AU’s College of Medicine Students Express Delight over Yale University Study Tour

Ajman University students recently attended short-term summer programs at some of the world’s leading universities, including the renowned Yale University in the USA. Getting the opportunity to visit, learn and interact at top international universities is a privilege, AU students are regularly provided with.

Alhasan Al-Fikri and Mesk Alhammadi, AU College of Medicine students who participated in the short-term program at Yale University School of Medicine were all praise for the efforts of AU faculty and staff in organizing this highly enriching learning tour and expressed their gratitude for this opportunity. Alhasan and Mesk share their experience of the highly enriching academic tour in their own words below.

Alhasan Al-Fikri

I am a 4th year medical student (including foundation year) at Ajman University College of Medicine. This exchange program enriched me and helped me grow both academically and personally. Firstly, it helped me to get out of my comfort zone by travelling to a new city, adapting to a new way of living, as well as meeting a new set of people. I also consolidated my prior ideas about conducting research, especially in screening scholarly articles, using effective search techniques via various search engines, choosing the best article match as well as abstracting the correct information from each article in a systematic manner.

 Additionally, exploring the American healthcare system was an exceptional experience, as it is highly systematic and advanced. Further, the warm welcome I received in New Haven was beyond description, especially since it’s a student city, and you see students everywhere. The knowledge exchange among students and professors helped us feel at home. Moreover, I also gained experience through the day-to-day challenges, as it helps you think critically to manage your time, budget, and interactions, as well as gain problem-solving skills. Most importantly, Dr. Sten Vermund, who was our mentor at Yale, is a great person. He helped us feel comfortable in the new community and taught us some invaluable academic and non-academic lessons that I am already applying, and I am really sincerely grateful for. It was a blessing to have him as my mentor!

As usual, Ajman University helped us make this experience highly enriching and a life-changing one. Firstly, by providing us this great opportunity to visit an excellent academic institution as Yale University, and connecting us with professional and outstanding mentors. Secondly, Dr. Erum, Dr. Bani, as well as other AU faculty members helped us enormously throughout the process of getting to New Haven, from the initial meeting to accept candidates, finding housing, moving to New Haven, and checking up on us regularly to settle in the city. They paved the way for us to have a pleasant trip.

Moving to a new country, even for a short period of time, helps us gain a new perspective of life, especially by meeting people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Since we, human beings, are different, we tend to behave differently. Observing and exploring other ways of living can help you find the perfect formula that works best for you, as we all seek opportunities to evolve in our life.

This experience influenced me positively in many ways, especially in being more independent, more non-judgemental, as well as being more patient and all these features are essential and crucial in life settings. I would definitely do it all again, if I get the chance to.

Mesk Alhammadi

I am a 5th year Medical College student at Ajman university. I did a research internship over the summer at Yale university School of Public Health.

It was a great experience learning about all the tools, techniques and methods needed to conduct successful research and getting to know a new culture.

Ajman university walked us through the entire visa process step-by-step and helped us in applying for the internship. I would like to thank Dr. Bani and Dr. Erum for being incredibly helpful and supportive and coordinating this great experience for us.

Being in the U.S was a different experience but a good one because everyone was genuinely nice and friendly, there wasn’t much of a cultural shock and everything was arranged to go smoothly. However, we had to get used to walking more and using public transportation which was something new to us but introduced us to a healthier lifestyle. The experience helped shape and change us in many ways; it helped us learn so much about the different types of research and how to efficiently conduct one. We also gained significant new insights into the U.S healthcare system, thereby gaining new perspectives about various things. It was a positive experience overall and I would do it all over again.