Student Spotlight: Impana Shetty

 

    When I first started at Pitt this past fall, many people told me that grad school would go by fast. I was pretty skeptical, especially since a two-year program seemed like a pretty long time! Now that I am more than halfway into my first year, I have realized that grad school truly does go by fast. It seems like we were learning about taking pedigrees only a few weeks ago, and now we are having the second-year students give us presentations on clinical rotations. With rotations starting in a few months, I have been starting to seriously think about what I would like to do for my optional rotation.

    At Pitt, students have space for a three-week optional rotation in their rotation schedules. The optional rotation is a time for students to get experience in a specialty they are interested in. A few of the rotations on the list of possibilities are working at Ophthalmic Genetics, the UPMC Clinical Genomics Laboratory, and the Muscular Dystrophy Clinic. You can also get extra exposure in a certain rotation or even craft your own rotation with the help of the program directors and site supervisors. If you want to spend your optional rotation outside at Pittsburgh, you can use this time as an opportunity to either rotate at a place close to home or work at a place you might want to live in after grad school. If there is a particular optional rotation that a second-year student has recently done, you can talk to them about their experience to get a better idea of what the rotation is like.

    Being able to choose an optional rotation is exciting since there are so many different possibilities you can choose from. However, with all of these options, it can also be overwhelming to pick the one rotation you want to do! As I go through the list of the optional rotation possibilities, I have started narrowing down my top three choices based on the specialties I may want to pursue in the future. After taking a GeneDx seminar series last semester, I became curious about laboratory genetic counseling and working in a non-clinical setting. As a result, the options that are in my preliminary top three list are rotating at GeneDx, focusing on exome testing, and conducting research. Since I do not have prior experience in these areas, I think that rotating at one of these places would be a great way to get a better understanding of these specialties and see which one could be a good fit for me in the future!

-Impana Shetty

Student Spotlight: Morgan Brzozowski

 

              I knew I wanted to enter the field of genetic counseling before I graduated high school. I had my path perfectly planned out in my mind: I would go to college, study biology and psychology, graduate, and go directly to grad school to pursue my masters in genetic counseling. I had no doubts this was it. Several years and applications later, I realized that my path wasn’t going to be so direct. I came to accept the fact that my future was now unknown, and I needed to gain more experience in the field to strengthen my application. Luckily, I was able to find a position as a genetic counseling assistant (GCA) at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in neurogenetics. While at Penn, I was exposed to the ins and outs of the daily responsibilities of a genetic counselor. I knew I was gaining invaluable experiences through speaking with patients, prepping appointments, ordering tests and following up with results. After a year of working as a GCA at Penn I was able increase my workload to include research coordination on projects involving telehealth satisfaction in neurogenetics. This was an entirely new experience that further opened my eyes to the different possibilities of working as a clinical GC.

              I loved the work I had been doing and was ready to get back into the application cycle. Several months later, I was beyond excited to learn of my acceptance into the program at Pitt. As I began to prepare for this next step in my journey, there was a nagging reminder that I hadn’t been in a classroom for several years. I knew I was entering a program with academically rigorous schedule, and became anxious as to what it would feel like to be back. I often found myself thinking, how will I start to study? What will it feel like to be in a lecture again? How am I going to manage working while taking classes?

              Two weeks after arriving on campus, everything began to fall into place. I realized that I needed to alter my previous style of taking notes and develop a new study regime. As expected and appreciated, classes moved at a faster pace, and I was more passionate about the courses than ever before. My classmates contributed greatly to my transition to being a student again and became a strong support system. In addition to beginning classes, I was also starting a new job as a GCA in ophthalmology at UPMC. I was excited to be able to take on this position but was aware that it would add on another layer of complexity to my schedule. I knew it would provide unparalleled exposure to a new specialty; however, I would have to find a balance between work and school. This was a challenge for me. I quickly recognized that there were not enough hours in a day to complete everything on my to-do list. My time management skills would have to be adjusted so that I could use my days most efficiently and effectively. As the time passed, I began to learn that I needed to take a step back and evaluate, to breathe and not become overwhelmed. By creating a schedule, and holding myself responsible, I acknowledged that there was enough time, and that with stability came success. I found myself back on that path I set years ago. 

-Morgan Brzozowski