M.D.

During one of my USMLE Step 1 video lectures, the professor some funny things. He started out by declaring that MD does not stand for Medical Doctor (or Doctorate of Medicine) as we have been told. In reality, you earn your MD once you become a walking Medical Dictionary. He added that you must be able to describe the medical term using a normal vocabulary in 30 seconds or less--not 30 minutes and definitely not using 5 dollar words. Next, he proceeded to spend twenty minutes explaining why fat is yellow. Theoretically, I could have fast forwarded; but I was rather enthralled. I didn't know that if you get butter from cows at different time of the year the color changes based on the cow's diet. Nor did I realized that human vegetarians have brighter yellow fat than non-vegetarians. I especially enjoyed the end of the yellow fat discussion when he declared, "What you eat is what you are...everybody worries about what they look like on the outside. You're more interesting on the inside. That is what makes medicine interesting!" I only wish I could transmit his excitement in my typed words. And to answer your question, yes, he is a pathologist. Next he proceeded to say that, "Cellular Injury and Adaptation may not look sexy, but on an exam it will be. Trust me." Interestingly, I think I know what he meant; however, I'm pretty sure sexy isn't the correct word to use. But heck, he has already earned the title of Medical Dictionary and I have a couple years to go before I earn that honorific!