Coming into USC wanting to be both a biomedical engineering major and on the pre-med track, I was worried my coursework and involvements would become super one sided. Given the demands of an engineering curriculum, I was concerned that I wouldn’t have time to explore the medical field. While my curriculum and involvements do demand much of my time, I have also been able to shadow and volunteer at the Hudson Clinic! My Pre-Health advisor helped me get an interview and I have been spending four hours a week there so far this semester!
The H. Claude Hudson Clinic is a LA country health clinic that offers a variety of services to local patients such as primary care and urgent care, plus specialty care units like women’s health, pediatrics, and optometry. I attend two days a week each for 2 hours. One of the days I get to shadow physicians in the urgent care unit. THIS IS THE COOLEST THING EVER FOR ME! I get to spend the morning traveling around with doctors and shadowing their consults. All of the physicians and clinic staff have been incredibly welcoming and make an effort to explain to me what is going on and give me background information to connect the dots of each case.
Another thing I am super excited about is that many of these consultations are in Spanish!! Coming into college, I considered minoring in Spanish. Although this minor did not end up working into my schedule, through my shadowing at the Hudson Clinic, I have gotten the opportunity to practice my listening comprehension and hone my skills further. I AM LOVING IT! Learning truly does not stop in the classroom!!
So far I have volunteered in the administration office doing clerical work, designing and printing posters for upcoming events, helping file paperwork, and I even working at a nacho fundraiser! I have found these experiences to be great opportunities for me to help where needed and to make a difference for their staff and the clinic as a whole.
Volunteering/shadowing has been a super cool opportunity for me to learn outside the classroom and get involved in the local community. I look forward to continuing this semester and can’t wait to see how much I will learn!!
[/cs_text][/cs_column][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/5″ style=”padding: 0px;”][x_custom_headline level=”h5″ looks_like=”h5″ accent=”false” class=”cs-ta-center” style=”color: hsl(0, 95%, 18%);”]About the Author[/x_custom_headline][x_image type=”circle” src=”https://viterbivoices.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Natalie-Kistler_19-20_pp_sq_web.jpg” alt=”” link=”true” href=”https://viterbivoices.usc.edu/dominie/” title=”” target=”blank” info=”popover” info_place=”bottom” info_trigger=”hover” info_content=”Dominie Biomedical Engineering ’21”][cs_text class=”cs-ta-center”]Natalie is a sophomore studying Biomedical Engineering. Click above to find out more!
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