Stalwarts at LexiMeet 2022
A Glimpse of LexiMeet 2022
-Written by Rudrakshi Shetty, Pallavi Roy Kandhi, Prithvi Gaur
Zora Neale Hurston, an American author, said, “Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.” The medical field has been evolving and adapting using this “old neighbourhood aunties” technique, peering into unknown territories for a little peak which will then be passed on to the townsfolk.
As a medical student, finding opportunities to learn the how and why of rea=search takes much work. However, with Lexicon, this journey to further the knowledge of young professionals in the field, is not so cumbersome. Lexicon creates an avenue for allowing medical students to understand and venture into research.
LexiMeet 2022 was held over 2 very rapidly evolving informative days where the delegates got an amazing opportunity to live, breathe and experience research from the who’s who in their fields.
The session on Road to Research, convened by Dr. Raviteja Innamuri, the co-founder of Lexicon, and Dr. Rupali Sachdev, provided the students with a “guidance leaflet” on the various types of research conducted and how to be a part of them. They were even provided with a list of institutes that provide grants and opportunities for undergraduates and how to enable a jumpstart interest in research.
The next session catered to the question in the natural order of how to publish my research? Dr. Suranjana Basak and Dr. Mangesh Tiwaskar seamlessly answered all the doubts of the students in this matter and explained the importance of a peer-reviewed, indexed journals and how to go about understanding references and the details required for publications.
The following session was a panel talk where the participants witnessed the humorous banter between Dr. Kane, a cardiologist, Dr. Lathia, an endocrinologist, Dr. Lokhande, an internist, and Dr. Ojha, a neurologist, as they competed to display the bests of their profession. Dr. Kane professed his admiration for the intervention one can practice in his field. At the same time, Dr. Lathia spoke of the family-work balance an endocrinologist achieves, and Dr. Lokhande highlighted the variety of the cases she treats daily. Dr. Ojha explained the intricacies of his work and the long-term relationships he forms with his patients. It was absolutely heart-warming to see these veterans who immensely respect each other, having known each other for years, talking to the delegates and exposing the nitty gritty of their fields.
After lunch, the rollercoaster rides had Dr. Anannya Mukherjee, an Instagram influencer herself, help our delegates understand the changes that NEXT might bring with it; Dr. Madhura Mandlik, an Obstetrics and Gynecology resident, shared her views on how the NEXT exam would be and how it should be studied for. This session helped dial down the anxiety these four letters seem to bring with them, as it’s unchartered territory and a first for future batches as they handle the novelties it brings. This advice, especially given by the doctors themselves, was authentic, and had important take-aways from personal experiences.
Learning a million mnemonics for ABGs is hard, as any student might comment, and so it was refreshing to understand the actual concepts taught by Dr. Bharat Jagiasi. He not only developed the basics for ABG analysis but also wrapped up the session with MCQs to note how well the delegates understood his concepts.
A panel on maternal and childcare session witnessed the best of their respective fields: Dr. Bandita Sinha and Dr. Shilpa Aroskar. This panel discussion was a unique peek into the world of residency in Obstetrics-gynecology and Pediatrics, respectively. The moderator for the session, Dr. Madhura Mandlik, asked about work-life balance, what one should expect during residency, the pros/cons of the field, and navigated the session on questions that most delegates wanted to know and understand about the respective fields.
Studying abroad is a fleeting thought every medical student has had. Dr. Saloni Kothari presented in simple, clear tones about the approach to residency in the UK. She gave timely pointers across all major topics, such as the cost, timeline, sources for the examination, various pathways.
SST Overseas, one of the sponsoring partners for LexiMeet 2022, addressed the students on the services they provide. They are a one-of-a-kind Indian agency providing elective and observership opportunities in the United States, unlike most US-based companies. They mentioned their services not only offered electives at various community centres and private clinics all over USA but also helped to receive letters of recommendation on university letterheads, and assisted with visa applications and insurance.
Day 1 also had the delegates present their poster and oral papers to the esteemed guests and invitees, and the last session of the day was a super fun, innovative and thought-provoking medical quiz held for those delegates who qualified in round one of the MCQ’s.
We commenced Day 2 with a core concept on “How do we build our CV?” With the increasing trend of pursuing residency abroad, enhancing one’s CV would be a significant was the means to inculcate better career options. We had Dr. Suranjana Basak, to share her valuable tips covering every point, from academic to volunteer experience, from how one should write their credentials to what color scheme is more professional for a CV, and most importantly, on how and where to look for these experiences that might have the difference between the cup and the lip.
Communication is a skill that will form the core of our practice as a doctor. Soft skills like such are not necessarily covered in our curriculum. Through this conference, we wanted to address these critical yet “missed out topics,” and we had Dr. Rituparna Ghosh share her knowledge regarding this. She spoke about the crucial aspects of patient communication and shared methods of dealing with stress and competition, and how to get better with interacting with patients’ and their family with bad news.
There are many branches in medicine which don’t receive the familiarity that Surgery or Medicine receives. To show our delegates those sides of the river, we had an interesting panel discussion ‘Game Changers’ in LexiMeet 2022 where Dr. Raviteja Innamuri explained in detail how amazing the brain works and the need for an intriguing personality to pursue Psychiatry; where he called himself a “soul Surgeon”; Dr. Anudeep Chanukah had enough energy and stories to convince everyone in the room to become a Plastic Surgeon, explaining how exciting every day will turn out due to the variety of cases; Dr. Neha Dhiware advocated that Ophthalmology is the best of both worlds, as there is equal medical and surgical exposure and the excellent work-life balance it allows and Dr. Pujitha Innamuri explained that a Radiologist is a doctor’s doctor as they have an enormous amount of knowledge about medicine and its pathologies.
There are many more careers that one can pursue after MBBS besides residency, and such jobs were discussed by the “Masterminds” Dr. Bipin Chevale (Director of Reliance Hospital), who gave us an insight into hospital administration; Dr. Darshan Chandak (Co-founder of Health Ledger) exemplified that doctors can be successful entrepreneurs by venturing into the various areas of medicine; Dr. Manthan Mehta (Founder: FitterFly) charmed everyone in the room with his incredible stories on the life behind a ‘doc-preneur’.
It is said that a medical oriented brain, knows its computations and mathematical skills very well! Financial management and its tools can seem daunting for someone just starting their financial journey. More so, students might feel like it is “too soon” or rather “too complicated” to learn about that aspect. We had CA Tanveer Bhagat and his team share with the delegates on the basics of investments, the importance on how to get started and make a strong move into the financial elements starting right from the first salary.
It is said that ‘The Eyes of a hawk, Heart of a lion, and Hands of a lady are the qualities of a great surgeon.’ The scope of various branches in surgery was explained by Dr. Shirshir Shetty (Oncosurgery), Dr. Rahul Borude (Bariatric Surgery), Dr. Orpah Kalel (ENT), Dr. Abhijit Kulkarni (Neurosurgery). With Dr. Geeta as their moderator, they talked about what it was being a woman in the field, on how it is important to keep up with the times and evolving technologies with surgical amenities, the need for evidence-based medicine, the role of the importance of work-life balance in both professional and personal agendas and how they love what they do and continue to grow learning with times where surgery is teamwork, and both mind and hands play an equal role.
Given the increasing number of medical students wanting to pursue their residency in the United States, we had Dr. Avanthika Chaithanya as a guest. She is an International Medical Graduate appearing for the 2023 Match in the US and keen on living her ‘American Dream.’ She covered important details for the USMLE exams, need for US clinical experience, acquiring LORs, and appearing for the Match. She has accepted a pre-match offer and will begin her Pediatrics residency next year.
Times are changing, and so is healthcare. With advancing time, Digital Medicine is starting to play an ever-increasing role in delivering quality healthcare by new means; such means of advancing technology were discussed by – Dr. S.V. Kulkarni. His talk included the significance of tele-medicine, the role that digital media can play in saving a patient’s life and what advantages can be brought to a practicing doctor.
Many times, medical students look for opportunities to expand their horizons and are keen on doing a rotation overseas to learn, experience newer clinics. For the traveller in these students, a fantastic session was conducted by Dr. Raviteja Innamuri to explain what opportunities were available for the medical graduates after pursuing an MBBS degree.
Day 2 ended with heartfelt talks, valedictory, a long thank you list from the core team at Lexicon as they spoke about the impact and turnout of this beautiful conference – LexiMeet 2022.
