“We physicians must come to terms with the trauma caused by the financial insecurity built into our training and the ripple effect it has even after we finish training, both as a way to repair ourselves individually and as a way to assure that ou…
Category: Medical school
I will finish medical school and become a doctor — before I get scared
The dusty gym is a blur in my peripheral vision as I grip the high bar tightly and swing downwards from a handstand. I slightly pike at my hips to avoid hitting the low bar behind me before recruiting my abdominal muscles to tap my legs through a trans…
Taking care of yourself during medical school [PODCAST]
“Like some insidious conditions, feelings can fester. They can spread like cancer, and sap the spirit of nourishment until it starts to die, riddled with doubt and sensations of inadequacy. They can degrade the soul, as though it were suffering f…
Formalized mentorship as a requirement for medical schools
Mentorship is one of the cornerstones of growth as a clinician and student. Given that so much of medicine is learned outside of a classroom and through individual experiences, mentorship helps to clearly round out these experiences and help us grow as…
The value of in-person feedback
As I progress further in my medical career, I often feel that there are expectations of me that I have never been trained for. Teaching and feedback are large parts of my training that I do not always feel we are adequately prepared for. Feedback const…
What my father taught me about language
Here — outside with nature — this was where I needed to be. It was raining cats and dogs, unlike the light drizzle earlier in the day. Earlier in the day. Earlier in the day, I could still see the casket go into the ground, adding finality to the affai…
Why residency applications need to change
So, what’s the problem? Alright, anybody that has been through the process knows that applying to residency programs is a long and expensive process. The issue is not how long it is, or honestly how expensive it is, even though those are problems…
Dirt masks and couples massages: My trauma bonds in medical school
While I am commonly considered to be a friendly person, I never had very many friends. This was likely because I was too much. I am was too brown, too bookish, too loud, too assertive, just too much in every single category. It was hard for people to a…
Addressing the lack of Black male physicians through early intervention
“When I grow up, I want to be a pediatrician or a surgeon.” Those were the words I wrote as I graduated fifth grade. I often ask myself how I have been able to navigate a world so unfamiliar to me, how I have carried on with my ambitions despite being …
Medical school and the science of sleep
The article can be read or listened to. It is in the format of an interview between a radio host and the sleep scientist and director for Human Sleep Science at the University of California, Berkeley, Matthew Walker. He takes the audience through the j…
