Lin Abigail Tan 

SURF 2020 looked a lot different than expected this year! I had originally planned to return to my pulmonary biology lab at Cincinnati Children's for the summer. I was excited because I'd get to go to the lab every day for longer stretches of time, so I would have been able to see a continuous experimental workflow, as opposed to scattered hours from the spring semester. Alas, COVID-19 hit and SURF was moved online. 

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Despite not being able to work in my research lab, I still found the 2020 SURF virtual program very engaging and valuable. Here are some of the highlights: 

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• "Dealing with Imposter Syndrome and Building Resilience in Science": This session was extremely important. Sometimes, in such an intellectually rigorous field, it's easy to compare one's self to others and feel inadequate. Knowing, realizing, and confronting this will improve your perspective of yourself and others. 

• Virtual Networking Workshop and Mocktail Hour: I had never attended an event intentionally labeled as "networking" before, so I felt a bit intimidated. Over the course of the event, however, as we were shuffled into our various Zoom breakout rooms, I felt more comfortable. I was able to speak with some brilliant scientists and professors, and they were all incredibly friendly, empathetic, and down-to-earth. 

• Dr. Ray Bignall's "Pediatric Nephrology and Science Policy": This session was so much fun; Dr. Bignall was a great speaker and his passion for science, pediatrics, and learning was evident. 

• Dr. Carolyn Price's "How to Lead a Great Journal Club": This was my first journal club in college! We read and analyzed a paper on cancer biology. I was taking a MEDS Statistics course during the time, so I was able to connect what I was learning in class to an actual scientific journal. Dr. Price was patient and encouraged all of us to share our ideas and thoughts. On the right are my notes from this session; I tried to focus on the big picture while simultaneously learning about the details/definitions as well. 

• Dr. Jason Frischer's "Introduction to Surgery": This presentation was fascinating. Dr. Frischer showed us pictures and videos from his practice (including an endoscopic video of a burp!) and talked a bit about the life of a physician as well. 

• Dr. Tim LeCras's "Is the MD/PhD Degree for You?": Before this summer, I hadn't seriously considered an MD/PhD degree, but after hearing from the student panelists, it motivated me to get more involved with biomedical research and consider the physician-scientist pathway in the future. 

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Overall, I'm very thankful for SURF and the opportunities it opened for me. I'm grateful for the patience, compassion, and perseverance from all the SURF faculty in the midst of transitioning to an online platform, and I hope to return to the lab soon!