Doing research in Boston, USA

During my first two years at medical school, the course was designed to “establish a sound basis of scientific knowledge on which clinical experience can be built.” Two years later I had had my fair share of pipetting, centrifuging, and looking down microscopes. So why did I think a summer of research at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, United States, might do me some good?

I visited Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in January for a week, and there was not enough time to visit Boston itself. So I decided to come back and spend part of my summer exploring the city and doing some medically related work. After several application forms I received in March an offer for summer work at Harvard Medical School. Mountains of paperwork loomed ahead of me and by mid-May, I could hardly see the carpet under the visa applications scattered over my floor. I now have all my personal details engraved on my desk from …