Masis Parunyan, (MED’22)

What is special to you about BUSM?
One thing I noticed early on was a sense of openness at BUSM regarding students exploring their interests and actively engaging and enhancing the curriculum. From opportunities for students to invite guest speakers, to creating lecture series addressing topics that might otherwise go unexplored, to initiating projects to directly enhance the curriculum, I have felt a great sense of agency to explore my interests here.

I’ve also felt that the emphasis here on humanism and treating the whole patient, not just their medical illness, has made my experience special. It has been inspiring to see the work being done by both the school and hospital to address the social factors impacting patients. I’ve felt grateful for opportunities to learn more about these while I have been a student here.

How do you spend downtime or what do you do for wellness?
Music has always been my go-to wellness activity. Prior to the pandemic, I enjoyed singing with the Marsh Chapel Choir twice a week, singing mainly Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical works for the University’s Sunday service and broadcast. There is nothing quite like the experience of singing a Bach cantata with a live Baroque orchestra! These experiences really helped me carry through the challenges of the first two years of medical school. Now, we have been meeting weekly over the internet to keep in touch and learn a bit about the upcoming week’s music. I’m looking forward to the day we can sing together in person again. Currently, I’m keeping busy by learning a couple of piano duets together with a classmate.

Most memorable patient interaction?
Traditionally by this time of year the third-year students would be four or five months into their clerkships. This year, however, has been a bit different, because we spent the first few months of the year in a new virtual curriculum. We are now only about two months into our in-person clerkships. I think my most memorable interactions so far have been in talking with patients about their lives. One memorable moment was when a patient shared how they could still remember the exact moment when, as a child gathered around the radio with family, they heard it announced that the Second World War had begun. It is a very special opportunity that we have as students and future physicians to spend time with so many people and share in some of their most intimate memories.

What unexpected challenges have you faced as a medical student and how’d you overcome them?
Certainly the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic! It has reshaped and informed much of what our year has been like so far. Instead of starting in mid-May, we completed two-weeks each of the six core clerkships through a new virtual curriculum that included didactics, virtual cases, small group work, and note-writing exercises. This gave us the opportunity to get acquainted with the common conditions, unique lexicon, and nuances of each specialty.

In late-August we transitioned to in-person experiences, replete with masks and goggles. Shortly after starting, however, I was potentially exposed and was required to quarantine for two weeks. Thankfully, I remained healthy and stayed involved “virtually,” rounding with a team at BMC, wheeled around on a workstation, and interviewing patients via telephone.

Any other thoughts to share?
There have been lots of challenges navigating these uncharted waters, not only in terms of learning all that we need to for our clerkships but also in figuring out how to do it while keeping ourselves and those around us safe. With all things considered, though, my experience has been as good as could be asked for, and I have enjoyed it thoroughly. It is certainly an exciting time to be learning medicine and undoubtedly a very special moment to be helping patients and the healthcare team.