My Goals and Expectations

In conjunction with the trip, Brad Smith (director of Leadership Rice) asked me to make a list of goals for the trip. Unfortunately, I'm still not exactly sure what to expect while we're over there, though I do have an inkling of the sort of things that might be in store for us. I'm sure my goals will evolve tremendously over the first few days and weeks that I'm there, but for now, I'll lay out a few of my expectations for the trip.

One thing I hope to do while I'm there is to see what sort of things (good and bad) differentiate the Indian and American health care systems. I'm still not quite sure how that will manifest itself, so we'll see. Last year's students were able to do some community health as well as some clinical research, so hopefully I'll be able to do something similar while I'm there. In any case, I want to come away from the trip with a better understanding of the sort of things I want to do (and don't want to do) in medicine.

We'll probably be working six days a week (Sundays are off), but hopefully we'll have time for a bit of fun. India is a magnificent country, and while we'll have to wait until we get there to figure out exactly what we're doing, we'll definitely look at heading to Mumbai for a bit, or perhaps the beaches of Goa, and certainly the Taj Mahal at Agra. It should be a great trip, even if I don't yet have a clear idea of what I'll be doing.