SPECIALTY SPEED NETWORKING: STUDENT PERSPECTIVE
AUTHOR Rachel H. Safeek, MPH
B
lood and guts. Those are the “buzz
words” my friends who are not in
the medical profession have used
to describe my professional pursuits
since the start of my pre-medical
studies. To non-medical persons,
descriptions of medicine often con-
jure images of scalpels and operating beds,
accompanied by a side dish of bloody gore. Sure, any physician
might agree that no medical school journey is complete without
a few gory scenes. After all, medical students plunge into their
exploration of the human body by dissecting cadavers during the
first week of orientation.
As medical students, we are encouraged to keep an open mind
and explore the many exciting fields of medicine. The world is our
oyster! But oftentimes, it is difficult to explore this diverse and
ever-growing proverbial oyster, while also adapting to the rigorous
academic and lifestyle challenges of medical school.
The annual Specialty Speed Networking Event, hosted by the
Greater Louisville Medical Society (GLMS) represents one unique,
efficient opportunity for medical students to “explore” various med-
ical fields in a two-hour timespan. Based on the concept of “speed
dating,” five to six medical students spend eight minutes networking
with a physician from a particular specialty. Students rotate from
table to table, forging professional relationships and learning about
the lifestyles and academic requirements for matching into each
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specialty. The goal of the evening: to gain exposure to multiple
medical specialties and garner new mentors who can assist with
student professional development.
As the GLMS student representative for the University of Louis-
ville (UofL) School of Medicine, Class of 2022, I worked alongside
members of GLMS to organize the 2019 event, which was held on
March 20,2019 in the UofL School of Medicine Abell Building.
Student input was considered and encouraged during the event
planning. I administered a poll to my classmates, asking which
specialties they would like to network with at the event. On the
night of the event, nearly 60 students attended the dinner to network
with 11 physicians from the fields of plastic surgery, dermatology,
cardiology, anesthesiology, internal medicine, and psychiatry, among
other specialties.
Personally, I pledged to keep an open mind as I made my way
from table to table, interacting with a wide array of physicians prac-
ticing in Louisville. Each physician offered a new piece of advice and
a new perspective. I learned about the logistics of each profession:
what are salaries in OB-GYN and what a typical call schedule looks
like for someone in anesthesiology. I received feedback about how
to match successfully into a certain specialty: what Step 1 scores and
number of publications are preferred for each specialty. I met new
contacts for shadowing, research and mentorship opportunities.
Furthermore, my colleagues and I had the opportunity to forge
connections with physicians from the Louisville community by
asking questions related to lifestyle beyond the workplace. What