NEWLY-KINDLED INTEREST

It's amazing how a lecturer can influence one's liking to a particular subject. I've always dislike studying epidermiology since SPM, mainly because it's full of boring figures that no one bothers to remember, and also it's full of names of diseases that meant nothing to me, juz names... until now!

I've heard many seniors complained on how Dr. Paul Chen tends to talk too much about the all the patients he came across and all the projects he's involved in the past instead of the lecture content itself, but I enjoyed every single moment of his lecture. The fact that he shared with us on all the interesting/sad cases of patients suffering/dying of different diseases painted a picture about the particular disease in my head. Now that I know something about how the disease affect some poor unfortunate souls, it's much more interesting to study about how it is distributed, and how much efforts have been channeled to wipe it out from the surface of the world.

Also, the fact that epidermiology is closely related to world history and the political and economical states of different nations make the lectures thrilling and absorbing too. I'm well aware that many of my batchmates juz can't stand medical history, such as the development of the field of pathology and vaccination, and how the Hippocrates' Oath evolve in time, but I really love every single detail of them. Perhaps my father's deep love in history has influenced me that deeply. Also, it's interesting to see how the incidence of diseases rise and fall during different periods of history, e.g. World War II; and how the mortality rate is differs for 2 nations eventhough it's the same diseases due to the healthcare sector.

Last but not least, my respect and admiration to Dr. Paul Chen have grown much since the last 3 lectures he have gave us. Previously, I only know about him when he gave us a talk about the roles of Christian doctors in CF, and I'm amazed at all the missionary experiences he has all over the world. Not only is he intelligent (he's a Harvard graduate!), he has lots of experience too from all the projects he have in the past, even WHO-related ones! It's sad that some of my batchmates skipped his lectures due to the coming exam or some other reasons... I juz have one of the best lecture so far in IMU!!!

So guys, next time to come for Dr Paul Chen's lecture!!! U won't regret it! >=)