As the youngest member of the inaugural class of the Oakland University William Beaumont Medical School’s, Amanda Xi describes herself as impatient to start her career. By the time she graduates in 2015, Xi will have had plenty of experience with technology — in the medical world and elsewhere.

Xi, 22, has found a way to combine two seemingly opposite realms: the medical world and social media. In addition to a demanding academic schedule, Xi shares her experiences through an online blog entitled “And thus, it begins (Musings during my journey through medical training…and life).”

“This was a really nice niché to fall into and be able to talk about something I know very well,” Xi said of her blog.

She started a blog in the summer of 2011 and has shared many aspects of her life, both personal and professional. Xi documents her studies, her vacations and her long-distance relationship among other things.

Although her target audience was initially prospective students interested in OUWB, Xi found that her blog followers also included medical professionals.

Xi’s blog, which has 75 subscribers and receives about 10,000 page views a month, is also read by others in the medical profession. She has made guest entries on the popular medical blog KevinMD and cites anesthesiologist Michelle Au’s blog “The Underwear Drawer” as an inspiration.

“It’s a great way to build connections and get feedback from other people across the country who you would otherwise not know,” Xi said.

According to Xi, the blog has also opened up career opportunities. Xi aspires to be a doctor and she was able to secure an internship and  a job as a blogger with the test preparation company Kaplan Medical.

“I think there’s a lot of ways for anyone to use social media to further their career. We’ve moved to an online résumé — you can find someone pretty easily. Establishing your name online is a great way for people to find you,” she said. “It’s definitely furthering my career.”

Xi explains the decision to start a blog as a means of challenging herself. Having struggled to express herself through writing in high school, she enrolled in a college focusing on liberal arts that forced her to read and write analytically.

At the age of 16, Xi earned a full scholarship to complete an associate degree at Bard College at Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington, Mass. Xi then transferred to the University of Michigan, earning both a bachelor and master’s degree in biomedical engineering.

“I went into engineering and there was a lack of writing; it was all equations and staring at numbers and variables,” she said. “It wasn’t great on the communication side.”

Xi missed the challenge of writing and knew people would be interested in OUWB.  “It (the blog) was the result of trying to keep up the skills I had gained at my liberal arts college and trying to help out applicants who were curious about the new school,” she said.

Xi was immediately active at OUWB, working with faculty adviser Angela Nuzzarello to start the university’s chapter of the American Medical Women’s Association in 2011. The AMWA promotes women in the medical field, knowledge of female health issues and participates in community service events. The group was awarded the Heller Outstanding Branch Award by AMWA last year.

“The group worked together to plan events and provide community service. Because of their efforts, the students were able to meet women physicians in different specialties who could talk to them about being women in medicine,” Nuzzarello said.

As a new school, OUWB needed strong student leadership, according to Nuzzarello.

“There was only so much we could do before our students arrived. We knew that we needed to find students who were interested in helping us build our student programs; students who wanted to leave a legacy at OUWB,” Nuzzarello said. “Amanda and many of her classmates have done just that, and we couldn’t be more proud.”

Xi’s blog can be viewed at www.amandaxi.com