ASA III

For my summer project, I was required to do a poster and a 5 minute powerpoint presentation at the ASA. It wasn't too bad. Making the poster took a while; I get really obsessive-compulsive about having everything line up evenly and look pretty. The poster session was okay; there were all the medical students of that research program and a bunch of their mentors. But there were also random MDs wandering around asking us about our research, which was kind of cool. I met a bunch of medical students from all over the country. The range of research went from education and patient safety to clinical cohort studies and basic science. A subset of us then did 5-minute powerpoint presentations followed by a few questions. It went fine; I had done decent preparation and talked to the moderator beforehand so I had a good idea of the question he would ask. The experience was excellent; it was a fairly large room with a decent number of people (and luckily, few experts in the field). I like listening to other presentations. I have to admit, I pay as much attention to the delivery as I do to the content. It's a good way of learning what techniques work.

Afterwards, there was a reception sponsored by biotech. Lots of up-and-coming anesthesiologists (many residents and fellows). I hung out with some of the other medical students (who were all worried about missing massive amounts of class). The food and venue were excellent. In sum, it was a fun and educational experience, though it took up a lot of my time.