Home
Institution
Humboldt-Universität
zu Berlin
Host
Institution(s)
Weill Medical College of Cornell University and Hospital for Special Surgery
(HSS), New York
Mentor: Paul M. Heerdt, MD, PhD
Cardiothoracic Anesthesia: Influence of Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) on the molecular remodeling in cardiac heart failure (CHF): measurement of cardiolipin content of human heart muscle with HPLC.
›» Abstract
Coming to Dr. Heerdt's lab, I joined a very well organized project, that made it possible for me to work both at the Weill Medical College and at the Hospital for Special Surgery. I really enjoyed my stay in the labs and I had a great time with the people I worked there. Everybody there was extremely nice and helpful and always open for a little chat when you passed by. I worked with a very international community, often no native-tongue American was around, so we found each other at www.allwords.com or similar websites trying to find out English meanings...
I really enjoyed the city of New York, and the wonderful, extraordinary time I had there! Driving through the skyscrapers in Midtown, going out in the Villages, walking through Harlem or Chinatown, swimming with the traffic in the morning to work, on the subway or on my bike in between busses and cabs, discussion with strangers and small talk with friends, driving with the paramedics through Spanish Harlem in the night or to patients in 5th-Avenue-apartments. Don't miss the weekends in Central Park (either running in the park, or better, on a lawn with chips and chocolate). There is defintively much more in New York than the World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty.
The Hospital for Special Surgery specializes in orthopedics and rheumatology and has an outstanding position in these fields in the US. Located on New York's best living area, the Upper East Side, it is a real experience to see the organization (sometimes extraordinarily efficient and sometimes extraordinarily bureaucratic and complicated), or just the patients in this hospital. Definitively different from what I was used to in German hospitals.
I want to thanks all my coworkers I worked with at both places, thanks to my mentor Dr. Paul M. Heerdt and his indistructable optimism, and especially to Dr. Micheal Schlame, who made it possible for me to come to New York, who was an outstandingly good 'boss', always calm about my mistakes and positive about the results. I really enjoyed working with you all!
Getting my visa was mainly gambling, because Weill Medical College did not provide me an IAP-66, so I had to apply for B-1 and I was very lucky to get it at all and just in time for the flight - nothing I would recommend!
The Occupational Health Service gave me a hard time when I mentioned my latex allergy: they believed my German papers and even found someone who translated them, but without 'recommendations', meaning instructions about avoiding latex, I was not able to start. Now, being mid-January and after more than a dozen visits at OHS and the Allergy Clinics, I am still not 'cleared', but I am finished with my lab project.
Cab drivers (while riding my bike) ...
NY: I think everything important to say has already been said (horrible high prices, finding an apartment, etc.). I had lots of difficulties finding an apartment and finally found myself living in a shared apartment in Spanish Harlem. It was an outstanding experience to travel everyday from 'El Barrio' to the Upper East Side. I was warned about the boring Upper East Side, and after spending 4 months in El Barrio, I really got to love this area in Manhattan and I do not want to miss it!
Weill Medical College: Foreign medical students are not allowed to do rotations exept when they take part in a recognized exchange program. So, if you plan to go there and want to do a rotation, be aware of that or perhaps try to get recognized as soon as possible. Besides that, everybody was very helpful in organizing my stay here.
HSS gives you the status of a research volunteer, and you should not miss this, as they provide you a lunch and a lot of other things. Volunteers are really treated nicely there!
Escape from the city: We had an extraordinary stay in Peg's cottage (thanks again!) on Swans Island in the winter, which was very, very relaxing - I strongly recommend this to everybody!
For all other questions, or if you need help with housing, please don't hesitate to contact me! To all students going to New York, I wish you an outstanding experience and a great time in the most exciting city in the world!