As I mentioned in a few previous blog posts, I will become a naturopathic medicine intern at the Lombard Student Clinic starting in January. As the current trimester’s end has been quickly approaching, we received an email from the registrar that it was time to register for next trimester’s courses. This is a typical pattern each trimester, but last week’s course registration marked a special point for me in the naturopathic medicine program here at NUHS. Unlike previous registrations, it was also time for me to register for my Student Clinic clinician and shift.

First of all, I want to share that all of the clinicians at the naturopathic medicine Student Clinic are excellent. I could learn a great deal from any of them regardless of who I end up with. As I weighed out my clinician options, I decided that letting my unique passions, personality, style of learning, and my gut feeling guide me to make the best decision. I am personally very interested in topics of autoimmunity, endocrinology, gastrointestinal health, and functional laboratory testing. It is important to me that my clinician can support these interests and also challenge me to develop my clinical problem-solving skills.

I selected Dr. Vucaj as my primary clinician! I am extremely excited that I will be reporting to and learning from her! I think that it is a very good fit for me, and that she will support and challenge me to think more critically. Three other students also selected to work with Dr. Vucaj, and I am very excited that we will be supporting each other. They are intelligent and creative critical thinkers, and I know that I will learn from them as well. I am genuinely excited and totally look forward to January!