Heart Month! 29 Days...100!

Gah, it's already February and with it comes HEART MONTH! I am currently doing an internship with the University of Iowa Health Care Marketing and Communications office where I am helping promote events through social media for the "29 Days of Heart Health" month!

I am learning so much about the heart again (since my undergrad in Biology at Augustana College) and also getting to know more people throughout the hospital and UI Heart and Vascular Center. It has already been a busy first two days of February, but as you all know we are in a LEAP YEAR, which means there are 29 days instead of 28!

In addition to it being February 2nd, some of my classmates who are graduating with me this year informed me that we have 100 days till graduation. I can't believe I am in the "home-stretch" of my academic career. It is bittersweet knowing this will be the last time I am student and I'll be moving forward with my career. I am truly trying to soak up as much knowledge, experience and time with friends before time is up at Iowa and know I'll always stay connected, even if geographically separated.

Wishing you all a Heart Healthy Month!

Ryan

PS - Like the UI Heart and Vascular Center Facebook page and if you sign-up, you'll receive a Free Recipe booklet for Heart Healthy Meals!

Finals, Celebration and Snow :)

So the final end of the semester is finally upon us. I feel like they should just call the last couple weeks "Finals Period" because most professors have their projects/papers due the week before finals and then their exams during the actual "Finals week".

Celebration

Amongst all the stresses and rushing around to get things accomplished, there is much to celebrate, like those MPH graduates! I attended a celebration ceremony put for the MPH graduates for December 2010. They were from a wide variety of disciplines, including the department I fall under, Health Management and Policy. My mentor Alexis, pictured above with me, graduated with a dual degree MHA/MPH in Policy. She will start her fellowship at Geisinger Health System this summer! I am so proud of her and it was exciting to hear again all the experiences she had here at Iowa. There was also a Practicum Poster Session, where MPH graduates and those completing their Practicum course, could showcase a public health experience they had over the past several months. Practicum projects ranged from tracking Novel H1N1 influenza abroad to implementing a occupational and health curriculum for health professionals in the field.

Snow

So as I sit here on a Saturday night to tired to study anymore for finals next week, I am admiring the snow falling outside while watch "Devil Wears Prada" to get myself motivated again for tomorrow. Even though I enjoy learning the material in my classes, there is always the distractions of playing in the snow, watching movies and going to the last christmas parties that are always on the mind ;)

Enjoy the weekend and stay warm!

Ryan