What a crazy month! My month started with a bang, in between experiments and preparing for presentations I had to take my first set of boards, the dreaded NPLEX. NPLEX tests everything you learn during the first two years of naturopathic medical school. I decided to approach this huge test by dedicating a minimum of five hours every day to review the material learned. I used videos (The Pathoma videos helped me through GENMED class), flash cards and the USMLE Step One (this was invaluable to my preparation) to make sure I covered as much material from different perspectives. All in all it was a beast. But the test came, and my preparation paid off. All those quizzes, midterms and finals served a purpose, and thankfully, that was over.
Then the real fun began. The following week I flew to Oakland California and had the privilege of presenting at the 30th annual convention of the American Association of Naturopathic physicians. The conference was amazing; I learned many pearls of wisdom from practitioners and profession elders, I learned about new treatments for autism and even witnessed a hookworm inoculation for the treatment of autoimmunity. Dr. Mark Davis gave a fantastic presentation on fecal transplants and Dr. Jaren Skworon shared his experience using amino acids to treat autism spectrum disorder.
My presentation took place on Friday evening, and it focused on the bulk of my research at the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine. I presented on the Antibacterial Activity of Botanical Tinctures, and their Possible Mechanisms of Action, the presentation was well received and I received a ton of support for our work!
