pain and constipation have been noted.

All of the successful testimonies pro-vided by happy clients have made this diet extremely popular. Recitas wrote a book, appeared on Dr. Oz and graced the cover of several health magazines. While her diet’s fame increases, others are more cautious of Recitas and her work.

USC professor and expert on dieting Valter Longo expressed great concern over the diet fad craze.

Longo said, “Do not merely adhere to a certain diet because of testimonies. What are the creator’s credentials? Do these re-sults hold up in research trials? Have clini-cal trials been conducted?”

Similar to looking for a doctor, search-ing for the right diet requires su&cient in-

vestigation. Longo also stresses the importance of looking at long-term e#ects of certain diets.

“Do not believe in the misconception,” Longo said, “that these fad di-ets will not necessarily cause harm later in life.”

!ere is no one right diet. Many will swear by !e Plan, while others

will abide by eating raw. Hopefully, with a su&cient amount of

background research and healthy habits, undergraduate students may settle on an individualized plan that provides a nour-ishing menu in combination with maxi-mum bene%ts. �

4 Dieting and Nutrition TROJAN HEALTH CONNECTION | April 23, 2014

Career Faceoff: Dietician vs. Nutritionist

Nutrition Tips for Finals “The Fad” Diet

During exam season – whether it be %-nals or midterms – personal health drops to the bottom of the priority list when it should skyrocket to the top. A healthy body is key to increasing brain-power and studying more e#ectively. Here are four tips will help any college student achieve that. 1. Don’t Skip Breakfast

!e key to a productive day of studying is break-fast. A"er a full night with-out food, your body is in need of glucose to make it through the day. Contrary to popular belief, co#ee and a bagel do not qualify as a healthy breakfast.

A good breakfast includes some proteins, carbohydrates and %bers. An example of a healthy breakfast includes toast with a glass of milk or cereal with milk and an apple.

Although it may seem time consuming, taking a few extra minutes to choose a meal that includes all of these groups will keep you feel full for a longer time than co#ee ever will.2. Snack the Smart Way

!e type of snack that you eat for those late nights in the library does have an ef-fect on how much information you retain. A smart snack will keep you full until your next meal, while an unhealthy snack will not have the same e#ect.

A bag of M&Ms will increase your glu-cose levels and make you feel full at the mo-ment but you will feel hungry a little while

a"erwards.  Apples with peanut butter, on the other hand, will keep you full enough until your next meal.

!e trick to picking a smart snack is to steer away from sugars and to look for food that includes %bers and combine them with proteins.

3. Stay HydratedHydration is important

because our body is mostly comprised of water, and the proper balance between water and electrolytes in our bodies determines how our systems work. So staying hydrated not only nourishes your body but it increases your ability to think.

Drinking water is not the only way to stay hydrated. Other drinks such as vege-table or fruit juices will also

keep you hydrated. Co#ee and other caf-feinated drinks, however, should be kept to a minimal.

Because it’s so easy to become dehydrat-ed during midterm and %nals season, it is helpful to always keep a large water bottle with you while you are studying.4. Exercise

During %nals, it’s common for most stu-dents to study for hours at a time without getting up. !is is very harmful and will cause your body to become more and more tense, which will make you feel very tired.

It’s not necessary to go to the gym be-tween studying, but simply getting up and walking around the room will do the trick. Even putting on some music and dancing will help you stay awake and stimulate your brain. �

TABLE BY MORGAN ROGERS

Dietician Nutritionistschooling According to the American Dietetic Association (ADA), dietitians

must meet four basic requirements in order to become registered dietitians:

1. Graduate with at least a bachelor’s degree from a college approved by the Commission for Accreditation for Dietetics Education (CADE).

2. Complete a supervised internship that is accredited by CADE.3. Achieve a passing score on the national registration exam admin-

istered by the Commission of Dietetic Registration4. Complete continuing education throughout their career.

No formal schooling is required, but some states do require a license to be obtained in order to practice.

Protected titles include the following:Certi%ed Nutrition Specialist (CNS): individuals must have a master’s in nutrition or a related %eld. !ey will also have to sit for an accrediation exam.Certi%ed Clinical Nutritionist (CCN), individuals must com-plete the Post-Graduate Studies in Clinical Nutrition program. !ey will also have to sit for an accrediation exam.

salary (in California) $59,000 per year $46,000 per yearservice ProviDeD Plan nutrition programs for their client to follow as well as teaching

their clients what and why a food is considered healthy.Look more intently into nutrients that are needed in the body for

speci%c functions, nutrient de%ciencies that cause certain diseases and the cure of ailments and other di#erent diseases by intake of di#erent

foods and nutrients.

Where They WorK Dieticians can work in hospitals, nursing homes, as well as other health care facilities

Most nutritionists work as private consultants with individual clients.

TyPes Can work in management, clinical, and community settings. Can work with individuals or in research.

Prior Wisdom on Sodium Intake Under As-salt

One is almost guaranteed to %nd an ar-ticle on the devastating e#ects of salt on the body in a typical nutition or healthy lifestyle magazine. As world leaders try to %nd solutions to the rise in chronic diseas-es, limiting salt intake has garnered much attention as a feasible method of achieving a healthier world.

Health organizations around the world have proposed that a high intake of salt contributes to various cardiovascular com-plications like coronary heart disease. !e overarching idea is that because high salt levels are responsible for complications like

high blood pressure, salt is implicated in the propagation of cardiovascular damage.

According to the American Heart Asso-ciation, excess salt consumption, charac-teristic of over three quarters of the world population, contributed to 2.3 million deaths in the U.S alone. !e same organi-zation also revealed that 15 percent of all deaths from cardiovascular disease were caused by excessive salt.

Figures such as these led a study in the Lancet to conclude that reducing salt in-take by 3000 milligrams per day would save 10 to 13 billion dollars in health care costs in the United States. Healthcare costs in the US are currently 18 percent of the GDP, the highest %gure of any country in the world.

However, some recent studies have cast skepticism over these assumptions. A me-ta-analysis study in the American Journal of Hypertension found no strong evidence of any e#ect of salt reduction in individuals with normal blood pressure.

According to Dr. Kelvin Yen, a research professor at USC’s Davis School of Geron-tology, it is no surprise that salt intake does not in$uence health outcomes as much as previously believed.

“!e body self-regulates the amount of salt in the body, with some people appar-ently more sensitive to salt intake than oth-ers.” said Yen.

In fact, some researchers suggest that Americans are currently consuming a

healthy amount of salt and that the current recommended salt guidelines by the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Preven-tion may be too low.

One study in the American Journal of Hypertension revealed that low levels of salt consumption may actually lead to a greater risk of death than high salt con-sumption does.

According to Dr. Niels Graudal from the Copenhagen University Hospital in Den-mark, there is no reason for most individ-uals to change their dietary intake of salt because most people eat a safe amount.

!e debate over whether reducing salt consumption is a viable target to reduce chronic disease continues on. �

COURTESY IFOOD.TV

COURTESY DIABETESMINE.COMsKiPPing breakfast is not a healthy habit.

By JOLIE COOPERMANWriter

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By JUNG-GI MINWriter

5April 23, 2014 | TROJAN HEALTH CONNECTION FOOD

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By AUDREY CHAIEditor

If you have been keeping up to date on the breaking news in the nutrition world, you will have undoubtedly come across the hot topic of the bene!ts of !sh oil. You might have heard that it can prevent heart disease and even aid in cancer and depression treat-ment.

But what exactly are these ben-e!ts? Are !sh oil supplements necessary? Are there any down-sides to !sh oil consumption?

Most of the bene!ts of !sh oil come from the omega-3 fatty ac-ids it contains. Our bodies do not produce omega-3 fatty acids, which is why such an emphasis is placed on maintaining a diet complete with healthy fats such as nuts, olive oil and !sh.

Found in the fatty layers of cold-water !sh and shell!sh, omega-3 fatty acids have been found to provide a wide range of health bene!ts.

Due to the bene!ts, !sh oil has now become a popular dietary supplement and can be found in di"erent forms ranging from liq-

uid !sh oil to !sh oil gummies. #e supplements have become

so popular today because most health conscious people recog-nize that getting enough omega-3 fatty acids is an important aspect of supporting health and treating disease, and diet alone may not be enough.

Fish oil is most o$en used for conditions related to the heart and blood sys-tem; some use it to lower blood pressure and reduce cholesterol levels.

Here are some of the most important bene!ts of !sh oil:

Reduced In!ammation: #e most well known bene!t of !sh oil and omega-3s in general is its bene!ts for heart health. Ome-ga-3s have been shown to reduce in%ammation as well as lower lev-els of triglycerides, lowering the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Increased Protein Synthesis: Studies in young, middle-aged, and older men and women have shown that !sh oil also has a pow-erful e"ect on increasing protein synthesis. Compared to relying solely on amino acid and protein

intake, muscle growth was shown to increase by 30% when subjects combined the intake of amino ac-ids and protein with the intake of omega-3s.

Better Immune Function:

When you get that feeling that inevitably comes around this time of the year in which you feel like everyone around you is becoming sick, it might be time for you to turn to !sh oil.

Research has shown that !sh oil can play a big role in support-ing the function of white blood cells, speci!cally enhancing the activity of B cells, and research-ers see promise in using !sh oil’s immune enhancing properties to bene!t immunocompromised in-

dividuals.Improved Brain Health: Fi-

nally, omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to be an important factor in brain development.

Even before birth, the con-sumption of !sh oil can play an in%uential role: studies showed that babies whose mothers supplemented with !sh oil during pregnancy had signi!cantly improved hand and eye coordination 2.5 years a$er birth com-pared to those whose moth-ers did not supplement.

Research indicates that omega-3 fatty acid con-sumption is an important

factor in preventing cognitive dis-eases such as Alzheimer’s disease.

#e numerous bene!ts of !sh oil lead to its use for all sorts of medical conditions such as diabe-tes, asthma, movement disorders, dyslexia, obesity, and osteoporo-sis just to name a few.

With the seemingly endless number of bene!ts, are there any reasons for us to be wary of !sh oil? In some cases, too much !sh oil can be detrimental. While it is important for us to maintain

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers have reported more than 15 million Americans and 17 million Europeans living with food allergies.

A study performed by Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) stated that every 3 min-utes, an individual is sent to the emergency department due to a food allergy reaction – more than 200,000 visits per year.

In particular, peanuts are one of the leading causes of food aller-gic reactions, and peanut allergies are lifelong conditions which de-velop in childhood. #e number of children with peanut allergies have tripled between 1997 and 2008, and approximately 400,000 school-aged children in the U.S. su"er from this allergy, according to CNN.

However, there is no cure. Symptoms may occur from any

contact with the peanut protein, whether it is accidental exposure

By NICOLE BASLERWriter

or trace contamination of foods. FARE states that the only way to prevent serious health e"ects and reactions is through the early recognition and management of peanut allergies as well as strict avoidance of these allergens.

In order to combat the severity of peanut allergies, the Univer-sity of Cambridge has developed a successful new therapy through oral immunotherapy (OIT), which has the ability to desensitize allergic individuals to peanuts.

#e study found that regularly con-suming peanut protein in increasingly larger amounts over time creates tolerance.

#e research team is led by Dr. Andrew Clark and Dr. Pamela Ewan from Cambridge Univer-sity’s Department of Medicine, and the trial was performed for !ve and a half years in the NIHR/

Wellcome Trust Cambridge Clin-ical Research Facility.

99 children with varying sever-ities of peanut allergy participated in the double-blind placebo-con-trolled study. In the !rst part of the trial, the participants were di-

vided. 49 children were randomly assigned to receive 26 weeks of oral immunotherapy (OIT).

#e active group gradually con-

sumed increasing quantities of peanut protein under medical su-pervision. 50 remaining children were placed in the control group, which did not receive treatment.

A$er 6 months of therapy, food challenges were conducted

to evaluate the results. 62 percent of the children who received therapy safe-ly tolerated a daily dose of peanut protein approxi-mately equivalent to ten peanuts. 84–91 percent of these children tolerated a daily ingestion of peanut protein approximately equivalent to !ve peanuts.

None in the control group tolerated any pea-nut consumption.

In the second phase of the trial, the control group participants also received immunotherapy inter-vention. 54 percent of the control group were able

to consume the equivalent of ten peanuts, and 91 percent tolerated a daily intake of !ve peanuts.

#e remaining participants of

the trial who reported adverse events experienced mild systems, mostly from oral itching.

According to Clark, the chil-dren and families with whom he has worked agreed that their lives changed dramatically. Before the treatment, they developed con-strained food habits, checking every food label and avoiding restaurants. #e parents even lived in fear that their children would accidentally ingest peanut crumbs.

#e !ndings of this study have provided hope for the participat-ing children and their families.

One of the study’s participants, Lena Barden, 11, said, “I felt like I had won a prize…A year later I could eat 5 whole peanuts with no reaction at all. #e trial has been an experience and adventure that has changed my life.”

Further research is necessary to con!rm the results. While the study yields positive !ndings, some researchers claim that this therapy is not a cure.

To read the rest of this article, go to trojanhealthconnection.com. �

the appropriate omega-3 levels in our bodies, taking more than the recommended amount of !sh oil may lead to adverse side e"ects, such as blood thinning.

Also, while many studies have shown that !sh oil provides can-cer-preventing bene!ts, other studies have also revealed that an imbalance of omega-3s in the body can lead to increased risks for cancer.

So what is the take home mes-sage? It is important that one re-mains aware of his/her amount of !sh oil consumption and check the recommended daily amount for their age and body weight.

However, it is clear that !sh oil de!nitely has some powerful health bene!ts.

And while supplements are helpful at times when diet alone is not enough, remember that the best way to gain the bene!ts of !sh oil and omega-3s in general is to obtain the nutrients from nat-ural foods.

So the next time you are de-ciding what to eat, it might be a good idea to turn to !sh such as salmon, halibut, sardines or anchovies. �

By AISHA VAYANI Writer

With the addition of both a farmer’s market and a juice bar on campus, USC students are !nding healthier ways to stay energized.

#e farmer’s market, which takes place every Wednesday from 11am to 3pm, o"ers a wide selection of fresh fruits and vege-tables for students to enjoy.

For others, Nékter is a place for students to venture out of their comfort zone and try di"erent kinds of juices and smoothies.

Either of the two is ideal for the busy college student, as fruits and fruit juices provide vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and a great energy boost.

With two new options, one can’t help but ask: which one wins

this food !ght? #e key to picking a winner

depends on understanding what each choice has to o"er. A great way to supplement your diet with essential nutrients and minerals is by eating fruit. Whole fruits are chock full of potassium, dietary !ber and vitamin C.

Furthermore, maintaining a healthy diet with consistent fruit intake is a key step towards low-ering your risk for certain condi-tions such as heart disease, type II diabetes and obesity. Lastly, fruits keep you full.

#e bene!ts of whole fruit sup-port a pretty compelling argu-ment in this food !ght, but fruit juices aren’t without merit, either.

For college students, juices are convenient in the sense that you can easily consume them on the

go. Additionally, drinking juic-es allows you to incorporate and try di"erent kinds of fruit in one serving.

“I love choosing juices that in-corporate greens, fruit, protein, and natural sweeteners into a convenient cup,” said Jamie Mos-kowitz, senior. “It’s perfect for the busy college student.”

Juices o$en retain the bene!ts of whole fruit when they are made the right way. #is includes vita-mins, minerals, and antioxidants.

It is better to make fresh juic-es at home using a juicer, for ex-ample, rather than purchasing a bottle of juice at the grocery store. Store-bought juices, o$en mar-keted as a healthier alternative to so$ drinks, tend to contain large amounts of sugar and additives.

#e same kind of juices can

be made at home in a way that is both delicious and nutritious.

However, the biggest setback of juicing is that the product lacks two things: skin and pulp.

Fruit skin contains several pig-ments, including carotenoids and %avonoids, which are good for one’s health. Pulp is an important source of dietary !ber, and juicing tends to eliminate all of it.

“I eat about a cup of fruit every-day between classes,” said Raquel Martinez, senior. “Although fruit juices do provide vitamins, they leave out one of the most import-ant components of whole fruit – the skin.”

With that being said, what’s the verdict? Juices, when made at home or purchased from juice bars like Nékter, are always a bet-ter alternative when compared to

other beverages like so$ drinks. However, as whole fruit o"ers

more vitamins, minerals, and !ber, it is the better nutritional choice, and ultimately the winner in this food !ght.

#at being said, you don’t have to eliminate juices from your diet. Incorporating vegetables into fruit juices is a convenient way to enjoy several fruits and vegetables in one serving.

Overall, it’s better to eat whole fruit, but drinking wholesome juices that are made fresh is a great way to supplement your diet with additional vitamins and minerals.

Luckily for Trojans, both op-tions are now availabe on campus. Try them, and you can declare your own winner in this food !ght! �

COURTESY GUARDIANLV.COM

ScientiStS at the University of Cambridge have de-veloped a successful new therapy to desensitize allergic individuals to peanuts.

COURTESY NEWS&MEDICAL.NET

COURTESY MRWALLPAPER.COMCOURTESY SALUDDEPALOMA.COM

6 TROJAN HEALTH CONNECTION | April 23, 2014

IMAGES COURTESY OF GOOGLE.COM

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT

Pre-med by Default? Reset, Don’t Restart!

Over their years here at USC, the graduating class has gained valuable knowl-edge about being pre-med and surviving college. We LQWHUYLHZHG�À�YH�VHQLRUV�ZLWK�SUH�KHDOWK�DIÀ�OLDWLRQV�DERXW�their undergraduate expe-riences. Their responses showcase their diverse inter-ests and the decisions that have led to their success.

By IFRAH HASSANAssociate Editor

! e majority of USC students majoring in sciences identify as pre-med if not pre-health. Dr. Rebecca Broyer, professor of Or-ganic Chemistry at USC, was just like several of these students. She thought she should be a doctor because it seemed like the natural route.

Broyer attended UCSD for undergrad and received her PhD in Organic Chemistry from UCLA. While she was in undergrad, Broyer participated in numerous extracur-ricular activities, including volunteering at an AIDS hospice and interning at a chiro-

practor’s o" ce.She said, “In college, I worked as a tutor

for high school students in areas of math and sciences. I liked teaching, so academia seemed like the natural route once I started my PhD.”

Along with teaching, participating in a re-search lab in the pharmacology department also had an impact on Broyer’s career path. She got research credit for the position, and when she maxed out, she got a grant to con-tinue working on her project.

Broyer never had a clear moment in which she decided not to be pre-med. As a kid she liked chemistry and doing experiments, but she did not take chemistry classes until col-

lege. Due to this interest in science and a lack of exposure to alternative careers, she chose to be pre-med.

Based on her experiences growing up and in undergrad, she said, “I realized I was more of a scientist than a clinician.”

A# er $ nishing undergrad, Broyer knew she wanted to go to graduate school, not medical school. She worked before applying to graduate schools, however, both at a bio-tech company and as an editor for scienti$ c journals in Tokyo. She then did a post-doc a# er working in art conservation.

Broyer stresses the importance of think ing about the big picture and talking to peo-ple in alternative careers.

She said, “I learn from other scientists in the STEM $ elds. In addition to organic chemistry, my Ph.D. training encompassed polymer science, bioengineering and nano-technology.”

She continued to emphasize the overlap in the scienti$ c world.

“! e best advice I can give to students interested in the sciences is to expose them-selves to many di% erent experiences and to take them into other areas of their life,” said Broyer. “Do something you love.”

For students who like science but are un-certain about going to medical school, Broy-er highly recommends reading Alternative Careers in Science (edited by Cynthia Rob-

SENIOR LIFE

ALONG WITH MOST OF THE GRADUATING PRE-HEALTH

CLASS, THC IS CELEBRATING ITS FOURTH YEAR AT USC.

SO IN HONOR OF THE STUDENTS WHO HAVE GROWN THROUGH THE YEARS WITH US, WE’RE SHOWCAS-ING THE SENIORS’ MANY ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND

LOOKING FORWARD TO THEIR NEXT STEPS.

PHOTO COURTESY OF KECK.USC.EDU OFFICIAL MEDICAL STUDENT For many pre-health seniors in the Class of 2014, the next stop a! er graduation will be their white coat ceremony.

PHOTO COURTESY OF DAILYTROJAN.COM

10QuestionsYou’ve Always Wanted

to Ask a Senior

An amazing opportunity.I applied to a fellowship in Germany with the mental-

ity that I didn’t want to regret anything. Once I got past the interview rounds and this became more of a reality, I started considering taking a gap year more seriously be-cause medical school is a big commitment— you’re there for a long time. ! is is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me to explore a di% erent country and gain experience in my $ eld of interest.

Terrence Liu is a biochemistry major who will spend next year particpating in CBYX in Germany before starting at UT Southwestern Medical School in 2015.

What made you decide to defer your medical school acceptance?

I actually got this question in one of my medical school interviews, and I said I would work in a brewery. I’d be the brewmaster who adds di% er-ent ingredients to make new beer and maybe work part-time on the business side to sell what I make. It involves science because you’re like a chemist, and also it’s just fun because I like drinking beer!

Brewmaster.

1

2 If you had to pick another career, what would it be?

Communication is key.I took COMM 204. ! is class didn’t just teach pub-

lic speaking, but also techniques for organizing your thoughts and being able to command a presence. ! ere are a lot of di% erent aspects to pharmacy other than deal-ing with drugs and chemicals. You are expected to be a spokesman, counselor and business dealer - being able to command the presence is essential.

Kenneth Tham is a chemistry major with an emphasis in chemical biology, who will be attending UCSF School of Pharmacy in the Fall.

�'LG�\RX�À�QG�WKDW�DQ\�QRQ�VFLHQFH�courses helped you in your journey through pre-health?

In an interview, they asked me “ Creativity is really important for pharmacists, how have you shown creativ-ity?” I talked about traditional Chi-nese dance (TCD). In the begin-ning, I fell four times. Over the course of four years, I grew as a dancer and a person. At the end of the four years, I was a choreographer. My approach to choreographing TCD has always been “ I want this to happen, I don’t know if this can happen, but let’s do it.”

Traditional Chinese dance.

3

4 What extracurricular did you participate in that you think helped you grow most as a student?

Edited by Ana Hilleboe and Emily Vu

SENIO

7SENIOR LIFE April 23, 2014 | TROJAN HEALTH CONNECTION

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bins-Roth). ! e book explores a variety of careers accessible to science majors, with each chapter written by a specialist in that respective area.

Like the writers in the book, Dr. Broyer is happy with her career path. She enjoys being able to walk into a room and seeing people who are excited to learn.

She said “I love my job, I think it’s really fun. I like teaching and my whole life is ded-icated to learning.” �

Although Broyer chose not to pursue the path of medicine a! er college, many current students have decided to stay pre-med despite the challenges. Check out their stories below.

PHOTO COURTESY OF PEAKSANDPROFESSORS.ORG FROM PRE-MED TO PhD Before she became a professor of Organic Chemistry at USC, Rebecca Broyer studied to attend medical school.

I started in a different major.Actually, I entered USC as an Architecture major, but

my love for science overruled and a" er taking an HIV/AIDS chemistry class as a GE course, I realized that the pre-health path suits me better.

Loranna Grigoryan is a biological science major with a minor in ceramics who will be attending the USC School of Pharmacy in the Fall.

Did you ever consider switching out of the pre-health track? What made you stick with it?

! e key to developing long-lasting relationships lies in forming a bond that elicits honesty, curiosity, and vul-nerability. Get out of your comfort zone and begin to see your pro-fessors as individuals, not just instructors. Also, the Trojan Network is more than willing to “pay it forward” as long as initiative is taken.

By leaving my comfort zone.

5

6 How did you develop relationships with professors to receive letters of recommendation?

USC’s go-get-it mentality.Coming to USC, I found myself surrounded by indi-

viduals who were so committed to getting involved in so many di# erent ways, whether they had experience before or not. ! is mindset prepared me for the balanc-ing act required to succeed in graduate school. Had I not been exposed to that so early in my undergraduate ca-reer, I don’t think I would have been able to adapt to the expectations of the intensive graduate program as easily.

Ruhi Sikri is a health promotion & disease prevention major who is also enrolled in the progressive degree in biostatistics and applied epidemiology.

What aspect of USC do you think best prepared you for graduate school?

I am beyond elated to begin work as a Healtcare Con-sultant in San Francisco in the fall! If anyone had told me I would be doing this when I started USC as a naive freshman, I would not have believed them. Life works in funny ways. I guess I’ve learned to ex-pect the unexpected.

Healthcare consulting.

7

8 What are your plans for next year?

Travel abroad.I would travel abroad. I deeply regret not going to an-

other country to experience their food, culture, and at-tractions. ! e closest I got to a “study abroad program” was the Catalina Maymester. Students could kayak, hike, and camp in their free time. ! e class was scheduled in a manner so that you learned a lot but you were also given plenty of free time to explore the island.

Alexander Lopez is a double major in neuroscience and biology with a mas-ters in marine and enviornmental biolo-gy. He plans to attend medical school.

If you could do it again, what would you do differently?

! e advice I would give for pre-meds is to keep your options open, pursue new things, and $ nd programs at USC that interest you. You’ll be much happier doing activities you en-joy doing than stuck in a major you don’t like at all. My degrees help characterize my fascination about the brain, medicine, and the beach. I didn’t do it to im-press anyone.

Find your passions.

9

10 What is one piece of adviceyou would give to pre-medstudents?

INFOGRAPHIC BY JUSTIN JOOHWAN PARK

and get a sense of what your moral and eth-ical stance on the topics. Also, be prepared to describe yourself, your aspirations, and any challenges you had to overcome,” said Lopez.

If it is a traditional one-on-one interview, Lopez suggests that students should not list everything on their resume verbatim.

“Allow the interviewer to take the inter-view where it can go, but be able to elab-orate on the most signi$ cant things that you’re passionate about,” said Lopez.

His number one advice is for stu-dents to remem-ber to breathe and smile.

Senior Arshya Gurbani o# ers her insight.

“Be a little excited – this could be the next stepping stone of your life! Staying profes-sional is important, but it doesn’t hurt to demonstrate engagement and show that you care about the position,” said Gurbani.

Even if you are naturally shy, Gurbani suggests you practice your answers before-hand.

“You don’t want to sound rehearsed, but you can certainly identify your strengths and weaknesses, familiarize yourself with their program/job description, and align your interests and skill sets that you think their looking for,” said Gurbani.

She added, “Remember that you are a Trojan, so you are inherently awesome!”

For senior Zade Shakir, it is important to be yourself.

“! e best advice I can give for interviews is to not be afraid to make jokes and lighten the mood a little bit. It shows your inter-viewer that you are con$ dent and that you are more than just a resume – you are a per-son!” said Shakir.

Interviews take practice, but it never hurts to go into the interview prepared and remember to be yourself! �

“BE A LITTLE EXCITED— THIS COULD BE THE NEXT STEPPING STONE OF YOUR LIFE!”

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

Acing the InterviewBy EMILY HEAds Manager

As the academic school year comes to a close, many students are preparing to apply to graduate school and interview for pro-spective jobs.

For either graduate school or job in-terviews, USC’s Center of Excellence in Teaching advises students to “project a winning, ‘can do’ attitude in the way you present yourself.”

! e USC Career Center emphasizes that “an interview is a di-alogue.” It’s not only a way for the interview-er to learn more about you, but also an opportunity for you to $ nd out more about the program or position.

Over the past few years, many seniors have accumulated interview experience. Here are four seniors who share what they have learned from their interviews:

Senior Sheena Khanna said, “It is im-portant to know your application really well. Review it in the days before your in-terview and make sure you can talk about speci$ c details.”

Also, don’t shy away from sharing your hobbies or passions.

“You never know what common interests you will share with the interview, so some-times the random fun activities that you are involved in can become a huge topic of conversation!” said Khanna.

Senior Alexander Lopez’s advice on pre-paring for medical school interviews is to research the school’s interview style.

In recent years, many medical schools are transitioning to Multiple Mini-Inter-view (MMI) format, which is composed of six-to-ten interview stations in which the applicant is presented with a question, sce-nario or task.

“Look up practice MMI scenarios online

Source: USC O!ce of Pre-health Advisement. Figures are an approximation based on "rst-time applicants who have chosen to release their data.

SENIOR PROFILE

8 General Health TROJAN HEALTH CONNECTION | April 23, 2014

By CODY KANESHIROWriter

!ough one out of every four adults in America are di-agnosed with a psychological disorder per year according to the National Institute for Mental Health, negative mis-conceptions about mental illness continue to plague the general public.

Hollywood blockbusters, from the Joker in !e Dark Knight to Dr. Hannibal Lector in !e Silence of the Lambs, continue to portray mentally ill characters as antagonists: violent, unpredictable, and brutal.

News outlets, moreover, have focused their coverage of recent violent shootings on the role mental illness has ef-fected perpetrators such as Adam Lanza’s hallucinations in the Sandy Hook massacre and the auditory delusions of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the two Boston Marathon Bombers.

Even the frequent use of words such as “madman,” and “psychopath” characterize psychological disorders as neg-ative, socially intolerable a"ictions.

More disturbingly, discrimination against individuals with mental illness is still quite prevalent in the #eld of medicine. In the 1992 book, Stigma and Mental Illness, au-thors William Dubin and Paul Jay Fink found that lifetime insurance reimbursement coverage for psychological ser-vices was capped at $50,000, compared to the nearly limit-less coverage for cardiac surgery or renal dialysis patients.

Additionally, further studies by the National Associa-tion of State Mental Health Program Directors found that patients within the public healthcare system with major forms of psychological illness died 25 years earlier than those without mental disease, with 60 percent dying from preventable conditions.

“!e majority of healthcare providers are aware and em-pathetic of people su$ering from severe mental illness,” said Dr. Janice Schafrik, a psychologist at USC. “Unfor-tunately, there are still a small handful of providers that you may run across once or twice that still harbor negative misconceptions about mental illness.”

!ough the stigmatization of psychological disorders represents a huge problem on its own, the more immediate concern regarding mental health is how the lack of educa-

tion about psychological disease in the public can create stereotypes and assumptions that lead to self-stigmatiza-tion: a process in which an individual applies social con-ventions onto themselves, resulting in a lack of self-esteem, lack of hope, and general apathy.

“!e biggest challenge facing mental illness is the in-ternalized stigma,” said Schafrik. “Students pick up what they see in the media and internalize it. But being able to recognize and analyze what has happened can be really, re-ally scary in this battle. Over time they need to understand ‘that’s not true’ and recognize it for what it is and move forward.”

Joshua S., a student at USC struggling with depression, agrees that self-stigma can sometimes be the greatest ob-stacle in treating mental illness.

“!e stigma can be really di%cult. Everyone has already been conditioned to have certain perceptions about what mental illness is and how ‘crazy; people act. It’s something

that takes a long time for a lot of people to get over and start to be true with themselves,” he said.

In particular, one of the hardest things for students struggling with psychological disorders is identifying that a problem exists and having an internal resolution to doing something about it. In a society #lled with negative stereo-types against anything to do with mental illnesses, such internal battles o&en happen behind closed doors, without the help of peers, family, or friends.

!ankfully, Joshua notes, the stigma against mental ill-ness is as signi#cant as it is elsewhere.

“!e general American society has created a lot of nega-tive connections between mental illness and negative prac-tices. It’s really time we try to move past these though so we can help the people that need to be helped,” said Joshua.

He added, “It’s like having asthma or acid re'ux; mental illness doesn’t make you something you don’t want to be, it’s just something you have to deal with and move on.” �

The Invisible Asylum: Stigma of Mental Illness

Derm: More than Skin DeepRepaying Your Sleep Debt

COURTESY FANPOP.COMHollywood movies, such as !e Dark Knight, perpetuate the negative stereotypes associated with mental illness.

By RACHEL POLCYNWriter

When thinking of medical careers, peo-ple o&en overlook the profession of derma-tology.

!ough there are countless rewards as-sociated with the life of a dermatologist, a career in Dermatology is not as glamorous as the typical stereotype implies. Being a dermatologist requires hard work, inten-sive schooling and daily interaction with skin diseases of all kinds.

Dermatology is the medical specialty that focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of conditions related to the skin, hair and nails, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.

!e Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the median salary for a dermatologist as equal to or greater than $187,200 per year. Medscape reports that dermatologists work an average of 30-40 hours per week and are the most satis#ed of all the medical special-ties, with a satisfaction rate of 64 percent.

!e educational background required for a career in dermatology includes a bache-lor’s degree, a medical doctorate (MD) or a doctorate of osteopathic medicine (DO), a one-year internship and at least three years in a dermatology residency program.

Subspecialties of dermatology include cosmetic dermatology, dermatopathology, Mohs surgery and pediatric dermatology.

!e American Academy of Dermatology de#nes cosmetic dermatology as treatment that is meant to improve a patient’s appear-ance rather than treat a disease. Practices which fall under this specialty are surger-ies to remove acne scars, #ller and botuli-num injections to give the face a youthful appearance and laser surgery for vein, age spot or tattoo removal.

According to the Institute for Immu-no'uorescence, dermatopathologists spe-cialize in diagnosing disorders of the skin microscopically. !ey are medical doctors

whose jobs inherently involve knowledge of both pathology, the study of the causes and e$ects of disease, and dermatology.

Dermatopathologists analyze tissue sam-ples and collaborate with dermatologists to identify and diagnose skin diseases.

Mohs surgery is used exclusively to treat skin cancer and is conducted by a Mohs surgeon. A dermatologist considers all the factors of a case before determining that skin cancer is best treated with surgery.

Pediatric dermatology involves the di-agnosis and treatment of skin diseases in children. Common diseases diagnosed by pediatric dermatologists include eczema, birthmarks, psoriasis, skin infections, vitil-ligo, and warts.

At the Keck School of Medicine of USC, the objective of the Department of Derma-tology is to educate students to deliver su-perior specialized care to patients through clinical experience.

To achieve this goal, USC medical stu-dents receive one week of skin biology teaching in their second year, and a ten-lec-ture introduction to dermatology in their third year. Additionally, students have the option of participating in a four-week clin-ical dermatology elective.

Dr. David H. Peng, M.D., M.P.H. re-turned to Keck as the chair of the Depart-ment of Dermatology in April of 2013 a&er directing the Department of Dermatology’s Residency Training Program at Stanford University School of Medicine for three years.

He plans for USC to become the ‘go-to’ program in Los Angeles County for mela-noma, basal cell cancer, blistering diseases of the skin and other conditions. He also seeks to increase the Department of Der-matology’s presence in cancer research at the USC Norris Cancer Hospital.

For more information on USC Derma-tology programs, contact Keck’s Depart-ment of Dermatology at (323) 865-0983 or visit their website at keck.usc.edu. �

By FRANCINE LIANGPhoto Manager

Having a healthy sleep schedule is im-portant to your health and performance. Yes, this is something that everyone has heard before. But rarely do college students actually maintain a regular sleep schedule.

But why is sleep actually that important? Well, #rst o$, in extreme cases, sleep

deprivation can kill you. In less extreme cases, studies have shown that it can lead to increased irritability, lowered concentration and brain f u n c t i o n and weight g a i n , a m o n g o t h e r things.

Although these ef-fects seem temporary, long term e$ects of carrying a sleep debt also exist – such as decreased immune function and an increased risk for chronic lung and heart diseases - and are serious enough to hopefully convince you to rethink your current schedule.

If you are like most American adults, you probably try to catch up on your missed sleep over the weekends or whenever you have no morning classes.

Statistics show that most Americans tend to sleep an average of 2 hours more on weekends than weekdays.

!is might seem to be a good idea: a 2010 review published in Biological Psychology did actually suggest that the “sleep debt” may not even exist since sleep is largely phe-notypically adaptable over time – meaning,

your body may be able to adapt to consis-tently short hours of sleep.

!e authors of the review did also warn, however, that the body has limits on what it considers adequate sleep. Consistently get-ting less than six hours of sleep had negative health and functioning implications in most adults studied.

!e current consensus is that the sleep debt does in fact exist and that it can be “re-paid” with sleep over time. However, most researchers also agree that simply making up the sleep you miss hour-for-hour does not

work. !is is be-

cause the sleep debt builds up over time and can be masked by the refreshed feeling you get a&er just one night of good sleep. !e health-iest sleep

schedule you can have is thus a consis-

tent one, with at least six hours a night. So how can you improve your relationship

with sleep? First, re-establishing a healthy schedule is key. Sleeping and waking earlier help get you back on the correct track.

!en, to stabilize your circadian rhythm, it is best to have a set wake and sleep time, even on weekends. Try not to be tempted to sleep later just because you have later classes on a certain day. It is best to start following these guidelines now so that more serious problems do not develop later in life.

You love sleep and your body loves sleep. Establishing a stable, consistent relation-ship with it will make you a lot happier and healthier. �

COURTESY MATERNITYINSTITUTE.COMSix hours a night is the minimum amount of sleep for a healthy lifestyle.

!e Kaufman School of Dance is the newest of the University of Southern Cal-ifornia’s professional schools. !e school hopes to teach students to be innovative and collaborative in dance.

Gates, a renowned dancer, choreogra-pher, and educator, is a ballet dancer who appeared in over 40 shows and founded the Laguna Dance Festival. She also teaches in dance companies and at UC Irvine.

Robert Cutietta serves as the school’s Dean. Cutietta is currently a professor at the !ornton School of Music.

Glorya Kaufman is the founder of the school. !e school was a gi" from Kaufman who is a world-renowned dancer and philanthropist. !e school is also currently hiring faculty.

Although the two have not released or set a date for release of the new projects, it is exciting to see where this interdisci-plinary partnership will go and what new insights will be revealed. It is another tes-timony to the spirit of the university and its commitment to building bridges across disciplines. �

died of cancer, directly caused by heavy smoking.

Although a physician himself, Arzani’s grandfather smoked at a time when smok-ing was widely accepted as a method of re-laxation encouraged by doctors.

Arzani said, “By the time my grandfather was aware of the negative e#ects of smok-ing, it was too late.”

TFSA’s advisor, Dr. Steve Sussman, con-ducts research regarding drug abuse pre-vention and cessation.

Sussman said, “!ere are many USC non-smokers who wish that there would be no smoking around them but do not want to wrestle with the consequences of com-plaining about it. !ere are $nite smoking areas…where are they?”

According to Arzani, “Many other col-leges, such as UCLA, have become com-pletely smoke-free.”

TFSA’s vision is to become an integral part of USC’s health improvement e#orts. It anticipates becoming more involved in edu-cation and empowering fellow Trojans and high school students about the dangers of various smokable drugs.

In the upcoming year, the club plans to host many more student public health presentations and out-reach events at local schools. �

USC Opportunities 9April 23, 2014| TROJAN HEALTH CONNECTION

Attending a Medical Conference with APAMSA

Medical conferences allow researchers, health professionals and students to share their research and increase their knowledge in speci$c health $elds. While undergrad-uate students usually do not attend confer-ences, some organizations are encouraging and facilitating undergraduate attendance.

USC’s Premedical Asian Paci$c Ameri-can Medical Student Association (APAM-SA) is one of these groups. By attending medical conferences, APAMSA aims to bridge the gap between medical profes-sionals and premed students, as well as keep undergraduates up-to-date on new information in the healthcare $eld.

“Conferences are probably the best way to stay informed on the current issues in the health $eld, and, especially with the upcoming changes from the A#ordable Care Act, we need to stay on top of the shi"ing paradigm,” says Alexander Yuen, a

Upon $rst look, dancing and neurosci-ence seem to be of two completely di#er-ent disciplines. However, at the University of Southern California, the two will come together.

!e USC Gloria Kaufman School of Dance and the USC Brain and Creativity Institute are in partnership, but no specif-ic projects have been announced. !e two will work together to investigate the neuro-logical basis for the creativity in dance and the cognitive aspects of dance.

!e partnership will invite visiting schol-ars and dance professionals to assist in vari-ous research projects.

Jodie Gates, the vice dean of the Glorya Kaufman School of Dance hopes that the partnership will help students of the dance school to gain insight into what it means to be a “thoughtful dancer.”

!e USC Brain and Creativity Institute was established in 2006 when Dr. Antonio Damasio and Dr. Hanna Damasio came to USC.

!e Damasios are two of the world’s most renowned and respected neurologists. Dr. Hanna Damasio focuses on neuroimaging to study language, memory, and emotion. Dr. Antonio Damasio focuses on the rela-tionship between cognition and emotion and their neural basis.

!e institute currently has many projects that investigate the neural and cognitive aspects of music, feelings, society, devel-opment, decision-making, action, percep-tion, and imaging. !e partnership with the Kaufman School of Dance is the most recent.

Dancing with the Mind: Neuroscience Twist

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tobacco smoke is a toxic mix of more than 7,000 chemicals, causing about 90 percent of lung cancers in the United States. Additionally, about 3,000 people who do not smoke die from lung cancer every year due to secondhand smoke.

Trojans for Smoking Awareness (TFSA), a USC-recognized student organization, newly founded in 2013, aims to increase awareness of these facts within the USC and surrounding LA community.

It seeks to educate USC students and LA high schoolers on the dangers of smoking tobacco, marijuana, and other recreational drugs, as well as encourage more productive ways to spend time, decrease stress, and relax.

TFSA President Artine Arzani says that his grandfather was a heavy smoker who

Trojans for Smoking Awareness

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COURTESY CDN.SHEKNOWS.COM

Teach For America: “A New Outlook”

Teach for America is a non-pro$t that aims to lower education inequity by en-listing recent college graduates to teach in low-income areas for two years.

Zade Shakir, a pre-med senior major-ing in biology and international relations, will be working with Teach for America starting Fall 2014. He will be a high school chemistry teacher in the Bay Area.

Shakir’s passion for education stems from his experiences with teachers in high school.

He said, “Coming out of high school, I wasn’t interested in the sciences and it had to do with the educators.”

But in college he realized the impact a good teacher makes.

“A good educator can inspire you to do something,” Shakir said.

He added, “!at made me realize that there are so many kids in classrooms across the US that are really missing out on legiti-mate opportunities to accomplish something in life.”

Teach for America is intended for re-cent graduates in all disciplines but may be more appealing to pre-health students.

“Medical schools are getting more com-

petitive and more people are looking to take a gap year or two. Teach for America is a humbling, ma-turing experience, and teachers leave the program with a new outlook,” said Shakir.

He added, “From Teach for Ameri-ca there are quali-ties and skills that

are very valuable to a successful future in medicine or health. You will really be able to crack down on preparation skills and re-search. It allows you to experience some-thing di#erent.”

Shakir’s biggest concern is inspiring his students.

He said, “I think it’ll be di%cult to try and change someone’s perception about college or a class. !at’s something that is di%cult to do. A"er Teach from America, I want to be a leader in my community.”

!e application process is straightfor-ward. Students submit an online applica-tion at the end of their junior year.

!e interview process consists of two phases: one phone interview and one day-long interview. !e questions are primarily behavioral and ask candidates to re&ect on their leadership roles and past experiences.

USC is one of the biggest contributors for Teach for America. Students who are inter-ested should visit teachforamerica.org. �

!ere are qualities and skills that are very valuable to a

successful future in medicine or health.

Zade Shakir

TFSA aims to increase awareness of the dangers that come with smoking.

Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and Biological Sciences double major and APAMSA’s Internal Co-President.

Yuen stressed the many opportunities conferences provide for students to net-work with other students and healthcare professionals.

He said, “!ey provide a frank forum for premedical students and medical students to discuss current health topics. !is is es-pecially true for premedical students that get the chance to inquire about their pro-fessional interests.”

!e medical conferences usually consist of guest speakers, expert panels, and sci-enti$c poster sessions, which address the speci$c conference theme.

Yuen feels that premed students could gain new insight into healthcare topics by attending medical conferences.

“For me, medical topics are o"en much easier to understand when elaborated upon by experts. !is to me seems to be the greatest reason to attend,” he said.

APAMSA allows students to attend the conferences free of charge and makes an e#ort to cover all transportation costs, in-cluding &ights if necessary.

Students interested in attending medi-cal conferences with APAMSA or becom-

ing involved in the organization are en-couraged to contact APAMSA or attend any of their weekly Monday meetings this semester from 6:30-7:30 pm in THH 208. �

COURTESY FACEBOOKpArTicipAnTS in the APAMSA Midwest Regional Conference

By JESSICA FRANKEBERGERWriter

By AMRIT JAGGIPR Manager

By MAGGIE KINGWriter

By AMY ZHAOWriter

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10 PRE-MEDICAL PAGE TROJAN HEALTH CONNECTION | April 23, 2014

Medical School Rankings: What Do They Really Mean?

Match Day: Pushing the Envelope

By RACHEL DONGWriter

! e two paths to becoming a physician in the United States are either obtaining a degree as a doctor of allopathic medicine, or a doctor of osteopathic medicine. ! ese two degrees are more commonly referred to as MD and DO.

In the United States, “doctors” usually refer to individuals with an MD, as they constitute an overwhelming majority of the population of physicians in the United States.

According to the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, there are only 30 accredited colleges of osteo-pathic medicine in the United States, mak-ing up for 5% of the population of physi-

By BRITTNEY KUOWriter

! e U.S. News & World Report, widely known for its college and graduate school rankings, has recently published its top medical school rankings for 2015. ! e re-port is based upon a number of factors, and focuses primarily on rating medical schools in terms of research and primary care.

! e 2015 rankings were created on the basis of information received from 114 medical schools accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education and the American Osteopathic Association in the fall of 2013. ! e list is based on the weight-

ed average of seven to eight di" erent fac-tors, from admission statistics to surveys from the schools themselves.

Characteristics of each school taken into account in the ranking process include data such as the school’s acceptance rate and its accepted students’ average GPA and MCAT scores. ! e ratio of faculty to students is also considered.

Another aspect of a school’s ranking is its response to a survey administered to its school o# cials (such as the deans and directors of admissions) and residency program directors, asking them to rate the school’s programs on a scale of one to $ ve, with $ ve being the best score.

! e list of best medical schools in terms

of research are also additionally based on the amount of research grants awarded to the school by the National Institute of Health—including the amount of grants awarded per faculty member. In contrast, the list of best primary care medical schools is based on the percent of students of the school that were able to enter primary care residencies post-graduation.

! e scores from each of the above qual-i$ cations were adjusted and standardized until a chronological list could be formu-lated. ! e number one school in each cate-gory has a score of 100 and the schools that follow have a score that is a percentage of the top school’s score.

! e U.S. News & World Report also has

By RYAN EMHOFFWriter

! e countdown begins. Every fourth-year medical student at Johns Hopkins is waiting nervously for the timer to reach zero, envelopes in hand. ! e next three to ten years of their lives, their future city and specialty are all printed on one sheet of pa-per within that envelope. “ZERO!”

! e tearing of hundreds of envelopes can be heard and in the span of a few mo-ments there is an uproar of cheers. Not all of these cries are joyful ones as some stu-dents have discovered that their lives are not headed in the direction they desired.

! is hodgepodge of emo-tion and tension is part of a culmination of all the years that medical students have put into their career paths: Match Day.

Josh Lewis is a current Internal Medicine resident at Cedar’s Sinai Hospital.

Lewis said, “Match day is when you $ nd out where you matched into a residency or fellowship program.”

To get placed into a residency program one must $ ll out an online application and later be interviewed by interested hospitals.

“An algorithm matches you to programs based on your ranking of those programs, and the ranking that those programs placed you in,” Lewis said.

! e use of technology to match appli-cants to programs makes the system as streamlined as possible. According to the National Resident Matching Program, the match process $ lls 99.4 percent of available residency spots.

DO vs MD: Differences and Similaritiescians.

However, this is a growing number, as the AACOM reports that over 20% of the medical students in the US are DO stu-dents.

“! e biggest di" erence between DO and MD is the addition of much more muscular skeletal training and learning osteopathic manipulation,” said Dr. Erin Quinn.

Quinn is the Associate Dean of Science and Health and the former Associate Dean for Admissions at USC Keck School of Medicine.

“DO is an additional competency that you don’t have in the MD training, like an additional tool in the toolbox,” she added.

For example, instead of $ rst prescribing medicine, DO students learn to take more of a physical and more natural approach to

the healing process. ! e prerequisite courses for DO schools

are exactly the same as allopathic schools, with an appreciation of the structure and function of the body for DO school.

In both DO and MD schools, the $ rst two years are the clinical science years, while the third and fourth year are the clin-ical years.

Currently, there are certain residencies available only for DO students, while both DO and MD students can apply for the MD residencies. ! ese residencies are slightly di" erent, however.

Quinn said, “For residencies in family medicine for DOs, one a% ernoon per week they do osteopathic manipulation for their training.”

! ere are also di" erent exams to apply

By JEHAN BISTAWriter

As medically related technology has be-come more cutting-edge and universal, medical schools throughout the nation have put it in their best interests to provide their students with the most up-to-date re-sources in order to maximize the students’ learning and exposure to medicine.

! e Center for Stimulation and Innova-tion (CSI), which opened in July 2012, is a 9,600-square-foot complex dedicated to furthering medical education at the Uni-versity of Arizona Medical School.

! e facilities consist of $ ve mock hospital rooms, $ ve debrie$ ng rooms and a surgical station, among other things. ! ey serve to give medical students hands-on experience in an arti$ cially-created medical environ-ment in order to minimize the number of future errors they make.

Students can now utilize an e" ective tool in order to acquire practical experience be-fore venturing o" into real practice: man-nequins.

! e simulation hospital rooms located in CSI currently have nine full body manne-quins available for use.

! e mannequins, which range from 50,000 to 110,000 dollars, are expensive,

state-of-the-art machines that accurate-ly imitate several facets of human behav-ior including (but not limited to) talking, sweating, breathing, groaning, having an arti$ cial “blood & ow” and pulse and ex-creting bodily & uids.

During each simulation procedure, an experienced group of professionals assists the students: an attending physician, an in-tern (1st year resident), a chief resident and other health-related specialists.

Multiple specialists are brought togeth-er in order to demonstrate that complex health-related issues can only be solved when input from multiple areas of exper-tise are brought together.

! e mannequins document the entirety of their interactions with the students, en-abling the students to receive feedback on their treatment methods a% er each session.

Overall, the mannequins are useful tools because not only do they expose medical students to complex medical dilemmas, but they also further the students’ con$ dence in handling such situations. In the past, such technology was only available to res-idents, and many medical schools did not have access to such facilities.

! e fact that the medical students at the University of Arizona now have access to this type of simulation lab for all four years of their education demonstrates just how

integral such technology has become to the medical school curriculum.

As more and more med-ical schools throughout the country begin to incorporate these tools into their pro-grams, medical students can rest assured that they will be prepared to handle compli-cated health-related issues on their own in the future. �

Medical Mannequins: Second Line?

rankings of schools by specialty, including pediatric care, geriatrics, internal medi-cine, and family medicine. ! ese rankings are only tabulated through the number of nominations from medical school faculty when asked to name the ten schools with the best programs for each specialty.

Certain schools do not appear in the list, due to the fact that they did not give enough information to U.S. News to be suf-$ ciently ranked.

For 2015 Harvard University tops the list of the best research medical schools and the University of Washington is the $ rst on the list of best primary care schools. ! e full lists can be found on the U.S. News website. �

for DO and MD residencies.! e AACOM reported February 2014

that there will be a single accreditation system in medical education in order to ensure that all physicians will have access to the primary and sub-specialty training necessary to serve patients.

! is change allows graduates to transfer from one program to another without re-peating education, making residency pro-grams more e# cient.

According to Quinn, although many DO students go into primary care, there are now osteopathic physicians in every $ eld.

All in all, the degree in osteopathic med-icine presents an alternative perspective in medicine that o" ers similar residencies and ultimately, occupations, to prospective physicians. �

Match Day can be nerve-wracking for applicants as their entire futures are decid-ed by what comes in that envelope.

“Everyone is a little terri$ ed, and it’s de$ -nitely an anxious experience for everybody because you are never assured a spot,” said

Lewis.L e w -

is got his $ rst c h o i c e , but not e v e r y -one is so lucky. If an ap-p l i c a n t does not m a t c h a n y -w h e r e , then they have to

go through the Supplemental O" er and Acceptance Program, which places that ap-plicant in one of the remaining residency spots.

“I knew one guy who wanted to go into emergency medicine, but he did not match anywhere, so he had to apply to family phy-sician programs at the last minute. His ca-reer plans completely changed,” said Lewis.

Match Day is a milestone, so many schools put on a ceremony. For example, at Vanderbilt University every student goes on stage to open their envelope and read where they matched in front of everyone.

Match Day is one of many similar cycles of applying for spots in this career path, al-beit a petrifying cycle for some, but in the end it is a necessary step in the process.

Lewis said, “It’s a frustrating system, but everyone has to go through it, and in the end it works out for most people.” � COURTESY IMGUR.COM

MEDICAL students at the University of Con-necticut School of Medicine open their letters.

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11April 23, 2014 | TROJAN HEALTH CONNECTION COMMUNITY HEALTH

By SUCHARITA YELLAPRAGADA

Associate Editor!e temperature was 85 degrees

on a Sunday morning in Los An-geles. 20 miles passed. 6.2 miles remained. Every breath was be-coming harder and harder to take.

So how did senior Angie Kim, survive running the LA Marathon on a sunny March 9th morning?

“My friend and I dedicated ev-ery couple of miles to people we loved, and it made the "rst half go by very fast,” said Kim.

!e marathon started at ap-proximately 7 a.m. with the course beginning at the Dodger Stadium and ending at the intersection of Ocean Avenue and California Av-enue in Santa Monica.

Kim, of course, went into the race with previous experience in running marathons.

“I’ve been a distance runner since I was in 7th grade, and LA Marathon was going to be the pinnacle of my running career as I am graduating from USC,” said Kim.

“It’s also in my favorite city and the city I call home,” she added.

Although no cardiologist would tell a healthy person like Kim not to run a marathon, it does not mean that he or she would advise someone to just get o# the couch and starting running a race to-morrow.

A$er all, running 26.2 miles take a huge toll on the body’s muscles, bones, joints, and heart.

“I trained until 15 miles, which is really not a lot for a mara-thon runner at all. I should have

Heart Health: Marathons

By MONICA LIUWriter

When dancers incur an injury, it typical-ly means that their dance career has ended. !e loss of technique and strength that ac-companies extended periods of time with-out training is hard to overcome.

To address this issue, Cedars-Sinai Medi-cal Center has partnered with the Universi-ty of Southern California’s Glorya Kaufman School of Dance to create a Dance Medi-cine Program.

!is program is focused solely on mak-ing use of Cedars-Sinai’s resources to en-sure dancers’ rapid recovery.

Speci"cally, this program makes use of MRI machines, CT scans, physical thera-pists, physiatrists, and the expertise from an eight person medical team consisting of physicians ranging from orthopedic sur-geons to neurosurgeons.

In addition to this expert medical team, co-director Margo Apostolos, Ph.D., from the University of Southern California’s Glo-rya Kaufman School of Dance, brings her comprehensive knowledge of dance, move-ment and choreography to help design the most e#ective healing program for dancers.

Co-director Glenn Pfe#er, MD, with his extensive 25-year career in orthopedic sur-gery, devotes ample time to treating danc-ers.

Typically, a dancing injury involves bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints. Dancers are most vulnerable to these injuries in the lower back, feet, an-kles, and knees.

New Partnership Creates Dance Medicine Program

Speci"cally, the Cedars-Sinai/USC Glo-rya Kaufman Dance Medicine Center can treat anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, bursitis, tendonitis, articular car-tilage injury, traumatic injury fractures, meniscal tears, strains, sprains, and stress fractures.

!ese treatments are specialized for each patient. Physicians at this center fo-cus on administering therapies while ed-ucating the patient to avoid future injury

cast. However, once Leonardi visited Ce-

dars-Sinai/USC Dance Center, Pfe#er cor-rectly diagnosed Leonardi with os trigo-num, an “extra” bone in the foot broken from the pressure of leaping, turning, and pointing of the feet.

A$er his treatment and recovery through Cedars-Sinai/USC Glorya Kaufman Dance Medicine Center, Leonardi said, “I can jump again, and I do more turns now – before I could barely do four, now I’m up to seven, I wouldn’t have had a chance be-fore. Now I do. I just have to work hard and show them I’m really dedicated.”

Leonardi is now able to compete in the Youth American Grand Prix, the most prestigious dance competition for youths up to age 19, and study ballet under master Maxim Tchernychev and Dmitri Kulev of San Diego Ballet and Dmitri Kulev Classi-cal Ballet Academy, respectively.

!e Cedars-Sinai/USC Glorya Kaufman Dance Medicine Center aids many danc-ers and athletes in regaining their previous athleticism and technique through special-ized treatments incorporating the tech-nology, physicians, and physical therapists available through Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

!is program is one of the "rst of its kind in the nation and has successfully ca-tered medicine to a niche group.

For more information regarding the Ce-dars-Sinai/USC Glorya Kaufman Dance Medicine Center, please visit their website at Cedars-Sinai.edu. �

and ensure a full recovery. Matthew Leonardi, a former Cedars-Si-

nai/USC Glorya Kaufman Dance Medicine Center patient, was almost at the point of ending his dance career due to constant pain near his Achilles tendon.

Before visiting the Cedars-Sinai/USC Dance Center, Leonardi had tried three separate surgeons who all diagnosed him with either tendonitis or an ankle sprain and proceeded to put him in a restrictive

By JIANING LIUAssociate Editor

If you’ve been at USC for any amount of time, you have likely seen the gigantic jars of protein powder that decorate the living spaces of your health-conscious classmates.

With %avors like strawberry cream and rocky road, these pro-tein %avors sound more like milk-shakes than health supplements. Nonetheless, they have become an integral piece of a bodybuild-ing culture.

In recent years, the market of sports-oriented nutritional prod-ucts, commonly known as sup-plements has been expanding at an exponential rate.

Companies such as Optimum Nutrition and Cytosport, in-dustry leaders known for their “Whey Protein” and “Muscle Milk” products, have been expe-riencing rampant growth over the past decade.

A d v e r t i s e d as quick and healthy snacks or meal alternatives, these products are usually sold as ready-to-mix shakes or pre-packaged bars. !eir largest con-sumer? Men un-der 18-25.

“It’s a So-Cal thing and a young people thing. Every-body wants to get strong and look good, and protein is just a way to

do that,” said Joonwan Joun, a hu-man performance major and am-ateur bodybuilder.

Yet, the e#ectiveness of these supplements has been heavily debated. Although advertised as containing all the materials nec-essary for muscle growth, almost 99 percent of the product is sim-ple sugars and proteins.

Furthermore, consistent con-sumption of supplements can lead to too much protein. USC Profes-sor of Kinesiology Daniel Farwell expresses concern over the over-use of supplements.

“Most people already get more than enough protein in their di-ets; adding any more to it is usual-ly unnecessary,” said Farwell.

At ~$1.20 per serving of pro-tein, supplements do not come cheap. TAdditionally, Farwell goes on to explain that continu-ous consumption can lead to ex-posure to heavy metals in the sup-

plements like lead, arsenic or mercury.

“!ese metals have a negative im-pact on a host of organ functions.” he said.

Ultimately, Far-well believes that the key to building muscle and stay-ing "t is healthy long-term lifestyle choices.

He said, “No amount of protein can help if one

doesn’t make a conscious e#ort to exercise daily and eat properly.” �

COURTESY CEDARS&SINAI.EDU Leonardi, 19, prepares for his next competition

Protein supplements are be-coming increasingly popular.

COURTESY AMAZON.COM

running 26.2 miles takes a huge toll on one’s body.COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Science of Supplements

trained more. I tried breaking the race into two, instead of thinking I’m running the full 26.2 miles,” said Kim.

Kim admits that even with that preparation, it still was not enough to keep her body phys-ically ready for the marathon’s toll.

“I carb loaded for a few days before the race itself and added weight training to my training, but my body was in pain. !e muscles I knew never existed hurt for about four days a$er the race,” said Kim.

What Kim also admits she did not know is that some runners may have a hidden heart disease that can put them at risk when running high intensity races like the LA Marathon.

!e less training a runner has before a marathon, the more damage that occurs to the heart, speci"cally its pumping ability.

In the genetic condition hy-

pertrophic cardiomyopathy, part of the heart muscle is thickened without obvious cause. !is is normally asymptomatic, but un-der severe physical exertion, the heart is unable to cope, resulting in a heart attack.

Ultimately, this condition only a#ects one in "ve hundred people and there are still many bene"ts to running a marathon so long as a runner has adequately prepared both physically and mentally for the race.

“I’ve heard that it’s bad for your knees but I do want to run anoth-er marathon, towards early next year, or later this year,” said Kim.

She added, “It is time consum-ing to train. !e bene"t. though, is gaining discipline and feeling accomplishment.”

Kim "nished her last marathon as senior at USC. In the fall, she will be heading o# to the east coast, to New York University, for graduate school. �

12 Spotlight on Medical SchoolsApril 23, 2014 | TROJAN HEALTH CONNECTION

UCSD at a Glance

UCSD Molds Caring Physicians From Strong Applicants

OverviewOne of six prestigious Univer-

sity of California (UC) medical schools, the UC San Diego School of Medicine teaches its students to care for the patients at a more personal level. Established in 1968 and located in beautiful La Jolla, California, the school has grown to encompass multiple specialty departments and is distinguished as one of the best medical schools in the nation.

Amaan Ali, a ! rst year student and USC alum, shares his admira-tion for the school, saying, “UCSD believes in not just training com-petant physicians, but friendly and sensitive physicians. " ey realize that the way the patient feels...has a big impact on the healing pro-cess.”

" e school has numerous ac-colades, including highly ranked departments, particularly Fami-ly Medicine, Neurosciences, and Surgery.

" ere is a large emphasis on re-search as well, with faculty mem-bers ranking number one for fed-eral research funding per faculty member. As of 2014 the school is ranked 39th in the nation of public medical schools by US News.

Currently matriculating 125 students a year, the school has 502 students enrolled as of 2013. " is includes students who deferred from the previous year and stu-dents repeating courses from their ! rst year.

“Deferred and repeating stu-dents go through the same pro-grams,” said Ali. “We have elec-tives, but the core curriculum is the same for all students.”

A great bene! t of being the only medical school in the area is that

students have the option to gain experience from any one of the ! ve di# erent teaching hospitals as-sociated with the school.

“San Diego is amazing,” said Ali. “Being the only allopathic medical school in the area, we kind of have a monopoly on the teaching hos-pitals.”

" ese connections provide the students with extensive oppor-tunities to be trained by brilliant physicians and be exposed to a variety of health problems early in their medical careers.

For the ! rst year and a half, students take information dense courses aimed to provide all the knowledge necessary before they move on to clinical rotations for the remaining quarters. Some of the courses of year one and two

include the Practice of Medicine, Problem Based Learning, Cardi-ology, Mind Brain and Behavior, Hematology and Oncology. " ese prepare the students as they enter rotations in the spring of their sec-ond year.

" e school also o# ers the Inde-pendent Study Project (ISP) that, according to the UCSD’s website, seeks to “prepare physicians who are scienti! cally expert, clinically astute, responsive to community problems, and compassionate to-ward clinical needs.”

As one of the requirements for graduation since its adoption, the program is a step in the right direction for students to be thor-oughly engaged in their learning and encourage them have the initiative to pursue an academ-

ic project independent from the classroom setting.

Following their motto as “Fiat lux,” meaning “Let there be light,” UCSD’s School of Medicine and its students are sure to have a lasting impact on the medical ! eld of the future. Degree Programs

" e UCSD School of Medicine o# ers a variety of degree and dual degree programs. " ese allow students to explore their interests with greater range than just the medical atmosphere. " e pro-grams o# ered are MD, MD/Mas-ters of Advanced Studies in the Leadership of Healthcare Organi-zations, MD/Masters of Advanced Studies in Clinical Research, MD/Master of Advanced Studies in Health Law, MD/PhD, MD/MPH,

as well as various independent PhD programs. Application Pro-cess

" e application process is similar to most medical schools in the na-tion. A$ er a pri-mary application through AMCAS, the school asks for a $80 detailed secondary appli-cation, including, but not limited to, a biographical sketch (personal statement), list of extracurricu-lar, publications, medical/clinical experiences, let-ters of recom-mendation and volunteer experi-ence.

" e inter-view process has

changed in the last year, adopt-ing the Multiple Mini Interview system that many other medical schools are also implementing.

“" e interview process includes questions about personal interests, what ! eld of medicine you are in-terested in, etc,” said Ali. “It’s to get a better picture of who we are as people. If you are a nice, caring in-dividual, who cares about patients and is going into medicine to help people, the interviewers can pick up on that.”

" e average overall GPA is about 3.75, with an average sci-ence GPA of 3.71. MCAT scores should be around 33.6 composite. With almost 6000 applicants each cycle, the acceptance rate of the school is about 2.1 percent. �

By SANA AZAMWeb Manager

Anesthesiology 7%Emergency Medicine 4%Family Practice 6%

Total Cost of Attendance In-state $56,820

Out-of-state $69,060Average graduate indebtedness: $100,858

Students receiving aid: 78%

502 Currently Enrolled6,673 Veri! ed Applications

125 Matriculated

Class Size: 125Average MCAT at admission: 35Average GPA at admission: 3.8Average Science GPA: 3.8

Top Specialties Chosen by UCSD Students

Internal Medicine 17%Obstetrics/Gynecology 4%Orthopaedic Surgery 5%

#14 Best Research#38 Best Primary CareFull-time faculty 1,307Faculty-student ratio 2:6:1