Introducing Dr. Christina Teresa La Gamma, M.D. 🩺
Words cannot describe the depth of feeling in this journey. I am so grateful for my friends, family, mentors, and partner lifting me up along the way.
Excited to begin my career as a physician & continue serving patients.
Dreams do come true! 🎉🎉
Next month, I am starting a yearlong research fellowship
@NIH
, as part of the Medical Research Scholars Program.
I am so excited to be joining
@NeuroTejeda
’s lab to study 🧠 circuitry & neuromodulation of motivational behavior in psychiatric disease.
Thrilled to be attending my first
@AANSNeuro
conference in sunny LA.
Even more excited for this year's theme of
#Neurosurgeons
as Advocates. Check out our schedule here: .
#AANS2023
I'm thrilled to share my paper comparing antidepressant and prophylactic ketamine's effects on GABAergic inhibitory markers in the hippocampus. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this project!
@DrChristineAnnD
@josie_mcgowan
@rab2194
New professional
#headshot
and
#profilepicture
courtesy of Paul Nguyen.
@UCSFAnesthesia
you have a talented photographer in your hands!
Good luck to an incredible intern and friend! Thank you
It has already been a month since I started my MRSP program at
@NIH
, and have learned so much.
Top of the list: stereotactic NAc injections, followed by intro to patch clamp recordings. 🐭🧠🤘🏼
Thank you
@NeuroTejeda
for this opportunity to learn in your lab.
Excited for Gitanjali Bhushan,
@PennStHershey
medical student and incoming
#MRSP
at the
@NIH
.
As I wrap up my final weeks before returning to medical school, it was a pleasure catching up to share experiences from the year. Lots to look forward to!
@CCMedEd
#passingthebaton
It’s hard to believe that our year is almost over. Thank you to Dr. Burklow and Dr. Leitman for a wonderful graduation ceremony today
@CCMedEd
#MRSP2023
IT’S MRSP MONDAY 🥳
Meet 2022-2023 MRSP Scholar, Christina LaGamma from
@penn_state
college of Medicine. Ms. LaGamma is completing her MRSP experience
@NIMHgov
exploring the role of dopamine D3 receptor signaling in motivation and limbic structure networks.
#NIHMRSP
Thrilled to be starting my PM&R rotation on Monday,
but let me tell you how excited this
#plantmom
, of 30+ unique 🪴’s, is to receive her new
#scrubcap
in the mail today.
When you own a
#monstera
that will now be proudly worn in an
#OR
!
Thanks to
@LabCarlson
& Dr. Lakshmi Devi for the opportunity to serve as a panelist in the
#WCBR2023
School Outreach Program, discussing careers in
#neuroscience
with eager high school students.
The mountains weren't our only inspiration today! 🧠
Not a bad Saturday morning when your Godmother and fellow
@BarnardCollege
alumna texts you a picture saying “look what I found in the winter magazine issue”. Grateful for the feature! Lots more to be done
@barnardalumnae
Substance use & other psychiatric disorders deserve the same compassion and understanding as any other medical condition. Criticizing someone else's child on public tv for an illness they struggle with is dehumanizing and is one of the many morally repugnant comments made tonight
Join me tomorrow 10/19 at 5:30pm EST with & Gitanjali as we discuss our experiences in the
@NIH
's Medical Research Scholars Program, a professional development program for future clinician-scientists.
@CCMedEd
@PennStHershey
@PSUresearch
Link:
Dm for pw
Hey
@PennStHershey
, recognize these two 3rd graders?
One (L) is starting in your General Surgery residency program
@PSU_Surgery
.
The other (R) is applying to residency next year!
We haven’t seen each other since. Thanks for helping us reconnect.
@brittanyncuff
Becoming a clinician-scientist, as an MD/non-PhD student, can sometimes be weird bc we don’t fit into either category.
Thankful to peers who remind me that painting on a blank canvas is a long term process & we wouldn’t be here w/o years of striving.
#researchyear
#neuroscience
In medical school we are taught to honor the body, including all physical, mental, and emotional aspects. That should not preclude me from loving and being confident in my own.
#MedBikini
#MedTwitter
If a white medical school applicant is going to be afraid of applying to an institution that has a black PD, what kind of doctor are they going to be when taking care of a black patients in the future? That’s a pretty illogical justification antithetical to our oath
#DNRTulane
As
@JLo
said on World of Dance, "I've got GOOSIES!"
Except this time, it's about residency. My friends have all matched into their dream specialties and I couldn't be more happier for them.
Can't wait to see where everyone will end up this Friday.
#Match2023
#MedTwitter
After nearly 5 months away from the
@PennStHershey
OR, due to boards studying and finishing clerkships, it warms my heart to be welcomed back by the surgical team and OR nurses saying “Of course we remember you. It’s good to have you back”
#Neurosurgery
#brainnerd
🧠
What a way to end the week! First full day on L&D and I helped bring 5 little babies into the world today, 3 C-sections and 2 vaginal deliveries 🎉
#OB
#clerkships
After recovering from COVID-19 infection, I chose to get the
@moderna_tx
vaccine to ensure protection for my family, friends, and future patients I'll be working with next month. Thank you to the researchers and frontline workers who made this possible
@PennStHershey
#IGotTheShot
Today in the OR I was given the nickname
#Gammaknife
.
Fitting, in hopes of performing gamma knife some day for patients.
#brainnerd
#MedTwitter
🦸🏻♀️ 🧠🔪
Can’t believe the day has finally come. After five years working in Christine’s lab
@ColumbiaPsych
, I’ll be starting medical school
@PennStHershey
this July! Thank you for the years, lessons, and memories 💙
#kcrewforlife
Today, we said goodbye to
@cgamma4
, the best lab manager you could ever ask for. To send her off,
@BriKChen
made her special
#ketamine
#kcrew
shirts. I don’t know how we will function without you. We are all so proud of you and what you will do. 💓 you tons.
Congratulations to all of the MS1’s
@PennStHershey
who completed their MSK exam today, finishing their first year of medical school all during a pandemic!!! That’s an amazing feat
Starting off 2021 with good news:
Delighted to be a Doctors Kienle Center for Humanistic Medicine grant recipient, teaching a new adaptive dance program, starting this month, to patients at the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Hospital here
@PennStHershey
#movementasmedicine
From being hall mates as freshmen, to working together for 4 years in
@DrChristineAnnD
's laboratory at
#NYSPI
, to skydiving, dining, and laughing through it all, Barnard fosters the strongest of friendships and professional partnerships
@josie_mcgowan
Josephine McGowan '16, who was part of the initial group of Barnard Summer Research Institute participants, is now working in the same
@ColumbiaMed
lab as former hallmate Christina LaGamma '16.
#SRIAlumnae
This had been my dream to come to the DC/Maryland area not only pursue excellent academic research in my program, but to train again as a dancer and nurture the creative part of my brain.
#researchyear
#MRSP
#MedTwitter
🧠💃🏻
Incredibly proud of my colleagues back at
@ColumbiaPsych
for another fantastic publication. In the words of
@DrChristineAnnD
I "will never leave the lab" ^_^ Great job, everyone!
A longstanding tradition of fishing with my family, many of whom are doctors, is where I first learned about anatomy...no joke. These are the hobbies that keep me healthy in medical school.
#MedBikini
#porgy
#sandshark
#babyshark
#fishing
In today's Medical Ethics class:
Watch your thoughts, they become your words.
Watch your words, they become your actions.
Watch your actions, they become your habits.
Watch your habits, they become your character.
Watch your character, it will become your destiny.
Apparently, we don't just help humans at hospitals.
Tried to carefully move this baby chickadee to a safer place, after finding 'em on the sidewalk, and this is where it landed next!
#MedTwitter
My first job was a certified nursing assistant at 17 years old in 2014.
Today on March 17th, 2023 I was blessed to be selected as the first African American female neurosurgery resident to train at
@VUMC_Neurosurg
.
#Match2023
#Neurosurgery
#BlackGirlMagic
Congratulations to first-year medical student Jinpyo Hong on a wonderful presentation discussing post LP hematoma development in patients on antiplatelet vs anticoag therapy!
@PennStNeurosurg
#myfirstAANS2023
#AANS2023
Yesterday was a good day. My first moused that I virally injected into the NAc had patchable cells.
So appreciative of the grad student I work with who turned on this song and recorded me celebrating the moment.
#ilooklikeafuturesurgeon
#researchyear
#MedTwitter
🐭🧠
Yesterday I was a standardized patient for 1st year medical students, as part of
@PennStHershey
's Communications curriculum, with facilitator
@BMcGillenMD
.
He remembered me from ~4 years ago and that I was a ballroom dancer. 💃
Truly stellar humans and educators here. ✨
Woohoo finally updated ths shop with all the new stuff we made for
#SfN19
(and saved since we knew we would sell out there)
About 10-20 of each kind of new brain pin and jewelry were stashed away and are now available for purchase on the website!
How does one (very enthusiastic
#brainnerd
) even decide what case to go see tomorrow for my first day of
#neurosurgery
elective?
It's like walking into a candy store for the first time 🧠
Proud to share work with
@PennStHershey
's Family Medicine Department on resident well-being & burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thank you to mentors Dr. Timothy Riley & Dr. Eric Messner et al for their project leadership and implementation.
#newpub
🚨
@DInclinic
@JordyGrewal
Isn’t this attitude also what keeps us from adequately advocating for fair workplace compensation in the first place? Guilting trainees to not think about financially security isn’t helpful. W/o significant salary negotiation room in residency, the standard shouldn’t be this low
Ya girl is starting her neurosurgery elective on Monday.
Five months of being separated from the brain, after completing my OBGYN/FCM/Peds/IM/and ID rotations (and learning a lot!), & it feels like coming home. 🧠
#brainsquadforlife
#brainnerd
My med school/hospital just got a boba machine🔥. I’m definitely suffering some emotional damage since this was added when my 4th year is almost over but will still take advantage 🧋
Felt like I nearly sent myself into SVT asking a question at the large room neuroethics plenary session, about the intersection of medicine, law, & ethicality of DBS for addiction tx, but we’re out here staying curious and applying ourselves anyway. 🙃
#firsttimer
at
#ASSFN2022
Thanks to all the WINS Faculty and Medical Student Committee members for all of their hard work promoting gender equity in the field of neurosurgery.
@AANSNeuro
Stay tuned for a guest appearance from
@DGlaucomflecken
!
#AANS2023
#MedTwitter
There's nothing that inspires me more than spending my Saturday's with
@WomenSurgeons
to learn about how to excel and succeed in 3rd-year surgical clerkship rotations
My first first-author paper is out! We found that reactivating distinct cell populations in the dHPC and vHPC drive unique behaviors in mice. A huge thank you to the lab and everyone else involved!
@nathenmurawski
@okaysteve
Continuing our post-match panel series: join our Mid-Atlantic panelist Thursday, April 27th, at 6:00PM EST as they share their pearls of wisdom about sub-internships, the interview trail and more!
Make sure to use the link in the flyer below to register and submit questions 🔗.
I am delighted to be a recipient of this year's Young Alumna Award 2021, alongside such accomplished & dedicated women.
@barnardalumnae
Incredibly grateful for the mentors and faculty who have continued to support & guide me throughout the years.
For the past 10 days, I've been self-quarantining and recuperating from COVID-19 infection.
A mild case, but lack of smell, fatigue, and headaches are still present to a degree.
Grateful for friends and family who've brought me food and zoomed me into holiday festivities.
Any
#medicalstudents
interested in research as part of their future career should consider attending!
This has been such an impactful program, in many ways, and we’re not even 4 months in. Feel free to reach out w questions too
#MedStudentTwitter
🧠👩🏻🔬
Calling all medical, dental, and veterinary students! Are you interested in conducting research at the NIH for a year? Join us next Thursday to learn more about the NIH Medical Research Scholars Program. Visit to register and join the webinar.
#NIHMRSP
What an amazing way to end my first night shift on
#OB
. Under the guidance of an awesome resident and attending, I caught a baby this morning.
#clerkships
#rotations
#delivery