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Wait. What?

Hi! My name is Kassel (rhymes with fossil) and usually I'm in medical school. 
But I woke up one morning in the spring of 2018 with an idea, and now I'm taking a leave of absence from medical school between my third and fourth years in order to pursue a Master's of Philosophy (MPhil) in the department of the History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine at University of Cambridge in England. 

 Frequent Follow-up Questions (last updated 10/27/19):

Are you going back to medical school?

Yes, yes, a resounding yes! Not only do I still want to be a doctor, but I have one plan for how to pay off my (ever-increasing) student debt and that is via a doctor's salary (which requires me to graduate from medical school and go to residency, etc.)

Why are you doing this?

Because I love the history of medicine, and I think that learning about the history of my future field will help me understand why medicine is practiced the way it is, and that, combined with a robust introduction to the questions and concepts of the philosophy and ethics of medicine, will help me become a better physician to my patients and allow me to be constructively critical of medicine and the medical system. 

Because, despite liking my medical school and wanting to be a doctor, at times medical school feels a bit like a conveyor belt in a factory that is churning out doctors, and I wanted to step off the conveyor (to prove I could), and to indulge the part of my curiosity that was not being wholly satisfied by the learning in medical school.

And because I wanted an adventure, and the 9-year-old that first read Harry Potter is so, so proud and pleased with me, her 28-year-old future self. 

When will you be back?

My program ends on June 30th, 2020, so I will be back in the USA sometime in summer 2020, at which point I will re-start medical school and my final year of clinical rotations. 

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