Category: Medical school

When selecting a specialty, it’s OK to choose happiness

I began pursuing a career in medicine with the fervent desire to become a neurosurgeon one day. When someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I answered neurosurgeon without missing a beat. I chose neurosurgery in high school after falling …

It’s time to focus medical education on training the whole person

Here I am, 17 years out of my fellowship training, and I’m just getting some of the most important training of my medical career. I continue to believe that my medical school, residency, and fellowship training were all outstanding. However, either I m…

End medical school grades

There should be no grades in medical school. Forty-something percent of applicants get accepted to one or more medical schools. To even apply to medical school, one needs to have not only graduated or be on track to graduate college, but also needs to …

A reminder to try anyways

The highly anticipated A Promised Land was the first book I could not wait to crack open over my two-week break for the winter holidays. Former President Barack Obama explains in his introduction that this work is the first of two autobiographical acco…

Tips for medical students starting their clinical rotations [PODCAST]

“Each year, medical students across the country prepare to start the long-anticipated core clinical rotations. Suddenly, we’re thrust into a world of constant adaptation and evaluation, with many highs and many lows. As I finish up the year and n…

The dangers of selective empathy

I go to medical school with a girl who is universally disliked, perhaps more than anyone I’ve met before. It began innocuously enough: She was too active in the group chat, too pushy about ordering class jackets, this and that. In lecture, she barked o…

Medicine must create inclusive clinical trials [PODCAST]

“Researchers should make clinical trials more accessible by providing patients with simple explanations of studies at a variety of locations, including community clinics and medical centers. Increased flexibility regarding transportation and visi…

Unpacking the timely need to address the lack of diversity in medical media

Multifaceted diversity continues to be a challenge to achieve in medicine, which is concerning given the irreplaceable value that a diverse community of clinicians provides to research, patient care, and medical education. Current initiatives to expand…

A medical student’s 100 days of COVID [PODCAST]

“The first 100 days of COVID made me confront and reflect on a lot of aspects of myself and life, as philosophical as that sounds. Often times, I’m exhausted talking about COVID every single day and frustrated because we should be in a much bette…

Translating social justice into meaningful change for underrepresented minorities in academic medicine

As communities of color continue to be disproportionately decimated by COVID-19 and the brutal impact of racism and other longstanding systemic inequalities, academic medicine finds itself at a critical inflection point in defining its role in addressi…