This category contains student reflections on key moments in their education that gave them new perspective and deeper insights to healthcare.
Medical Student Contributing Writer
University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville
Katelyn is a second year medical student with a passion for issues around access to care. She is an asipiring primary care pediatrician.
Medical student Katelyn Girtain writes about her experiences as a child of a disabled mother that contributed to the lack of proper insurance and ultimately the occurrence of preventable health issues. She also explores relevant policies and the lack of literature on the impacts of parental disability/lack of insurance on children.
Four years ago, as I clung to my seat on a bus teetering back and forth on a one lane rocky road up the Jamaican hillside, I thought I knew what it meant to be a part of the medical community. I grew up in a family of doctors and nurses and, while none pressured me into the field, I felt drawn to it. All my life I would hear stories about sick patients and …
Medical student Sara Phillips writes a personal reflection, grounded in scholarly literature, that details her exploration of racism as a mechanism for perpetuating disparities in maternal health outcomes. The piece traces discriminatory policies and actions undertaken by physicians and leaders in the field of obstetrics and gynecology to portray a historical origin for contemporary health inequities. Interacting with these grim stories and statistics, she reflects on what it means for her to seek out a career in OB/GYN to confront this prejudicial history and create a more just path forward.
Medical student Lekha Reddy discovers the “hidden tools” that physicians use beyond the scope of lab tests, drugs and consults. She marvels at the power of a new hidden tool — reassurance — during a pediatric emergency room visit.
Medical student Micky Akinrodoye reflects on his experiences of being a part of the care team for a complicated patient. With the understanding that every patient has a unique story and life experiences, Micky shares his outlook on the type of physician he would like to become in the future.
Read more to find out how three seemingly straightforward words, for medical student Charna Kinard, represented a spectrum of emotions, feelings and connotations in the setting of national news regarding policing and the Black Lives Matter movement and how this has shaped her path towards physicianship.
Future doctor Chidera Okafor contextualizes her struggles with depression, anxiety and apparent surreality with the world around her, while deftly shining the spotlight again on the often overlooked and unaddressed aspect of a physician’s world: self mental health.
Medical student Micaela Mcgregor gives profound advice to other future black doctors who will one day represent only 4% of practicing American physicians.
Medical student Nkiruka Aniagolu explores how understanding someone’s name or title can foster deeper trust with patients and those around us, as our names are ‘pieces of our personal mosaics’ that give glimpses to who we are.
Medical student Joaquin Zetina details a poignant example, illustrating the often overlooked and nuanced barriers and adversities faced by immigrant students that can shape their perspectives of themselves as well as society.
Medical student Scott Jamieson dissects the delicate balance of wanting to carry the burden of all of society’s health problems with necessary personal down-time and how students often struggle with these aspects of their lives.
Dekoiya Burton reflects on how he often feels like a prop in a “diversity” scheme when academic medicine doesn’t follow through with messages of diversity and inclusion beyond pamphlets and brochures.
Editor, Medical Student
University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School
Dekoiya is a fourth-year medical student at the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School. He plans to apply to Internal Medicine/Pediatrics residency in Fall 2020 with passion for community based initiatives surrounding health equity, racial justice, community mutual aid mechanisms, and environmental health.
