Our Third Year

by Shafic Twal

In the med tech program, our strongest year together was our third year. During the first two years we took many classes with the rest of the university. The third year was very much concentrated on med tech.

We were really in and around the offices at Capen Hall a lot. Our lab was there, and the general offices were there, so we were together most of the time. I had really a good time as a student, and I think of those as good years that helped me in my future career.

Some of the teachers that we had at that time from the physiology and biochemistry departments were also my teachers in the future, in medical school.

Dr. Alexander Browne had just recently come to the university from Edinburgh, Scotland. He was a biochemist, a steroid biochemist, who lectured to us on human endocrinology. I personally got along with Dr. Browne, and I spent some time with him in his lab, doing research on procedures that were just beginning at that time to be done. That was a great experience.

Later, I attended his lectures at the med school, so I had a jumpstart with him. He was a great teacher. Eventually, he became the chairman of biochemistry.

What I learned from Dr. Browne and from others in the UB programs led to an interest in bacteriology that I have kept up. While I'm generally a pediatrician, I have a special interest in infectious diseases, and I think the seed for that interest was certainly the time I spent in the laboratory in the med tech program.