2022 Edition
“I am thankful for my struggle because, without it, I wouldn’t have stumbled across my strength."
-Alex Elle
ABOUT US Here at AMWA UTD, we want to do our very best to inform you of all of the issues relevant to women and healthcare, together and separately. We hope that our monthly newsletter becomes an enlightening source to you all as we learn about the multitudes of important topics and issues that we all need to be aware of.
The Editor’s Take: Spring 2022 - Some things Different, Some things the Same
By: Shraddha Trehan
Welcome back AMWA! Another spring semester has arrived, and from my peers, I have learned that UTD is back online. Though these next two weeks might be challenging (and let’s face it, a little triggering), I am thankful to have a community of strong women around me who understand the gravity of the situation that we are living through. History is in the making, and we are a part of it. I’m hoping for a quick return to in-person classes for all of us, but until then, we have an exciting newsletter in-store remarking on lots of topics that are equally important to the COVID situation at hand.
Before we get into them, please take a moment to fill out our ASKAMWA form, specifically concerning how you all feel about the way UTD is handling COVID: https://forms.gle/3uHnefigbZbuiDiJ7.
As for this newsletter:
Starting off: Some Tips on how to Take on this New Semester
Then, a look at: How Climate Change Affects our Health, The History Behind HeLa Cells, and Postpartum Depression
Finally: Books that Every Pre-health Student Should Read
As usual, please feel free to email me at shraddha.trehan@utdallas.edu about any topic you feel needs to be included in future newsletters. Patiently waiting alongside you all for the day that we can reach in drugstores for “NyQuil: Cold, Flu, & COVID” and this whole era is behind us.
Until the next one, Shraddha :)
New Semester, New Me
By: Anjali Binoy
The start of a new year is always an exciting time - especially when it coincides with the start of a fresh new semester in college. However, within the time we’ve made our resolutions and when we start classes, it’s possible we have noticed a decrease in the drive we had intended to start school with. If that resonates with you, I’m here to tell you that you’re still going to be okay and you are definitely not alone in feeling that way.
So how can we stay on track with our resolution to try to become a better students than we were last semester? (Here at AMWA, we value self-growth!)
Plan your week! Before the week begins, write out your classes, assignments, and assessments on the days they occur. You should add extracurricular (like AMWA) events as well as social events that you’re expecting for the week!
Get enough sleep! A regular sleep pattern helps repair and reset our brain and body so that we can process everything we’ve learned as well as prepare for what is to come the next day.
Eat balanced foods! Consistently undereating (or overeating) can negatively impact our mental and physical health. Maintaining a diet of filling and nutrient-rich foods is important and balancing it with a small treat is a perfect way to ensure you’re satiated and happy!
Stay on top of your work! As pre-health students, it’s important that we finish our assignments in a satisfactory way. Our grades do matter, so make sure you don’t fall behind on homework assignments - all those points count!
Ask for help! Don’t be afraid to contact teachers or TAs if you are confused in class. Asking questions doesn’t just clarify, it prevents us from falling behind in class as well, so it’s important to ask right when you have that question.
Take breaks! A good work-life balance is crucial for college students. Take breaks between your studying and classes. Make some time to meet up with friends, get active, or take yourself somewhere nice. Self-care should be a priority!
Remember you are not alone. If you notice that you’re mentally or emotionally struggling, don’t be afraid to reach out for help. There are counseling services offered by the university and sometimes professors are also willing to help. When we prioritize our mental health, we can develop a more positive and refreshing outlook on life which can help us avoid burnout or more serious conditions in the long run.
In your journey to having a better semester, I hope these tips help and stay with you! I will be trying to follow along with these as well to maintain a healthy mindset to really push through this semester. Remember to take care of yourself and treat yourself with kindness and patience!
What’s Poppin’: The Secret Behind Climate Change and Our Health
By: Amulya Bhaskara
Climate change has been one of the hot-button issues for the past few decades, no pun intended. Its impacts on the world have been evident: rising sea levels caused by melting ice at the poles, loss of the ozone layer causing rising global temperatures, increased wildfires, more erratic natural disasters, and unanticipated storms and droughts; the list goes on and on. Unfortunately, this doesn’t even begin to hit the effects of these natural calamities on society, like reducing food production and hurting national economies. However, one impact of climate change that we don’t always recognize is its effect on our physical health.
Oceans have taken a great deal of the damage caused by climate change, with rising sea levels, pollution, and overfishing to name a few problems. While that seems like a problem that only impacts marine life, it turns out human health is closely linked to marine health. To understand this connection, it’s important to remember how much we rely on the ocean as a society, whether we acknowledge it or not. Fishing is a billion-dollar industry, supporting large corporations and small communities, and providing us with key minerals and oils we cannot find otherwise in our diets. Many medical innovations are closely tied to the discoveries we can make only by studying marine life. There are hundreds of ethnic peoples who rely on the ocean not only for food but for transport. We swim in the ocean, and spending time in seawater is proven to provide both mental and physical health benefits.
Now, keeping these activities in mind, it’s easier to see how poor ocean health affects us. Overfishing hurts the fishing industry, wiping out the main source of income for many communities and hurting our diets. Ocean pollution makes oceans dangerous for humans and marine life, killing off many of the organisms that we need to make medical discoveries. Rising sea levels and turbulent ocean weather make swimming and traversing the ocean an especially dangerous task. In order to address these issues, it's important for us to understand the root causes behind climate change and solve those. Transitioning to clean energy, practicing sustainable fishing, and regulating sources of pollution can all make a big difference.
History Behind HeLa Cells
By Amulya Bhaskara
HeLa cells are a unique cell line used extensively in biological research for their special ability to continuously divide when under the correct conditions. They have been the backbone behind some of the most well-known biomedical breakthroughs, such as the Salk polio vaccine created in the 50s and today’s COVID vaccines. They have been pivotal to improving the lives of many with immunological diseases and have even been used to study the effects of zero gravity. However, what is only beginning to gain attention is the history behind these cells, and specifically, the women from which they originated.
Henrietta Lacks was an African American woman from Virginia who was diagnosed with cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins in 1951, which was the only hospital at the time that accepted African American patients. Doctors treated Lacks with radium inserts, common cancer treatment at the time, and she was sent home before returning a few months later due to severe abdominal pain. She shortly passed away due to cancer spreading through her body. Unbeknownst to Lacks or her family, during her initial radium treatment, researchers had taken two samples of cells from her, one healthy and one cancerous.
These cells were given to George Gey, a researcher at Hopkins, who discovered the cells’ unique abilities. Shortly after Lacks’ death, Gey collected even more samples from her body and used them to develop the HeLa line. While these cells became the forefront of immunological studies, the Lacks family was not notified of the use of Henrietta Lacks’ cells. More importantly, Gey and Johns Hopkins hadn’t received permission from the family to use these cells.
Over time, the Lacks’ estate became aware of what had occurred, but there was little they could do. In the 80s and 90s, patient consent was not needed for harvesting purposes, and the Supreme Court had ruled in previous cases that a deceased patient no longer had claimed over their body. However, in 2013, after years of working towards bringing Lacks’ story to attention, the Lacks family was given partial control over the use of HeLa cells. Most recently, in October of last year, the family sued Thermo Fisher over the profits they made over decades of HeLa-based research. While these suits may not bring about the justice Lacks deserve, understanding her story and learning about her life can help honor her memory and her contribution to society.
To learn more about the story of Henrietta Lacks, check out The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.
The Sex Talk You Never Had: Postpartum Depression
By: Anjali Binoy and Tanya Baiju
Having a child is considered one of the most beautiful and happiest moments in a women’s life. Along with its rewarding moments, being a mother is stressful. Most women, after giving birth, often experience the ‘baby blues’ that lasts for up to a few days or a few weeks after birth. This is usually caused by the dramatic drop in estrogen and progesterone levels after one gives birth. However, when those depressive and anxiety-driven feelings are more intense and last longer, it is defined as postpartum depression (PPD). PPD is when a woman experiences intense sadness, despair, and anxiety. It affects women daily, and without medical intervention, it can worsen over time. PPD does not have one, specific cause, but is rather influenced by multiple emotional and lifestyle factors. A more severe form of PPD is called postpartum psychosis that affects one in 500 to 1000 new mothers. Postpartum psychosis is more likely to occur if the mother has bipolar disorder or a schizoaffective disorder. It has been found that without treatment, sometimes PPD can affect the newborn child. Symptoms arise in ways such as delays in language development, behavior problems, and problems dealing with stress.
Treatment for PPD can occur in two ways - therapy and/or medication. Mothers who decide to attend therapy can meet with therapists to help them organize their feelings as well as be informed of ways to minimize the levels of stress they may face as they move through their journey of motherhood. Furthermore, medications like general antidepressants can be prescribed to help with any hormonal imbalances that may remain after the birth.
The mother and newborn’s well-being should be a top priority after the delivery. If a mother is experiencing the “baby blues” longer than two or three weeks, they may be experiencing a more severe depression (PPD). It is highly recommended, at this point, that they seek medical attention. To ensure this, it is of extreme importance that we spread awareness of PPD and feelings of isolation after birth. Sometimes, new mothers can feel alone and unseen, so as a community there should be a drive to watch out for them and go an extra mile to lend a helping hand to the new parents.
Three Great Reads for Pre-Health Students
By: Tanya Baiju
With the start of the new year, here is a quick list of some books that you might enjoy!
1. Letter to a Young Female Physician: Notes from a Medical Life by Suzanne Koven
Letter to a Young Female Physician by Suzanne Koven contains a series of essays addressed to both Koven’s younger self and all other aspiring female physicians. Koven starts off the book by describing an orientation session where interns were writing letters to their future selves. This scene instilled a longing within Koven to share all that she had learned in the past thirty years. Koven discusses the hardships women face within medicine as well as the struggle with imposter syndrome. “I have wasted much time and energy in my career looking for reassurance that I was not a fraud,” Koven states (Koven 3). Koven goes in-depth about her ‘calling’ to become a doctor and the importance of mentorship throughout training.
Along with medicine, Koven dives into a personal journey between her parents and her childhood that led her to be where she is today. The struggles she faced throughout her life in medicine provide lessons in their own ways. Her determination and passion for medicine are what stand out in the book while she confronts and accepts her imperfections.
2. The Emperor of all Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee
The Emperor of all Maladies is an extensive biography of cancer. It details the earliest documentation of cancer to groundbreaking research regarding its cause and cure. The history within these pages is riveting as it tells the story of determined people over time understanding what cancer is. Mukherjee holds nothing back and along with the discoveries and achievements, he includes the setbacks and losses faced by those involved.
Along with Mukherjee’s focus on cancer, the book also tells the story of how the healthcare system became what it is today. It discusses medical ethics and funding for clinical research. From recounting the past, the book leaves room for what is yet to come. This book is perfect if you are looking to understand cancer and today’s healthcare system a bit better.
3. When Breath becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
When Breath Becomes Air is a heartbreaking yet inspiring memoir of neurosurgeon Dr. Paul Kalanithi’s life and the struggle of being both a doctor and a patient. Kalanithi graduated from Stanford with a BA in Biology and English Literature. He soon got a Master’s in English Literature and eventually went to Yale for medical school. Kalanithi illustrates his love for literature as an intimate connection between people. The same connection he saw within the brain. Kalnithi sought to answer the question, “Where [do] biology, morality, literature, and philosophy intersect?” (Kalnithi, 33). Turns out the answer is medicine.
The book is divided into two parts - In Perfect Health I Begin and Cease Not Till Death. The first details Kalnithi’s journey through college, medical school, and residency. He discusses the struggle that being in medicine brings. The second details Kalnithi’s diagnosis of lung cancer. He discusses the painful approach he had to die as well as how different it is to walk into a room as a patient rather than a doctor.
It is heartbreaking as Kalinithi receives this diagnosis at the very end of his medical training but inspiring as his courage and bravery through it all instill what a phenomenal neurosurgeon he was. Kalinithi’s words are impactful and striking. His book offers an insight into his journey of understanding what it is that makes life meaningful even in the shadow of death.
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