Teratoma's, Trips, and Theme Parties, by blogger of the month Shauna Dunton

I held a teratoma in my hands and there was hair and teeth inside of it. Did I get your attention?

For some of us non-science majors like myself, Pathology lab was the first time we were able to touch and inspect human organs, and because it was a pathology lab, we were able to see different manifestations of cancers, hemorrhages, and ischemia. I think our class was most impressed and intrigued by the organs with teratoma’s that were passed around. I find it so important to be able to shorten the time gap between learning material from a book or a lecture, and being able to see first hand manifestations of what you are learning, and this class really did an excellent job of that.

 Our class recently embarked on an organized trip to Sde Boker where we visited a satellite school of Ben Gurion University, called the Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, along with Ben Gurion’s hut and his final resting place overlooking Zin Valley. I think we all felt it was important, as recent residents of southern Israel, to understand the vision Ben Gurion had for populating the South and also to know something about the research that is going on in this area. Yet, if these things don’t intrigue you, the views of Zin valley alone were certainly worth the short bus ride to Sde Boker. As a resident of Beer Sheva, I often don’t feel like I am living in the Negev desert, except when there is a sandstorm of course, and it’s always humbling to see the nature that defines the area in which you live.

March is a very exciting month at MSIH, and although I promised more “from the classroom” material I must also gush about the things going on outside the classroom. First of all, Purim was last week and our class celebrated it in full style at the main campus’s purim festival while stuffing our faces with Hamentaschen, which are (traditional for Purim) triangular shaped cookies filled with dates, figs, apricots, chocolate and sometimes even Halva. The costumes were quite extraordinary and MSIH was aptly represented as well.

Every year, MSIH has a formal called MSIH prom, complete with a full dinner, photo booth and open bar and this year it was spectacular. All four years of MSIH were together at last (the fourth years have just recently come back from being abroad for their global heath rotations) and we were able to mingle and dance the night away in what was an unforgettable night.

Thanks for reading!   Blogger of the month, Shauna Dunton