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Anatomy: May the Forceps be with You

Our second year of medical school is over! I can’t believe how fast it went by. I am very excited to start our clinical years and talk to actual patients, but I will definitely miss M2 year and the unique opportunities I have had at Michigan Medicine.

My favorite part about this year started last May, when I was asked if I would be interested in working for our Anatomy Department’s BlueLink team over the summer. BlueLink is an educational resource for the anatomy courses offered at the University of Michigan that utilizes a plethora of multimedia and lab resources to enhance the anatomy experience. My role on the team was to perform detailed dissections for photographs used in lab manuals and online study resources. Needless to say, I was thrilled to accept. Anatomy was easily my favorite course of first year, and this was a chance to continue my education in an intensive way.

Over the summer, my concentration was on head and neck anatomy for the new dental student lab manuals. I had never enjoyed a job as much as this one. The Department of Anatomy is filled with fantastic faculty and my fellow team members were a joy to work with. When the fall came around and classes started, I decided I couldn’t give it up. It was too much fun to walk away from. And lucky for me I didn’t, because with the fall came exciting new opportunities: the chance to be a teaching assistant for M1 and undergraduate anatomy courses and to work on an unprecedented project: constructing a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for anatomy!

Though my part in the MOOC was small, I continued to do what I love best and dissect. The faculty and other team members worked to create a comprehensive course for anatomy that is free and open to the public. The first course opened for enrollment is Anatomy: Musculoskeletal and Integumentary Systems. In January, it was recognized as one of the top 10 most popular MOOCs of 2017 based on enrollment numbers. Considering world class faculty were teaching the course, it was no surprise to me that it quickly rose to the top. Stay tuned for the next segments because trust me, you won’t want to miss them.

Working for the Department of Anatomy is easily one of the things I am most proud of from this year. The friends I made and the mentoring I received are unforgettable. My last day ended with a salute to the team, and nothing could have been more fitting as I take off into M3 year.