Author's posts
How one medical student’s life-changing conversation reshaped her career
The fourth-year medical student “Megan” urgently wanted to meet with me. She just returned from an away rotation in pathology in mid-August and wanted to talk. She was not her usual confident self, appearing distracted and pale. She shared …
Internal medicine physicians: leaders and the foundation of comprehensive health care
The nickname bestowed on us residents by our internal medicine residency program director was “city savages.” There was a tremendous amount of pride amongst the residency programs in Boston back in the late 1980s, and it was no different in…
Celebrating women physicians: Keeping our foot on the gas
Given that September is Women in Medicine month, my thoughts turn to celebrating women across the spectrum of medicine, from pioneers like Elizabeth Blackwell, MD, the first woman to earn a medical degree in the U.S., to physicians today caring for pat…
Patients and immunizations: It’s a matter of trust
It was 2018. Previously, “Max” had steadfastly refused all vaccines. Despite his HIV infection, which was well controlled, and my pleading with him over multiple years to get a flu shot, he was firmly opposed. He was intelligent and very ma…
Everyone under the big tent: the international medical graduate
The internal medicine community is broad and varied, with a diversity of internal medicine physicians as its foundation. As we move forward as a country and as health care continues to evolve, we must embrace our diversity and afford equal opportunity …
Why we all need to care about the primary care physician shortage
It is somewhat cliché these days to talk about physician workforce shortages, but recent data highlights that the problem is getting worse. Two research publications this past year were particularly alarming. First, in a recent analysis of internal med…
