Photo report from first week of June

Now I can say this – we are officially on summer holidays since 7th of June!

This time I would like to share with you some moments of that last week of the term:

5th of June: it was a day of our final presentation at KI, when from 9 till 16.30 we were presenting to each other the results of our work as interns within the companies (having “fika” from time to time of course:) ). The session was even more valuable due to the fact, that one Pfizer representative came to the  session to give his comments and feedback on the presentations.

Lunch break with the group!

6th of June: National Day fo Sweden when we were enjoying super sunny weather in Stockholm

Summer in Stockholm

and met this guest right at KI campus in Solna!

At first I thought it was a big dog

7th of June: time for final barbecue before some of classmates would leave to their home countries.

Yammi!

8th of June: princess Madeleine Royal Wedding

I guess only in Sweden you can see “Royal Wedding” Bus!

What can I say – one year has flown super fast! But time to say good bye has not come yet – I will stay in Stockholm till the end of June and I hope I will have some good news to tell you about!

Enjoy summer!

Finishing first academic year

First year passed with an amazing speed. It seems that it was only yesterday, when we came to Karolinska for “Roll Call” and “Introduction week”, and not so long ago took our first courses at KTH. And now, only 3 days left till our final presentations for this 2012-2013 academic year.

On 5th of June all Bioentrepreneurship students will have to present the results of the internship projects we performed in the companies. My expectation for this session is it to be the most interesting presentations out of all presentation during the whole year. We will tell each other in what projects we participated, how work was performed, what methods were used and the most important – what are our first impressions and reflections about working on the project within Life Sciences, but outside KI.

Apart from presentation at KI, almost all students have to present results of their work to the companies. So next week we have to report our results to the team at Pfizer and this presentation for me is even more important and exciting than the one at KI.  The reason for that is that we got the feeling that we were part of the team and the last thing we want to do is to let down our “teammates”, people who welcomed us to the project and provided us with knowledge and nice working environment.

So, two more reports next week and summer vacations! Still cannot believe it is summer already

Happy summer everyone!

This term is almost over!

I don’t really know whether I’m glad or disappointed because of this. On one hand, I don’t have to worry about lectures, assignments and deadlines, but on the other hand, I think of the fun times that I spent at KI with colleagues, teachers and guest lecturers.

It’s been generally a very nice first year for me at KI. I’ve learnt new things, met very nice people and made good friends. Blogging here is also one of the best experiences I had at KI. I personally tried many times to constantly blog before I joined this one and I always ended up writing a couple of posts and then stopping. It was extremely different here. I felt motivated and excited about blogging most of the time which is the reason why I continued to blog almost constantly throughout the past months. I honestly feel proud of myself, but also very thankful to the people at KI who put their confidence in me.

One of the key reasons that made continue blogging here is the feedback I got from many “Prospective Students” who contacted me asking for more information or some help or advice. It just feels right being able to share some information that would make the life of another distant person easier.

I think this is probably going to be my last post here for this semester, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t contact me asking about anything that is related to the Health Informatics programme or Life in Sweden…etc. I’m staying here in Sweden throughout the summer to enjoy the very nice Swedish summer (not going back to Egypt when it’s boiling there right now ), so just feel free to drop me a line if you’re in need of help.

My contact information again: mina.makar@stud.ki.se

You can also reach me via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MinaHMakar?ref=tn_tnmn Or Linkedin: http://lnkd.in/MBrUze

See you all next semester and for those who are interested in becoming Digital Ambassadors, you’re not going to regret applying

Gotta love KI!

Amidst of all the exams and classes at KI, there are still people and places that are fun and interesting enough to keep me breathing. As the students are having their term finals, most have already made plans for the summer. I still need to book my tickets for the long awaited trip.

So coming back to the fun and exciting things apart from studying, the word MF  (medicinska Föreningen) is quite common for a KI student to stumble upon. MF is one of the two student associations active at KI. It is also one of the biggest student associations. They arrange parties, proms, pub events and more to strengthen the social life of KI. Working with them has been so much fun but also hectic and my friends had to bear with my bad mood swings.

The relaunch dinner!

We just had a big relaunch of the MF magazine Medicor which was almost being cancelled. The new issue was praised and was considered a big improvement. There were still a few editing mistakes but we are planning to work harder for the next issue.

Medicor!

I’ve got news for the ones enrolling during the Autumn, MF is planning a better orientation program for the new students and I am being pushy for a whole day event instead of having it just for a few hours. So the students would get to know more and decide whether to join any of the committees. I should start studying now since the exam for the course Histopathology is on Wednesday. Have a great weekend!

Bright!

The end is nigh! Sadly But there is still one small, slight hurdle! That of my thesis defense! It takes place on Friday so currently most things are taking second priority. However, whilst taking a break I thought it would be nice to share with you the recent fun things I’ve been up to!

It’s bright! So bright!
With glorious May, the weather has changed from fiercely cold only a couple of months ago to blissfully sunny! The days are so long that light has been streaming in at 3am! If you’re not a fan of light rooms when you’re sleeping you might not be so keen on Swedish rooms during the night!

                                                  3.18am Wednesday 29th May 2013.

Walking outside whilst the sun is shining so bright, is essential!
The long days make me eager to take a walk out early on in the day. But more often than not I’m distracted by some other fun thing especially on weekend mornings whether it be making/eating a full English breakfast (the vege version) or lying on the sofa reading a book! So by afternoon I force myself to venture out. Last Saturday I did just that and was rewarded with stunning views across the various bridges of Stockholm. The canals, boats, various flora and fauna, not to mention the numerous keen sunbathers all out basking in the sun!

                                          One of the many waterways in Stockholm!

I’m hoping the future’s bright 
Walking outside and waking up early only make you think more, wonder more both about the good and the bad! How good it has been to live here in Stockholm for just under a year but how bad it is, how sad it is that this time is coming to an end! All I can hope is that the future will bring me back very soon so I can enjoy this beautiful city again soon!

                                                             The future’s bright! I hope!

Amazing May in Stockholm

I do not know, whether I am so lucky or it is the same weather in Stockholm every May, but I’m enjoying the city almost all the time. Today is a super nice day as well, so right after finishing the post I’m going to enjoy the sun outside:)

But first, my “May story” in pictures:)

First sign of spring – snowdrops

One evening in Kungsholmen

 

Tuesday evening – everyone was outside

Time for first competitions on the water

And even at Ice-Hockey World Cup, Kiss Cam as a sign of spring:)

And finally –  barbecue with classmates. Enjoying weather and spending time together

 

First Year Health Informatics evaluation

On the 21st of May 2013, the current first year students (including myself) of the Global Master’s Programme in Health Informatics at Karolinska Institutet met with the programme coordinators Sabine Koch and  Vasilis Hervaits (from Karolinska Institutet) and Uno Fors and Stefan Möller (from DSV, Stockholm’s University) in order to discuss and give feedback about our first year as Health Informatics students.

Before talking about the meeting, I just have to mention that in many countries (including my home country Egypt), students always feel and sometimes are forced to have a huge barrier between them and their professors. This thing doesn’t exist in Sweden. Of course the respect is there, but students are allowed and encouraged to talk and discuss things with their teachers openly which is something I personally appreciate.

The meeting was unfortunately attended by some (not all) of my colleagues, but we managed to cover many of the topics that we wanted to bring up as a whole group.

Among the important points that we covered were the differences in goals, expectations, understanding and levels of knowledge resulting from  mixing up 2 groups from different backgrounds (Healthcare and IT) and some suggestions provided by us students in order to be able to manage these conflicts.

I think most of us agreed though that mixing these 2 particular groups together is itself a strong advantage for the whole programme and it gives the programme a very unique flavour that I personally think is healthy.

Some of us had very positive feedback about particular courses and points and others were extremely the opposite. We managed to discuss these points keeping in mind the difference in backgrounds that I already mentioned earlier which I think plays an important role in such difference in opinions.

One of the most important issues for us and for prospective students that we managed to bring up was career opportunities after the programme and how the programme can provide us with the knowledge and competency levels that are required by the different markets. We had some suggestions like offering more specialized elective courses to help the students go deeper into one specialized field of Health Informatics of their choice.

There were many others points that we discussed that day which can take more than one post to describe, but what I’d really like to stress is that you as a student should feel comfortable about expressing your opinion as long as you believe in it and you’ll always find people who would take things seriously and discuss things with you.

Stieg Larsson Millenium Tour

Yes you read it right. A tour which gives you the chance to see the places, listen to the stories and sometimes makes you get those goosebumps.  I suppose Stieg Larsson fans would know what I am talking about. It was a one and a half hours tour around Stockholm with a free entrance to Stadsmuseum since the tour itself is provided by the museum.

Lovely Stockholm!

I was a bit skeptical since the final exam for the Biochemical and Molecular toxicology was just five days away. But I couldn’t say no and I’m glad I didn’t. I got to see locations from both the Swedish and the American film adaptations. Along with stories having a mix of facts and fiction, the tour tried to sum up as to what lead the writer to pen down such stories. I would definitely recommend the tour to any Stieg Larsson fan and whoever wants to know more about the stories behind the books. As my lovely friend said “Asma if we fail this course it will still be worth it. Oh and we can send pictures to our professors showing them how nice it is”. I now know what Stieg Larrson’s favourite drink is and I got to see the person who used to serve him the particular drink. No I’m not giving out any secrets! One can also buy a map which would be much cheaper but it might take a longer time to find the places.

Somehere near Bellmansgatan 1

The attic apartment, Bellmansgatan 1

Lisbeth Salander’s apartment

If you want to know way more why not do both- take the guided tour and buy the map. In the end, you could probably get a drink served by the very same person who used to serve the writer.

http://www.stadsmuseum.stockholm.se/museet.php?artikel=109&sprak=english

http://www.visitstockholm.com/en/To-Do/Tips/Stockholm-in-Millennium-thrillers-footsteps/

Bioentrepreneurship INTERNS!

During the whole month of May, our group has to work with different projects in the companies, that is part of the course “Practical Placement 1”. So happened, that I am working on a project at Pfizer company, what I am happy about!

“Practical Placement 1” is one of the courses we have to take during Bioentrepreneurship master’s program. For this particular first placement, it was “Unit for Bioentrepreneurship” who assigned almost all the students to different companies in groups varying from 2 to 4 students in each. My classmate and I were assigned to Pfizer company in order to join and contribute to ongoing marketing project for launching new cardiovascular drug.

As time limit of one month prevents us from conducting extensive marketing research and analysis of drug uptake by the market, we will mainly focus on finding out the reasons, which will prevent General Practitioners (GP) from prescribing the drug.  To do this “seems-to-look-very-easy-task”, we were firstly educated by Pfizer medical advisor about atrial fibrillation and its connection to risk of having a stroke, talked with project manager to understand current market situation, discussed cost-effectiveness of the drug with company’s health economist and had a look at the political and financial situation in Stockholm County. Summing up, first 10 days were devoted to extensive learning about the field in order to reach a level of communication with health providers.

So far, I’m enjoying working in the company as we can learn from ongoing project and talk to so many specialists with different expertize. The only thing that worries me now – is that we want to deliver a really good result for the company, but time limits can prevent us from doing so.

Among other companies, my classmates were assigned to, are GE Healthcare, AbbVie, Heron, Cobra Biologics and number of others.

This month – we are interns in companies, sounds good!

Have a nice week and be prepared to be interns next May!

My experiences as a volunteer at the WoHIT

This year the WoHIT conference was organized in the lovely city of Dublin between the 13th and the 15th of May. As a student at Karolinska Institutet, I had the opportunity to take part in that big annual event as a volunteer.

There were many reasons I decided to join the conference as a volunteer instead of a regular attendee and the most important one of course is skipping to pay the registration fees. As a volunteer, I got free registration, free accommodation, free meals and free invitation to exclusive events. Sounds great, eh? In return to that, I (together with the other volunteers) were doing some tasks like for example assisting guests to find their way, assisting speakers…etc. This sounds simple, but as a matter of fact, these tasks take some effort and time more than one could expect.

Although I was given the task of being at the main Information Desk, I managed to organize my time to be able to attend some interesting sessions (thanks to my helpful colleague who is also another student from KI) and see some very inspiring ideas and projects done by either private companies or different governmental organizations. Moving around between different sessions and exhibition booths made me more confident about making the right choice when I decided to study Health Informatics. I realized the growing need for such kind of knowledge and different people who are capable of applying this in real life.

The main challenge I concluded though is that studying Health Informatics as a general field is no longer enough. The term itself is wide enough to include dozens of sub specialties that are very important to the field of Health Informatics and consequently Healthcare.

I will definitely write more about the sessions that I attended and some of the inspiring ideas that I saw but I just came back to Sweden and my final course for this semester is waiting for me, so stay tuned for more reflections about the conference.

The view from where I was standing!