Hello world!

This is team “A New Pear-spective” signing onto our new blog. We invite you to check-in often and share in our experiences. However, before we begin detailing our journey with Timmy Global Health, we think it’s important to explain the origin of our name.

We are all second year medical students at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in Houston, Texas. After being accepted to medical school, we quickly realized few people know BCM is separate from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. The confusion is understandable given the two institutions were linked until 1969. In our first week, the BCM class of 2019 declared the unofficial school mascot to be the “Pears,” thus distinguishing ourselves from the “Bears” of Waco. Adding to the fun, a pear-shaped body is also considered to be the ideal, healthy distribution of body fat.

Now that you understand our name, we’d like to explain how we became involved in this project. It all started when Andy received an email from the American Medical Association promoting the contest. He discussed possible ideas with Zach, and the two stayed after clinic to produce a rough draft of their essay. They then reached out to Brian, Kristin and Randy, and together our team finalized the essay for submission.

Our team is united through our shared experiences abroad, which have informed the way we care for and interact with our patients. We look forward to continued experiences across borders that will allow us to better care for a diverse set of patients, both in Houston and abroad.

After submitting the video, our team knew we still had work to do. The competition was stiff, and we had to harness all of our resources to get the most votes. We relied heavily on social media to share our video. First, we messaged our classmates, friends at other medical schools, and families to share and tweet our video often. We then contacted Baylor’s communications staff, who suggested we write a blog for their newsletter. Finally, we shared our video with expat groups on Facebook. All of these efforts combined allowed us to spread our message effectively.

We were thrilled to learn we had won and will be able to continue to participate in global health experiences. We would like to congratulate the others finalists, and thank Med Plus Advantage and Timmy Global Health for hosting the contest. We hope you stay tuned as we return abroad to continue our growth, this time as a team!