a:1:{s:5:"entry";a:1:{i:0;a:10:{s:2:"id";s:7:"1078861";s:4:"hash";s:32:"40a3ad1669aee06a5ae86c8705dd3cc1";s:11:"requestHash";s:12:"usmedstudent";s:10:"profileUrl";s:32:"http://gravatar.com/usmedstudent";s:17:"preferredUsername";s:12:"usmedstudent";s:12:"thumbnailUrl";s:61:"http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/40a3ad1669aee06a5ae86c8705dd3cc1";s:6:"photos";a:1:{i:0;a:2:{s:5:"value";s:61:"http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/40a3ad1669aee06a5ae86c8705dd3cc1";s:4:"type";s:9:"thumbnail";}}s:11:"displayName";s:12:"usmedstudent";s:7:"aboutMe";s:1258:"I'm currently a first-year medical student at Harvard Medical School.  My interests are in surgery, nutrition, and complementary medicine.  Last year, I studied acupuncture at the Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine for three months as a Fulbright Fellow.  This year I will be doing research with a pediatric surgeon on omega-3 fatty acids.

I am fascinated by the potential of surgery, nutrition and complementary medicine, but also deeply disturbed by the lack of evidence that surrounds much of medical practice.  I am also deeply concerned about the conflicts of interest that are evasive in the medical and the complementary medicine world.  We all know of how pharmaceutical companies have such an influence on professors and doctors -- this week's New England Journal of Medicine paper written by Dr. Blumenthal talks about these issues (April 26th, 2007).  But equally important is the fact that herbal companies and natural medicine doctors are under the influence of money, advertising, quality lapses as well.  Too often, people will say, "herbs are safe."  That is not necessarily true.  For my posts, I will try to be aware about this and please let me know if you start to see me slipping in my awareness.  Thank you for reading!";s:4:"urls";a:0:{}}}}