Last Wednesday, Dr. Adam Wolfberg spoke at an event titled "Prematurity and Medicine," in which he discussed premature births and gave advice for students interested in medicine. The event was organized by The March of Dimes Collegiate Council at Brandeis in honor of National Prematurity Awareness Month.

Wolfberg, who specializes in maternal fetal medicine, spoke with students in the Multipurpose Room of the Shapiro Campus Center. He started with the story of his family, which was the main focus of the talk. Wolfberg's youngest daughter was born prematurely at only 26 weeks, and he discussed the complications that his family faced after her birth.

A large part of this segment of Wolfberg's talk was dedicated to describing kangaroo care, also known as skin-to-skin contact, and its benefits for newborn premature babies. Kangaroo care is the method of holding a baby to bare skin, as close to the heart as possible. When this is done, the human body acts as a natural incubator for the baby.

The next portion of Wolfberg's talk was dedicated to evidence-based medicine. He helped to outline the risk factors for pre-term delivery and the possible solutions to avoid some of these risks. Some examples of risk factors that can be avoided are smoking and alcohol consumption. Unavoidable risks include a small cervix or an unusually shaped uterus.

Wolfberg finished up this event by providing students with tips on how to get into medical school and some secrets to being a doctor. He provided some unconventional wisdom, saying that students interested in medicine should take a few humanities courses in their academic careers, try working jobs that are not related to lab work and find some interests outside of the sciences. He mentioned not being pre-med in his list of tips for getting into medical school. "As undergraduates, students are much less mature. When I was doing my pre-med courses as a [post-baccalaureate] student, I was much more driven and mature than those around me," Wolfberg said.

The event ended in a brief question-and-answer session during which Wolfberg revealed the reason behind his passion for medicine and public health. "The ability to look at problems from a population level and figure out how to solve a group's problem by taking a systems-based approach is really compelling," said Wolfberg.

Sarah Brugge '15, president of March of Dimes at Brandeis, said that her favorite part of the event was when Wolfberg discussed tips on getting into medical school. "It was things that you don't really hear much, which was really great," said Brugge in an interview with the Justice.
*