Key Insight #1

The power of a new perspective refers to the idea that changing and challenging one's point of view can lead to new insights, solutions, and possibilities. It can offer fresh ideas by fostering creativity, challenging previously held assumptions, and building empathy through greater understanding and appreciation of the different attitudes around you.

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Like most people in college, I changed a lot during my undergraduate years. As a freshman, I had no idea how integral research would become to my life or that I would decide to alter my career path halfway through my sophomore year from nursing to pre-medical. I didn’t know that my ideals and values would change, that I would start interacting with people differently, or that I would change how I made decisions.

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When I applied to be a research assistant, I wasn’t sure what I wanted from the experience. Yes, I was interested in doing research – I’d competed in various science fairs and conducted research projects in both middle and high school – but as an 18-year-old college student, I wasn’t passionate about any specific field. On my first day as an undergraduate research assistant at the Advancing Chronic Care through Research and Innovation (ACORN) Center, my director asked me about my research interests – I didn’t know how to answer. I wasn’t aware of what fields were out there, much less which one I would prefer to work in.

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This quickly changed. The ACORN center boasts a slew of diverse faculty from different disciplines and with different research interests. This meant that within a year, I met and worked with people interested in various fields ranging from communication to artificial intelligence to chronic disease management. Working with these faculty members, I expanded my research interests, learned about healthcare delivery, discovered the nuances of the health issues plaguing our society, and engaged in moments of self-reflection. As research changed my perspective of the world around me, my own perceptions of research changed. I was able to look at the world through new eyes, and I began to apply things I learned in research to the world around me. Attached below as Artifact #1 is my first presentation (and the first study) with the ACORN Center for Discover USC 2021. In 2021, Discover USC was done virtually due to the pandemic, and I was asked to create a video presentation instead of disseminating this work in person.

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Creating this poster and producing this presentation under the guidance of my mentor, Dr. Cynthia Corbett, was the first time I realized how much I appreciated research and wanted to continue it during my years at USC. It also challenged my perspective on the topic it covers: the perceptions of COVID-19 among uninsured people. My research on the topic led me to hypothesize that thesample studied would have lowerunderstanding of the pandemic; especially considering how safety protocols were everchanging and many people were receiving information in unsystematic

ways. This speculation was quickly put to rest when my analysis of the results showed that 97% of participant-reported short-term COVID-19 symptoms aligned with information reported by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Similar to how working at the ACORN Center changed my perspective on the use of technology and instigated a love for research, many of my classes changed the way I thought about different topics, which influenced my personal philosophy. In Spring 2023, I took SCHC 321: The Development of Modern Medicine, 1800 to the Present.  The class was focused on modern medical advancements. Still, rather than only speaking on the “successes” of medicine, we learned the history of how old problems and past failings contributed to the development of practices now integral to our modern medical system.

 

Dr. Burke Hood-Dial, my professor in this class, said, “The argument is not sacred, but the evidence is.” This resonated with me. In class, we covered various examples of old theories and medical perspectives falling apart as technology advanced and medical science changed. As new evidence emerged, the “old evidence” was repurposed to support new theories with stronger arguments. We also learned about the Semmelweis Reflex, which is the immediate, reflex-like repudiation of new information when it conflicts with existing theories. This reflex is named after Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian physician and early supporter of antiseptic procedures. Semmelweis discovered that the incidence of puerperal fever (childbed fever) could be drastically reduced in the obstetrical wards if physicians washed their hands before visiting laboring mothers. After publishing his findings, Semmelweis was fired from his position because his observations conflicted with the established medical theories of the time. This is a perfect example of how failure to acknowledge a new perspective can have honerous impacts. Attached below as Artifact #3, you will find the notes I took in class on the Semmelweis Reflex:

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There are various examples of the Semmelweis Reflex through medical history, which only support my argument that we must consider new scientific information when presented and not reject it outright. A most recent example comes with peptic ulcer disease (PUD), which was once thought to result solely from factors such as caffeine, alcohol, diet (spicy food), stress, and smoking. For years it was treated via symptom management. Patients with PUD often underwent blood transfusions for actively bleeding ulcers and even surgical stomach resections in more severe cases. It wasn’t until 1981 that Robin Warren and Barry Marshall challenged this paradigm. They discovered that the bacteria Helicobacter pylori caused PUD and successfully treated patients with antibiotics. Despite their discoveries, they were initially dismissed for their work by a scientific community that was too stagnant in their ways to accept a new perspective. Warren and Marshall would go on to win the Nobel Prize for their research. Attached below as Artifact #4 are my in-class notes on PUD and the changing etiology of disease.

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Understanding this process and how we continue to engage in it changed my perspective on modern medicine. Before this class, I thought medicine was as evolved as possible; I felt as if we had solutions to almost all medical problems and uncovered the etiology of every disease. This class taught me that medical knowledge and the different perspectives within the field form an ongoing process that continuously works to produce more research as new diseases and resistant pathogens arise. It has shown me to keep an open mind when new investigations come to light, especially when they challenge pre-existing notions. 

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Perspective is a vital part of human experience. It allows us to understand and interpret experiences, events, and information from different viewpoints, providing a more complete and nuanced understanding of the world around us. I am very proud of how both research and the different classes I’ve taken at USC have altered my perspective, and I look forward to new experiences that will continue to shape this dynamic part of my psyche.