Physician Contributing Writer
Weill Cornell Medicine, Qatar
A practicing family doctor, and academic family physician, Dr. Verjee initially qualified as a biochemist. Later as a medical graduate from the University of Dundee, Scotland, he completed postgraduate training as a general practitioner in England. He first started teaching medical students at Oxford University, from 1979. Migrating to Canada in 1994, he spent two years in Newfoundland and Labrador in Wilfred Grenville country before moving to Alberta, Canada. Joining the University of Calgary in 1997, he established a career in academic medicine before taking up a new faculty position in Qatar at Weill Cornell Medicine's international medical campus in 2007. He completed an MBA (Leadership & Sustainability) in 2016. An Associate Professor of Family Medicine in Clinical Medicine, he is an alumnus of the Harvard Macy Institute, Boston, United States, a Senior Research Fellow in Psychiatry at Clare College, Cambridge, United Kingdom, and a TEDx presenter. His widespread interests include endocrinology, women’s health, vaccination and immunization, diabetes mellitus, preventable blindness, narrative medicine, and poetry. Music, both classical and hard rock, and playing his cello are part of his life.
Dr. Verjee recounts a poignant narrative of his and his medical student’s journey with a longtime patient, Margery, diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer, ultimately revealing the profound impact of family medicine on both patients and healthcare professionals.
Dr. Ervin Anies reflects on the highs and lows of the transitional intern year with a series of poignant cinquains.
Medha Palnati describes an encounter she had with a patient who she met at the Backstretch Clinic, a clinic that serves the undocumented workers that care for the horses at the racetrack, as he was having a myocardial infarction. This encounter highlights the conversation Medha had with this patient while waiting for the ambulance to transport him to the hospital, and the solace that they found in each other in that moment.
Medical student Varesh Gorabi is reminded of the importance of empathy during a seemingly routine clinic visit.
Medical student leaders reflect on the intersectionality of faith and medicine.
Dr. Ervin Anies explores the struggles and emotional turmoil of medical training, ultimately finding acceptance and self-worth.
Medical student Bassel Salka finds opportunities to improve health care by reading works of humorists, fiction writers, and philosophers.
Rural Health is an important but often overlooked sub-specialty in medicine. This piece gives insight to the intricacies of patient care and transport, rural health policy, and the rich, long-term relationships developed in the lives of current practicing rural health physicians.
Intern Ervin Anies assesses the expectation versus the reality of the responsibilities medical students and residents are expected to manage.
Third-year medical student Thomas Gagliardi reflects on the socioeconomic barriers to accessing health care, cultural competency and mental health.
Shivani Sundaram, a third-year medical student, explores the need for humanity and patience in the face of algorithms and checkboxes.
Emma Stenz’s first time witnessing a patient’s death helped her realize the role of a physician in maintaining emotional composure and acting with nonmaleficence towards the patient, both in life and in death.
Medical Student Contributing Writer
McGovern Medical School
Emma is a third-year medical student at McGovern Medical School in Houston, TX who is passionate about exploring the inherent intersection between the humanities and medicine, and is excited to apply these principles to her future career as an ophthalmologist. Other interests of hers include distance running, piano, live music, any and all activities involving the outdoors, and quality time spent with loved ones.
