Buck to school 2010

Teachers in medical school generally don't have a summer vacation. Especially in our university, the work you are not able to do during the academic year somehow gets done in the months of April and May. That is, of course, on top the usual summer activities we mount. In our case, our annual undergraduate Global Health Course is the main happy cause celebre. Still, though, there is a noticeable dip in the workload. And so we endeavor to call the Philippine summer months as "vacation" time.

(At the Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower in the UNC Chapel Hill campus when we visited last December 2009.)

Tomorrow is the official start of being back to the daily grind of medical education. I declare that with excitement admixed with a hue of wistfulness: it maybe my last few weeks in the University, for now at least. I've accepted the offer of the University of North Carolina in Chapel to join the Master of Public Health Program in its Gillings Schools of Global Public Health starting August 24th. I'm joining as a student, mind you. So 10 years after my first day in medical school, I'd be having my first day in graduate school- in 70-odd-days' time, God willing. I'm still sorting out some financial/logistical concerns- I may defer enrollment for another year- but I'm really beyond-the-moon-excited to begin this next phase in my personal and professional life.

The miraculous road which I walked on to get admitted to UNC Chapel Hill is a blog post waiting to be written. Soon.

Please wish me luck and God speed- with my teaching work starting tomorrow and my UNC studies and with writing promised blog posts!