Jerilynn C. Prior BA, MD, FRCPC
I was recently honoured to walk in the Faculty procession at the University of British Columbia’s spring graduation and share in the pageantry. I wanted to be there for Kaitlin Nelson, brand new MSc graduate, and an incredible researcher and trainee who coordinated our innovative 6-month feasibility trial for women+ with androgenic polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), i.e. those with far-apart periods who are also troubled by unwanted facial and body hair.
I remember my graduation from medical school now 56 years ago. We were in an echoey, unfamiliar auditorium on the main campus of Boston University. I felt triumphant walking across that stage because I had ‘worked my way through’ (with help from scholarships) eight years of undergraduate and medical training. On that day I also learned, to my total amazement, that I had an MD with honours (cum laude).I tried in each course, with each rotation, and each patient, to learn and to do my best. I didn’t focus on evaluations that were never formally provided. My honours were surprising because during my first two medical school years at the University of Oregon, I well-remembered the agonizingly difficult task of trying to memorize things whose importance to become a doctor remained mysterious. I recall quipping to my dissident student-friends, that our seven hours of lectures each day were making us into “pear-shaped people with pearl-sized minds.”
How do we learn? In many ways, from many people, and by many experiences. But in medicine, I learn by evaluating and critiquing selected but broadly applicable/interesting primary research papers. To read these original results, through most of my education and training, I had to walk to and find the bound journal in a library. I guess I’ve instinctively felt that I could best evaluate and, if appropriate, learn from original research. I’ve seen how information may be skewed by “expert reviews” that deceive us with their simple summaries. Informationis much more accessible today. But is it what we need to learn; is it knowledge?Today we are flooded by bytes, or blogs or online posts. To figure out if each bit of information is something we want to learn, we must first be clear what we want or need to know. And, second, we must have a core of personal values and life experiences so we can discern what is true. We must differentiate information from myth or marketing. These are daunting tasks.
It is important for all of us, especially those of us in roles as teachers and leaders, to provide the evidence behind what we want our trainees/ students/children or others to know. That will help them learn how we evaluate information. We also are responsible to indicate what we feel is the relevance of the provided information for their lives and their futures.
May Highlights
Student Voices and Science in Action: York House School Visits CeMCOR
On May 12, CeMCOR welcomed six senior students and two teachers from York House School (Vancouver) for a 2.5-hour interactive learning session at our Vancouver General Hospital offices. Funded through the Public Health Agency of Canada’s School Health Grant, this student-led initiative gave participants a behind-the-scenes look at hormone health research, including:
- A quiz on menstrual myths and ovulation
- A demonstration of thermal imaging technology used in our Endometriosis and BAT Activity Study
- A preview of our Menstrual Cramps Ibuprofen Therapy Study
- Open conversations about the realities of women’s health research
We were inspired by the students’ curiosity, confidence, and engagement with topics often surrounded by stigma. It was a meaningful exchange that left us hopeful for the next generation of changemakers in science and health.