I have been a general pediatrician for over a decade. I chose pediatrics because I saw the children as our future. The only way to make the future bigger and brighter is to give them the best. So with all of my academic accolades through high school…
“It has been over a month since I started this new hobby. I told my middle-school-aged daughter tonight, ‘I am going to write a post about how ocean plastic picking has made me a better pediatrician.’ She replied, ‘You mean bett…
Pandemic. COVID-19. Quarantine. The words will forever be etched in our memories. While for all the pandemic has been a challenge, it has also meant more time with family, time to learn a new hobby, and the flexibility of working from home. Its memory…
“Growing up in Puerto Rico, ‘babas’ (bottles: biberón/botellas) and ‘bobos’ (pacifiers: chupetes/chupón) were very common among the families and children of the island. I still remember our Abuelita giving us milk in our…
I was lucky to do my pediatric residency training in Brooklyn. I connected seamlessly with the city and its people as if I lived there all my life. One evening in the hot summer of 2009, I counted hours on my last shift as a pediatric resident in the e…
In Finland, lawmakers recently voted to make an existing ban on female genital mutilation more explicit by outlining punishments for such manipulation under the Finnish criminal law. This bill’s passage was widely applauded as it furthers the glo…
Sleep is suffering across the world amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The reasons for this disruption are many, but notable contributors include: 1) stress-related to potential illness and decreased job security; 2) less daytime sunlight exposure with the …
The divisive reaction to the recent New York Times’ opinion piece by Aubrey Gordon titled, “Leave Fat Kids Alone: The ‘war on childhood obesity’ has only caused shame,” highlights the two extremes in our society’s current approach to addressing t…
Throughout my years of pediatric training and being a mother, I have benefited from viewing medicine from both sides. I have also tried to hone listening to and understanding my patients’ parents and their perspectives. I have listed 10 things th…
Ours is a medium-sized pediatrics residency program. Each year, we receive hundreds of applications. Less than a quarter of the applicants are chosen to interview. Less than two percent of the applicants will be chosen to be our new interns. It is not …
