Category: Medical school

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…

The evolution of medical training in dermatology and the impact of technology

In nearly every field, ongoing education is warranted, if not explicitly required. Be it the informal transfer of knowledge between colleagues, or a more formalized process like recertification, nearly every profession mandates some form of maintenance…

Professional gay: Charting a career in LGBTQ health

“You’re superficial,” the dean of the curriculum explained to me as we sat in an empty lecture hall. I had just finished a lecture when he pulled me aside to share his assessment of my progress as a student. By this point in my second year of medical s…

One can’t always assume congratulations are in order

“Congratulations on losing that much weight! Whatever you’re doing, keep it up,” my attending says as she bobs her head vigorously in approval, then turning back to the EMR computer to type up some notes. And all I could see was the p…