Welcome back everyone! :) Happy New Year! We trust that you all enjoyed your winter breaks and we would like to start our first blog back by apologizing for our absence these past couple months. This entry will serve as a recap of last term, and hopefully serve as a bit of an explanation as to the workload that served to taint our blogging creativity a bit.
Last quarter saw TDI students complete courses such Epidemiology and Biostatistics 1, the Continual Improvement of Health care, Medical Care and the Corporation, Inferential Methods and Systematic Review 2, along with classes specific to those pursuing a MPH or MS degree.
To give a quick peek into what kept us occupied in the last few months, students in the Medical Care and Corporation class (offered through the Tuck Business School), for example, participated in term long consulting projects with various clients in the Upper Valley. Clients included Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and Dartmouth College, with the final deliverables being a full-length presentation as well as a client report. Inferential Methods part 2 concluded with the final products of a systematic review paper and poster session, and please see attached pictures as proof that all the hard work paid off. In our Continual Improvement of Health Care class, we completed personal improvement projects and had the opportunity to tackle issues in real life setting, in team improvement projects, where we learned all about issues of quality improvement.
In the MPH Seminar Series, a three term course spread through the Fall-Spring Terms, students worked in groups to conduct a Needs Assessment of various programs within the community, and present their findings to their respective clients. For the MS students, the Research Tutorial Series 1 began the process crafting what may eventually become grant proposals worthy of submission to the NIH.
Although may seem like all we do is go to class, and then when we’re out of class, we’re either doing class work, or preparing for more class, we do actually have time for social events.
Prime example? Before TDI students scattered all over the country before thanksgiving break, we had our own version of thanksgiving dinner, with Turkey, Ham, mashed potatoes and all the fixings, not forgetting the apple pie of course.
As the student advisory committee, we also hosted a holiday movie night before we all left for our holiday breaks! The movie selections were: A Christmas Story, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Elf, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Home Alone. The winning movie was A Christmas story and we enjoyed the evening with popcorn. We also hosted a study social for students preparing for finals. There was plenty of food and it was good to be surrounded by fellow classmates for the final stretch.
The TDI Holiday Party was a big hit. :) It was beautifully decorated and the food was delicious! It was a nice way to meet an greet with professors and other TDI staff and faculty.
It definitely was an action-packed term to say the least, but we all made it through. :) Stay tuned because we are going to be blogging machines...don’t believe us? Oh you just wait and see.
TDI love,
Miriam Ayad Miriam.E.Ayad@dartmouth.edu (President)
April Semilla asemilla@dartmouth.edu (Treasurer)
