T-8

I am writing this from the desk I've appropriated in my parents' house in Kentucky, where I am spending my last two weeks states-side madly studying for a board exam. I wish that I was getting to spend more of my last days here with friends and family, as unfortunately, this desk has become a little too familiar in the last few days. But, a week from today, I will finish the Step 2 exam (with a huge sigh of relief I'm sure) and have 1 day of intense packing before heading off to Beijing, China! I will be in China for approximately 10 months, as a Fogarty International Clinical Research Scholar (FICRS), which is a program sponsored by the Fogarty International Center, one of the National Institutes of Health. I will be doing public health and epidemiology research in the area of cervical cancer at a cancer hospital in Beijing called CICAMS (Cancer Institute and Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences).

I am super-excited about my upcoming trip and will write more soon about the thoughts that I am having in the days leading up it. I plan on using this blog to both share my experiences and to reflect on them. I will also sometimes post on a blog called Four Continents of which I am a co-author (link to the side), which at the moment is an awesome narrative about my friend Katy's summer experience in Afghanistan, so feel free to follow it as well.

Zijian (goodbye) for now!