The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation just announced an additional $250 million commitment to strengthen efforts in the global fight to end the coronavirus pandemic. This brings the foundation’s total funding to the Covid-19 response to $1.75 billion.
Category: Education
Lottery docs? Randomize medical school admissions for fairness
It’s this simple: The medical school admissions system is bloated and reinforces implicit and systemic biases leading to further social inequity. Medical schools across the country are going through thousands of applications and making literal life-cha…
Preparing for the USMLE despite 2020’s obstacles
I came from Malaysia dreaming of completing my residency in the U.S. and becoming a nephrologist. Luckily, I interviewed for programs before COVID-19 shook the world, and I began my residency at Yale University Bridgeport Hospital in June 2020. Having …
3 strategies for matching into a competitive specialty, even with a lower USMLE score
For applicants seeking to match into a competitive specialty, it can be challenging. In fact, it’s not uncommon for programs to receive over 100 applications for a single residency position. To sort through that many applications, many programs…
Rusty nails and first aid: silver linings of COVID-19
It’s 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning in September of my second year of medical school. My brother, father, and I are chucking the used wood from our construction site into a U-Haul, prepping the wood for its ill fate of an indoor dumpster. Hundreds of mil…
When your institution has a less than 1% hiring rate for Black residents
The other day I was in the main hallway outside of our radiology reading rooms, which is lined with picture frames of all the residency senior classes dating back to the 1980s. I’m new to the institution, so it was nice to see all the prior residents. …
In the face of uncertainty, choose hope over fear
Over and over again, I find myself repeating the same words to myself as I watch the sunset over the Sacramento River on my dreary commute back from my job in clinical research: hope over fear. It was with hope that 2020 began—a catalyst year in which …
We need more doctors. International medical schools can provide them.
COVID-19 has revealed once again how short our nation is of doctors. Early in the pandemic, several governors called on retired physicians to return to the workforce. Medical schools allowed students to graduate ahead of schedule and begin working and …
What Caribbean medical students need to know about the residency match
For students studying at Caribbean medical schools, success in the residency match is a major concern. And it should be, because Caribbean medical students have unique challenges. At the same time, strategizing early in your medical school career can s…
The value of intergenerational relationships
With the rapid growth of modern medicine and awareness in lifestyle and environmental influences, individuals can live longer and healthier lives. Approximately 15.2 percent of the U.S. population consists of individuals 65 years and older. To make the…
