HPB Voices Reloaded

Dr Andy Tan from the Student Health Centre, (YHD), started his graduate degree in public health at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health at Baltimore, Maryland this summer. In this issue of Voices Reloaded, he shares with us his experiences of his first few months in Baltimore in his e-letter.

Arriving in Baltimore…

Getting ready for orientation day outside the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Greetings HPBians! I’m really delighted to be able to share about Baltimore with everyone on Voices Reloaded. Before getting here, I heard lots of awful stories about Baltimore regarding the crime rate, violence and unsafe neighbourhoods.  Over the past two months, I’ve come to appreciate the unique charm of the city and the surrounding region in Maryland. Baltimore has much to offer and is very special compared to the other cities that I’ve traveled to before.

The people are very friendly here and I recalled meeting a family of three in a market coming up to me and exclaiming loudly about how I’m the tallest Asian they’ve ever seen! Although the city neighbourhoods are very fragmented, there are plenty of nice areas which have individual charming characters that distinguish them from other areas. Charles Village, Hampden and Mt Vernon are some of these charming neighbourhoods with quaint redbrick rowhouses, historic monuments and inexpensive eateries.

Starting school…

Professor Ron Brookmeyer (centre of picture) dishing out ice-cream with other faculty staff during the student orientation.

I must admit it felt really strange being a student all over again! The orientation program was certainly very unusual and informal. We had the chairperson of our masters program, Professor Brookmeyer, and other faculty staff dishing out ice-cream and interacting with all the new students during the orientation. They definitely went out of their way to make us feel comfortable to this strange, new and exciting environment and to minimize our feelings of being overwhelmed by the flurry of information and opportunities. It was wonderful also to meet new friends from far-flung places in the world, from all the continents. It was almost like a United Nations convergence of public health professionals!

My fellow epidemiology lab rats
(clockwise: Jaime, Dana, myself, Anita, Robert, Sara).

The classes were mostly interactive in style and were very interesting and challenging, coming from the traditional teaching style in Singapore. My fellow “lab rats” in the Epidemiology class were most fun people. They included a Peace Corps volunteer, a physician from New Mexico, a medical student, a microbiologist and a health educator in childhood obesity. We had a great time interacting and sharing about our backgrounds and fields of expertise during class.

Living in Baltimore…

Home-cooked dinner at the hostel.

I like preparing most of my meals and honing some creativity (and resourcefulness…) by making yummy and nutritious foods with the various fresh foods I can find in the supermarkets and local stores.  A typical and fairly uncomplicated meal would be pasta with a side dish. So far, I’ve tried making with various levels of success - linguine aglio e olio, angel hair pasta carbonara, spaghetti pomodoro and also pasta bolognaise. What a tongue twister, haha! My fellow room-mates serve as food critics and provide lots of feedback for me.

In and about the region…

Scenery of the Potomac River at Harpers Ferry in West Virginia.

It can’t be all work and no play! Weekends are usually time to meet up with new friends and discover Baltimore and the beauty of the surrounding region. On one weekend, I traveled with a small group of the class to a lovely historic town called Harpers Ferry. We had a fantastic day soaking up the sun, water and the natural beauty of the Appalachian trail in the vicinity. It was such a wonderful experience to see so much greenery and part of the rich history of the region. 

Looking forward…

The coming terms will be more intense with coursework and also more exciting as I meet faculty members from other departments. I’m definitely looking forward to these and hope to share more about my experience in the future. I wish all of you a great week ahead!

Take care of you,
Andy