药学学生在NASA开设了自己的课程

Fourth-year pharmacy student Tom Diaz’s interest in aerospace medicine took a giant leap forward this year when he became the first pharmacy student to attend the NASA/Johnson Space Center Aerospace 医学 Clerkship program 在德克萨斯州的休斯顿. Aerospace medicine focuses on keeping people involved in air and space travel healthy and safe in some particularly challenging living conditions.

美国宇航局, Diaz toured the space center’s campus and facilities, met astronauts and heard lectures by NASA scientists. He also completed a re太阳城娱乐城 project on how genes affect a person’s response to drugs.

“This clerkship has essentially been a month-long structured course about aerospace medicine, so I’m learning from front to end about the field from experts. It’s been a hands-on experience that I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere else,迪亚兹说, president of UNC 谢尔曼药学院’s Class of 2024.

Because the four-week program is designed for medical students, Diaz reached out directly to the program’s coordinator for permission to apply and was accepted. 他的14个同学都是医学院的学生, 住院医师和执业医师, 其中大多数是美国的成员国.S. 海军、空军或空军国民警卫队.

Diaz’s re太阳城娱乐城 focused on how genetics can affect the safety and effectiveness of medication used by ground support and spaceflight crew members. Diaz worked on the project with NASA’s lead pharmacist, 蒂娜Bayuse, 和西·马修, clinical staff pharmacist at Johnson Space Center Pharmacy.

“Being able to do re太阳城娱乐城 during this was a huge opportunity,” Diaz said. “Doing re太阳城娱乐城 in this field is hard because you have to find either an individual or lab to partner with. 在这个职位上, you get accepted and then you automatically get paired with a mentor and a re太阳城娱乐城 project.”

While there, Diaz presented his re太阳城娱乐城 to Johnson Space Center scientists and re太阳城娱乐城 mentors. He will also submit his poster for a presentation at the Aerospace Medical Association’s annual scientific meeting in 2024.

Diaz has pursued an interest in aerospace medicine for a while, 加入AsMA, 参加会议和阅读论文. He also co-founded Aerospace 医学 at Carolina, a subgroup of the national Aerospace 医学 Student and Resident Organization, to encourage interest in the field across Carolina’s campus.

“It’s been incredible to be able to meet a group of like-minded students and individuals in various stages of their careers,他谈到NASA的职员时说. “Another highlight has been learning from world-renowned experts. 我一直在看这些报纸, 注意一些重复出现的名字, and now they are here in front of me sharing their re太阳城娱乐城.”

His NASA experience gave Diaz a clearer picture of what his future career holds. He plans to pursue a two-year residency in clinical pharmacy, 重点关注重症监护, while staying active in aerospace medicine organizations and continuing his aerospace medicine re太阳城娱乐城.

He is taking to heart the best advice he received during his time at NASA: “Find what you like, dive deep into it and become an expert in your niche interest.”