“They stole my shoes!” she told me with tears streaming down her face. It was 30 degrees Fahrenheit outside, and the woman in front of me at the food pantry only had the clothes on her back, walking around town barefoot. In addition to taking her shoes…
As caregivers, our #1 role is protection — protecting our children, our elderly parents, our patients, even our staff and colleagues. Notice how I didn’t mention protecting ourselves? This is off-radar for most caregivers until they have no choic…
As a cardiology fellow in a busy New York City hospital, my life has snowballed into chaos. Just last week, I was a pregnant doctor completing her second trimester, waddling down the halls of the hospital with an echocardiogram machine in tow, taking c…
COVID-19 has brought out the best in people, and also the worst. Daily on social media or in the news, I read heartwarming examples of generosity and kindness that challenge me to be a better person. The doctors, nurses, therapists, and chaplains who a…
Many of the patients whom I met during my oncology rotation felt hopeful for a cure. They imagined how once their cancer went into remission, they could go back to their normal lives as they once were. I was struck then when one patient, a 72-year-old …
Among industrialized nations, only the United States endures the current public health epidemic of firearm-assisted injury and death. In 2018, nearly 40,000 people were shot to death in the U.S., while proponents of the Second Amendment continue to pro…
The first time I stepped foot in Japan was the summer of 2014. I was a wide-eyed, overzealous sophomore at Yale, all packed and ready to embark on a 2-month journey to Tokyo for a Japanese study abroad program that I only enrolled in so that my languag…
As if it were a typical Monday afternoon, my anatomy instructor asked my medical school classmates to lean in a little closer. “Do you see the left gastric artery?” He asked, as he zoomed in on a 3D online visualization of a stomach. Instead of leaning…
As if it were a typical Monday afternoon, my anatomy instructor asked my medical school classmates to lean in a little closer. “Do you see the left gastric artery?” He asked, as he zoomed in on a 3D online visualization of a stomach. Instead of leaning…
Telehealth has come into focus during the COVID-19 pandemic as physicians face an immediate need to reduce exposure by providing care—or at least triage—remotely when appropriate. Under usual circumstances, telemedicine is comparatively low risk. That …
