Heartfelt greetings from Yale and the MD-PhD program in these most unusual times. I sincerely hope that this email finds you and your loved ones well, while knowing that many of you are on the front lines of a medical, scientific and public health battle against Covid-19. Yale New-Haven Hospital has been very proactive in setting up three floors of the new North Pavilion Smilow Cancer Center as dedicated inpatient and ICU space for patients infected with SARS-COV2, in ramping up efforts to have in-house testing for patients and staff, and in establishing protocols that provide our patients with access to the best practices currently available, as well as new therapeutics that are in trials. You can read more about these here. For the moment, the number of cases continues to increase but perhaps at a slower rate than anticipated…time will soon tell whether social distancing has changed the curve.
Much has been said about the anxiety many of us are feeling in this period of uncertainty and disruption. We face the closure of all sorts of spaces where we gather to learn, work, play and relax, at a time when few of us relish feeling alone. The MD-PhD program is working to re-create those spaces virtually: we just convened Second Look via Zoom (a link to Dr. Iwasaki’s 2nd Look lecture on Covid-19 is here) and will restart our Research in Progress meetings in April as weekly RIP/Life in Progress sessions. It will be hard to share food and libations via the internet, but I hope we can all raise a glass to each other while discussing science and more.
I also want to acknowledge that this is a time of grief. We mourn the lack of a Match Day celebration and graduation luncheon, while being very proud of the match results for our Class of 2020. We mourn the cancellation of commencement, that last chance to hug and congratulate and say farewell to our graduates. We mourn all the opportunities, personal and professional, that have been lost in this time of social distancing. Naming it, and giving ourselves the permission to grieve, is important, even as we identify ways in which we can refocus on our work, reconnect with each other, and use our talents and energy in new and productive ways. In that spirit of hope, I look forward to October and the opportunity to reconnect in New Haven and celebrate (being with) each other.
“To train rigorous, visionary and resilient physician-scientists who are committed to improving the health of individuals and populations.” This is the mission statement of Yale’s MSTP, and I am proud of all of the ways in which you embody it.
With warmest wishes,
Dr. K.