From the Journal Club Director

Greetings everyone!

The purpose of this correspondence is to introduce our new Journal Club, explain its goals, and let you know how you can get involved. We hope to continue to grow the journal club as the medical review continues to take a foothold on campuses (or "Grounds") across the Commonwealth. 

The journal club was an idea birthed after multiple experiences in the professional medical domain–at a summer research internship, during physician shadowing, and as an EMT. In all of these realms I experienced journal clubs in one form or another, and came to appreciate the value of these experiences. In all careers – especially those rooted in STEM – it is imperative for a successful individual to stay up to date on recent research, and journal clubs frequently are the most common way in which this happens. Therefore, exposure to journal club culture and procedure is a great way to prepare you to interact with professionals!

Our journal club will be laid back, encouraging, and constructive. We recognize and celebrate the importance of diversity in science–diversity in ideology, experience, interest, and everything else, too. There are no prerequisites to present in the club; we simply want people to bring some scientific work that interests them (bonus points if it is work that you participated in yourself!) and break it down into a digestible presentation for us to share.

We hope to have biweekly presentations at our in-person club meetings as well as share the slides from these presentations on the website. There is already an example of one presentation on the website, and myself and other editors are more than happy to help you craft your presentation. To make things easy, we have created a schedule where you can sign up in advance to give yourself as much time to prepare as you desire. 

Presenting or even just engaging in a journal club is a great way to stay up to date on research and sharpen your analytical skills. Beyond that, it is a great experience to speak of in conversation with professionals in any field. Get in contact with us if you would like to present in the future!

Harrison Massie

Journal Club Director