About a year ago Rohan Joshi, a former MEDLIFE executive board member, SLT participant, and current Neurology Resident at KUMC (University of Kansas Medical Center), was kind enough to chat with me about his experience with MEDLIFE. He shared with me how he first got involved with MEDLIFE, what he learned while volunteering in Peru, and advice he would give to someone considering getting involved with a MEDLIFE chapter. Check out the full interview below:
Mary: All right, so my first question for you is, if you could just introduce yourself, where you studied and what your position title was.
Rohan: Sure, so my name is Rohan Joshi. I studied biology at Drexel University. I graduated in 2020, and I’m currently a fourth year medical student at Drexel College of Medicine. I was treasurer for the 2018/2019 school year, and then VP for the 2019/2020 school year.
Mary: And could you describe a bit about what your position entailed?
Rohan: Yeah, so the role of VP was to plan and execute on-campus activities, including monthly meetings, activities, and fundraisers. The VP also aided the President with submitting the approval forms to the school for our Service Learning Trips, and then the treasurer was responsible for handling all the club finances, fundraised money, and the money granted from the school for our on-campus activities.
Mary: How did you first get involved with MEDLIFE?
Rohan: I joined MEDLIFE as a general member, not as a e-board member. A girl named Justina actually started a MEDLIFE chapter at Drexel in 2017. So that was actually the first year a MEDLIFE chapter was at Drexel University. I don’t exactly remember how I got involved in the very beginning, but I’m sure I saw a flyer somewhere, went to that first meeting, and thought it was a pretty interesting idea. So, I went to a couple more meetings throughout the fall and decided that I wanted to be a part of MEDLIFE and ended up joining a Service Learning Trip in the spring.
Mary: Can you talk about how your time with MEDLIFE has influenced your academic or career goals?
Rohan: Coming into college, I knew I wanted to go to medical school, and I thought that joining MEDLIFE would give me an excellent glimpse into how medicine is practiced in another country. I got to see what unique medical challenges are present in Lima and Cusco, for instance. And it was gratifying to see the mobile clinics helping so many people, including children. Now, when I went on these trips, of course, I wasn’t in medical school yet, so I didn’t know a lot of the medicine. But I got to see how all the different factors of a patient’s life play a role in determining an individual’s access to health care and health literacy. While volunteering in Peru, we saw patients of different education levels. We saw how local diet and nutrition play a role in what diseases were prevalent. And a large part of medical education today in medical school revolves around looking at the patient as a whole, not just as a medical disease. And I think about that a lot. And we take into account education level, socioeconomic status, access to nutrition, transportation, insurance, and I got to see a lot of that during my time at MEDLIFE.
Mary: How many SLTs did you participate in and how was the experience of volunteering in Peru for you?
Rohan: I was able to go on two Service Learning Trips. We were slated to go on a third one during spring of 2020 to Ecuador. But, of course, because of the covid-19 pandemic, we weren’t able to go. But I was able to go to Lima in spring of 2018 and Cusco in the spring of 2019. I enjoyed both trips. We worked alongside local doctors, nurses, community members, and pharmacists to help take vitals, and in triage directed patients around the clinic. We helped the pharmacist hand out medications. We taught kids how to brush their teeth properly, etc. More importantly, not only did we assist with the mobile clinics, we also learned how medicine is practiced in these areas and how the local healthcare infrastructure is designed. You know, when you think of MEDLIFE, you think the word med is medicine, but if you look at the acronym, it’s medicine, education and development, and these development projects are a large part of these trips as well, and I think a lot of people don’t realize until they become a part of MEDLIFE. So for instance, when we went to Lima, Peru, we were told that in addition to going to these medical clinics we would also help in building a staircase. And before I got there, I was like, what does that mean? Why are we doing that? But when you get to Lima, you realize that so many people flee into Lima to seek asylum or just better access to jobs, and that there’s not enough room in Lima itself for everyone to live. And so they go up to the hills. They’re on the outskirts. It’s so dangerous because they’re far away from water, food, education for students and so on. So, building these staircases allows these members to access these resources easier and safer. And so in the end, I was really glad I was able to go on these trips. I learned a lot. And we started the whole process of planning for the trip in the fall, so I got to learn a lot about my other members that went on the trip with me. So it’s nice to make some friends along way too.
Mary: Excellent! And my last question for you is, what would you tell someone who’s considering getting involved with MEDLIFE but has never heard of us before?
Rohan: Yeah, so if you’ve never heard of us before, if you saw a flyer, I would encourage you to go to that first meeting and see what MEDLIFE is all about. You can learn a lot just by going and listening to past student’s experiences, or visiting the MEDLIFE website. I know I got a lot of information by listening to testimonials and reading about other people’s experiences. If you’re even on the fence, I say, why not just go to a meeting and see what MEDLIFE can offer you? Because you may just be pleasantly surprised.
Mary: Great answer! Well, that’s the end of my questions for you Rohan. Thank you so much for meeting with me today.
Rohan: Thank you very much.
If Rohan’s words have inspired you to learn more about volunteering in Peru or joining a MEDLIFE chapter, fill out the interest form below or download our free brochure today!