Lisa M. Blacker

2009 Aug

Welcome to my blog and thanks for visiting! My name is Lisa M. Blacker. I am a medical student  blogging with the intention of sharing my journey with others on the same or similar path; with those who are considering medical school; and with physicians looking in on us to reminisce and/or offer guidance now and then.

Natural medicine and wellness have long been my passions and I have “always” wanted to be a physician. After a long, convoluted route of undergraduate study, I entered National University of Health Sciences (www.nuhs.edu) in Lombard, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago. Five trimesters later in December 2008, I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical sciences at 45 years of age.

After a brief, four-week break, I moseyed back to my alma mater in January 2009 to pursue a double doctorate in chiropractic and naturopathic medicines, but at a smaller load of only 17 credits instead of the 23 that are included in the 10-trimester pace. Perhaps my mosey was my bad timing, or perhaps my timing isn’t what was important to the lessons I’ve learned in these nine months, which are my compelling reason for sharing this journey with you. Regardless, at the end of my second trimester, I had successfully completed a total of 10% of the chiropractic program. Knowing this gave me a small sense of accomplishment and an great awareness of the long, daunting journey ahead. Now finished with week 5/15 of my third trimester, I am enjoying a very light, part-time load of only 5 credits in order to reflect and work, which brings me here.

My perspective at 46 years of age is unquestionably different in many ways than that of my younger school mate colleagues. Likewise, my perspective as a student of natural medicine is undoubtedly different in some ways than those studying allopathy or osteopathy – or even “straight” chiros, for that matter. Just as certainly as our perspectives are different, however, is my certainty that we share numerous commonalities with regard to our experiencing medical school – regardless of which type of medicine we are pursuing or the period of life in which we study. With those commonalities in mind, I hope my blog will be of value to all medical students.