top student at medical school

Chapter 110 Defense and Acknowledgments (Please Subscribe)
Fang Ziye didn't know which classmate, senior, or junior had taken on the role of a "busybody" and bestowed the title of "time management master" upon himself.

Since that incident, the title composed of these words is no longer considered elegant.

There are almost no changes needed today. The main thing is to prepare several questions for the questioning section during the defense, so that I am well-prepared.

Fang Ziye stretched out his arms as he walked toward the rental house.

On the right, on the sports field, some people were jogging, some junior students who were probably undergraduates were sweating profusely on the basketball court, and some were practicing penalty kicks on the football field without a soccer net.

Most of the people on the football field are from ethnic minorities or are international students...

When he got home, Fang Ziye first boiled a kettle of water, and then sat quietly at the table to look back.

Looking back from August three years ago when I first entered the standardized residency training rotation program as a master's student, thirty-one months have passed.

The most fulfilling period was not the last six months, but the first half of my first year of master's studies, which is the same stage my junior is currently in. At that time, Fang Ziye, having just arrived at the Affiliated Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, still had the ambition to strive for success.

The training included professional knowledge of trauma surgery, strong medical record writing skills, the necessary consultations and signatures for managing patients, and familiarity with the risks of common surgeries and postoperative medications in the department; basic operational skills honed in the training room; and the gradual introduction of highly specialized literature…

In the second semester, Fang Ziye began writing his own instrumental articles, which lasted from January to May. After completing the draft, he submitted it to his teacher for revision.

The teacher then asked me to collect data from a very specific angle within the department to prepare for a second article as a clinical research paper.

At this point, the progress slowed down.

After the first stage of basic skills practice in the training room, progress became extremely difficult, as if every step forward required experiencing a thousand degrees of obscurity and tedium.

My first year as a graduate student yielded some results.

I've made some progress in the basic techniques in the training room, and I've also completed an article.

However, in his second year of graduate school, Fang Ziye's second article was completed around October, but both articles were submitted in December and were unsuccessful.

Fang Ziye panicked. Starting in October, he began working on a Chinese article and submitted it quickly in December. Finally, in the second semester of his second year of master's studies, which was January of last year, a CSCD paper was accepted and published in October of last year...

However, his other two 'English essays' have yet to be submitted.

Even his teacher, Yuan Weihong, was quite frustrated about this, but there was nothing he could do.

It's perfectly normal to receive multiple rejections when submitting articles. However, while Yuan Weihong kept urging me on, he was also secretly preparing for the worst...

The only change Fang Ziye experienced during his first two years of master's studies was his hurried transformation from a naive newbie into a young man with a sense of urgency.

On the contrary, after the third year of his master's program, Fang Ziye became somewhat lax. At least from August to December, he didn't even think about the issue of publishing articles.

Yuan Weihong's experimental findings on giant cell tumor of bone and the p53 pathway during his hospitalization directly boosted Fang Ziye's career, given that Yuan Weihong was the corresponding author and Fang Ziye was the first author.

It's not just that one article can surpass all subjects, but it can also surpass all sub-specialties; there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

There was no other way; these were high-quality SCI articles in the field of orthopedics that Yuan Weihong needed to publish in order to advance to the associate professor level. It was an honor that ordinary professional master's students could not attain.

Fang Ziye was just a side effect. If Yuan Weihong were willing, he could give this article directly to Sun Shaoqing, and Sun Shaoqing might actually be able to compete with that joint surgeon for hospitalization.

But Yuan Weihong still didn't do that...

January 19th was the last day before the defense.

On this day, Fang Ziye made many arrangements, but then realized that he didn't need to make any arrangements at all.

Sun Shaoqing's early defense was specially arranged by Professor Deng Yong. Therefore, the other doctoral students in Professor Deng Yong's group helped Sun Shaoqing with the subsequent miscellaneous tasks.

For example, prepare tea and water, contact the head nurse and the orthopedic teaching director, arrange the demonstration room, set up the defense venue, make banners, and report to the graduate school...

The day passed quickly.

The next day.

Fang Ziye finally dressed in a suit and tie, put on his newly bought leather shoes, and polished them.

This isn't about being flashy; it's about proper formal attire, showing respect to the dissertation committee. Normally, what surgeon would be so foolish as to dress this formally? Once you enter the operating room, even if you sculpted your clothes into something as massive as the Forbidden City, you'd still have to take them off.

Fang Ziye didn't need to do anything; he only needed to quietly prepare the content and materials for his defense.

The welcoming and seeing off of the professors on the dissertation defense committee were handled by professional or academic doctoral candidates such as Wang Yuanqi, Gu Yi, Dong Wenqiang, Xue Cao, and Yan Zhiming.

The setup and arrangements were led by the head nurse, with Li Yuanpei, as the person in charge of the master's students, setting up fruit platters, tea, water, and snacks for refreshments.

During the break between Sun Shaoqing and Fang Ziye's defenses, the defense committee would definitely need to rest, and it would be appropriate for them to eat something during this time.

Sun Shaoqing's defense lasted an hour and a half, while Fang Ziye's lasted an hour; they could basically be completed in a morning.

Fang Ziye and his senior brother Sun Shaoqing sat there somewhat nervously, trying to avoid getting their clothes wrinkled, as they wouldn't want to bother fixing them later.

Looking at the scene before him, Sun Shaoqing said, "Ziye, I used to be like them, seeing my senior brothers off at graduation. Back then, I felt reluctant to part with them. Tell me, how can such good senior brothers have to graduate and leave?"

"Why didn't the hospital keep them? If they leave, who will take care of me?"

"But I have no idea what my fellow disciples will think of me."

Sun Shaoqing was filled with emotion.

Although Fang Ziye didn't have any direct senior classmates, he was a diligent little bee when his doctoral and master's classmates defended their dissertations. He knew that one day he would also need the help of these natural brothers.

Fang Ziye isn't an idiot. Even if he can't get a doctorate or become a student in Professor Deng Yong's department, he's been in the same group for so many years. If these classmates, senior brothers, and junior brothers get into municipal-level units in the future, and if his relatives or friends need help in a municipal hospital, Fang Ziye can just make a phone call. Do you think they would refuse to help him?

Fang Ziye doesn't think so.

The most direct connections are with fellow disciples within one's own sect, but even those in the same department are merely nodding acquaintances. Even without much contact, such superficial relationships can be beneficial for a lifetime.

So when something was assigned, Fang Ziye was naturally eager to participate.

“Senior Brother Sun, we are also very reluctant to part with you. I still remember when I first entered the department, you were only a first-year doctoral student. My mentor had me work with you for the first month.”

"Looking back later, I realized that you didn't actually need to be the attending physician, Senior Brother Sun. It was my master who assigned you a month of ward management."

"You also taught me a lot of tricks, which have been extremely useful to me ever since." Fang Ziye bowed slightly, his tone sincere.

Sun Shaoqing appears to be a senior doctoral student in his third year.

But when Fang Ziye first joined, Sun Shaoqing was the younger brother of the other senior colleagues in the department, such as Senior Brother Li, who had graduated two years ago, and Senior Brother Fang, who had graduated one year ago and shared the same surname as him.

"Hey. Don't flatter me, it's only right."

"After all, when Brother Wei was a chief resident, he was really good to me..."

After saying this, Sun Shaoqing reluctantly began to call out the names of the busy people one by one.

In a low voice, he said, "Wang Yuanqi used to be from Shandong University. He was on a special program and passed the assessment. His teachers had high hopes for him, but his progress has been relatively slow in recent years."

"Wenqiang has been pursuing an academic path since his master's degree, always staying with his mentor. He's been quite conventional and has done a pretty good job in research."

"Xue Cao, Zhiming, Yuanpei, Shulang, Yunwen..." "Associate Professor Xie Jinyuan's student Gong Ziming, those two are your junior brothers, right?"

"Yes, senior brother! The thin one with a chubby face is called Jie Han! The one with very fair skin is called Lan Tianluo. They both arrived last August," Fang Ziye introduced them.

Sun Shaoqing grinned and said, "Six years ago, my master had just been promoted to full professor. He was one of the less senior full professors in the department. At that time, Associate Professor Han Yuanxiao was still working with my master."

"There aren't many doctoral positions in the department, and my mentor doesn't have many students either. It's been six years since then."

"I really can't bear to part with it!"

"Brother Cao?" Fang Ziye wanted to ask a gossipy question.

Sun Shaoqing grinned and turned his head: "I'm completely convinced, there's nothing more to say. It's not because Professor Du Xinzhan of the Joint Surgery Department is the head of the Orthopedics Department that I chose him, and Cao Lei is not Professor Du's student."

……

The defense then officially began, with Sun Shaoqing taking the lead.

The defense secretary was Associate Professor Xie Jinyuan from the department.

Sun Shaoqing's teacher, of course, is Professor Deng Yong.

Then came the dissertation defense committee. The chairman of the defense was Professor Zhang from the Department of Spinal Surgery at our hospital. He was 55 years old, the head of the Department of Spinal Surgery, a Level 1 Chief Physician, a Level 2 Professor, a doctoral/postdoctoral supervisor, and a Chutian Scholar...

The professors on the defense panel were all at least full professors.

Since Fang Ziye was not defending his doctoral dissertation, he was able to watch his senior colleague Sun Shaoqing's defense.

Conventional and academic in style—that was Fang Ziye's only impression of his senior, Sun Shaoqing.

He didn't have many thoughts; all he could think about was that he was going to defend his thesis later and he had to make sure he wasn't nervous.

Fang Ziye didn't even remember what questions the defense committee asked his senior, Sun Shaoqing, or how Sun Shaoqing answered them, and was expelled from the defense meeting.

During the subsequent meetings of the dissertation defense committee, all members are required to recuse themselves.

Even Professor Deng Yong had to recuse himself; only the head nurse and the defense secretary were allowed to record the meeting resolutions.

Feeling somewhat dazed, at 10:40, Fang Ziye and his mentor walked into the demonstration room together.

Fang Ziye's defense presentation slides had already been uploaded. He walked onto the stage and briefly introduced himself: "Respected defense committee, teachers, fellow students, and junior colleagues, good morning. My name is Fang Ziye, a master's student in orthopedics, and my defense topic is..."

Without much fanfare, Fang Ziye, following the example of his senior colleague Sun Shaoqing and others in the department, solemnly and unhurriedly introduced his dissertation, mainly explaining its content, what he had done, and what the results were...

Fang Ziye precisely controlled the content of his presentation to thirty-five minutes, leaving twenty-five minutes for question and answer.

On the contrary, when Fang Ziye started lecturing, he was not very nervous because he had rehearsed many times. He became more and more relaxed and felt more and more comfortable as he spoke. However, he did not deviate from the rhythm or rush.

Most of the presentation consisted of the basic experiments he had conducted and the corresponding results. It wasn't until after he finished presenting the results that Fang Ziye turned to the acknowledgments page in the PowerPoint presentation.

However, the acknowledgments page, but the PPT slides, is completely blank.

Fang Ziye straightened his body and placed his hands flat in front of his abdomen:
"Actually, I considered many things to say in the acknowledgments section and collected a lot of materials, but in the end I still couldn't make it into a PowerPoint presentation. So I'll just put it here and say a few words."

"Three years have passed in the blink of an eye. I feel like I haven't had enough, but I have gained a lot. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the teachers, classmates and friends who have cared for and helped me." Fang Ziye bowed slightly.

Fang Ziye stood up and said in a very calm tone, "I especially want to thank my teacher, Yuan Weihong, for his help with the entire process of choosing the topic, writing the paper, conceiving the idea, and the first draft to the final draft."

"There's also a correction book called Fang Ziye's—"

"The teacher has devoted a lot of effort to this." Fang Ziye didn't bow again, but spoke calmly, looking again in the direction where Yuan Weihong was sitting, his eyes already a little moist.

Fang Ziye continued, "I am grateful to my esteemed teacher for not abandoning me, for his personal instruction and teachings, every word of which is precious. I only regret that I cannot fully absorb all of it, keep it in my mind, or express it through my hands; as a result, I am still not used to thinking, lack knowledge, and have limited skills."

"But even though it's only been 11 days, it's enough for me to benefit for a lifetime. Unforgettable and I dare not forget it."

At this point, Fang Ziye added, "Let me show off a little elegance here, because it is only when you don't take a Chinese exam that you can appreciate the subtle charm of classical Chinese. Three years ago, I called him 'Master' to learn his skills to make a living; three years later, I call him 'Master for life' to learn etiquette and achieve great things."

"After three years of service, I feel ashamed that I have done nothing to repay you, and I am ashamed that I have nothing to repay you with."

"I would also like to thank Professor Deng Yong, Professor Dong Yaohui, Professor Han Yuanxiao, and other teachers for their guidance and cultivation, as well as their help in my studies..."

Fang Ziye's voice choked slightly as he spoke.

However, as a mature adult, one immediately composed oneself and uses plain content and a calm tone to cover up one's emotional reaction to the scene.

Yuan Weihong's three years with him are enough to earn him the titles of mentor, guide, and master.

Yuan Weihong's eyes were slightly red, but he remained motionless, his demeanor nonchalant, as if he would remain unmoved even if Mount Tai collapsed before him. But in reality, Yuan Weihong was deeply moved.

As a first-time student, just like a first-time teacher, Yuan Weihong often worried that he wouldn't be a good teacher, that he might ruin their future, or that he might not be able to guide them onto the right path or give them more opportunities...

Yuan Weihong didn't move until the end of the acknowledgments, because he knew he couldn't move at that moment and absolutely couldn't let his guard down. If he did, his thoughts might not be clear during the defense later.

That kid, really!
Why do we have to save the nice things for now?
That concludes the acknowledgments.

Professor Zhang, the chairman of the defense committee, looked at the thesis in his hand, put it in his palm, and said, "Fang Ziye, I have read your thesis carefully. It is very well written, even a little too well."

"After all, with a few more additions, it would be enough to become a doctoral dissertation. It would be quite excellent."

"So the technical content is basically fine. I just have one question for you: will you continue working on the p53 pathway?"

"Yes, Professor Zhang. If the opportunity arises, for example, if I have the chance to pursue a doctoral degree or study abroad, I will definitely continue to conduct in-depth research." Fang Ziye nodded quickly; similar questions usually have standard answers.

The Q&A session of the defense is conducted in a question-and-answer format.

"I see that there are many basic experiments in your article. Do you think that basic cell experiments are really effective in developing new ideas for targeted drugs for tumors?" Professor Zhang asked again.

"I think so, Professor Zhang."

"Because before a tumor is first diagnosed, there are no new targeted therapies for any tumor. Other targeted therapies are based on various pathways of tumor cells and involve precisely selecting one target to block them."

"Even chemotherapy drugs used in existing cancer treatments are only a relatively broad biological blocking mechanism. They can cause side effects on normal cells and tissues, but they cannot achieve precise blocking effects." Fang Ziye has an understanding of basic research.

Fang Ziye handled all the preliminary research, from the school-level project to the writing of the general project proposal. It was absolutely impossible for him to reveal his true colors at this point.

With such eloquence, knowledge, and accumulated work, the experiments that Yuan Weihong did, which were not Fang Ziye's, have become Fang Ziye's. If you don't believe me, I can repeat it for you on the spot.
Professor Zhang nodded.

However, the second professor immediately stabbed Fang Ziye in the back.

“Fang Ziye, the HK2 you are studying is the first step in the glucose metabolism pathway. All normal cells have this step. From the perspective of the research project, it is correct to study the HK2 target and its upstream and downstream regulatory components.”

"But from a practical point of view, if HK2 becomes a drug target, will its side effects be greater than the harm that tumor cells themselves cause to the human body?" This is quite a sharp question.

It was so ruthless that even Yuan Weihong and Professor Zhang next to him frowned slightly.

Are you out of your mind, buddy? This is a master's thesis defense!

(End of this chapter)