{"id":259541,"date":"2024-04-05T12:21:14","date_gmt":"2024-04-05T16:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/?p=259541"},"modified":"2024-04-05T15:10:57","modified_gmt":"2024-04-05T19:10:57","slug":"eric-volunteer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/es\/eric-volunteer\/","title":{"rendered":"Volunteering as a Medical Student: Eric’s Story in Honor of National Volunteer Month"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Eric W.<\/p>\n

\"Students
Eric, second from right, posing with other Students for Rare leaders<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cPlease don\u2019t forget about me\u201d were some of the last words a leprosy patient told me during my most recent trip to Ecuador.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I was in my early twenties and exploring career interests, which found me working with a nun from Brooklyn who had built a hospital for people affected by leprosy<\/a>. My experiences with these patients drove me to understand how different players in healthcare can improve access to healthcare innovation for traditionally neglected populations such as people with rare diseases. These patients would launch my career in public health and later in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. A decade later, I am now a third-year medical student hoping to add patient care to my toolbox.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During medical school, students are inundated with information and opportunities; it is common to describe this phase as \u201cdrinking from a fire hose\u201d as we are taught about many rare and common diseases and disorders. I was fortunate that a senior classmate invited me to join our university\u2019s NORD Students for Rare<\/a> chapter. Our student chapter leaned on our skills as students and in two years accomplished the following:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n