This category contains student reflections on key moments in their education that gave them new perspective and deeper insights to healthcare.
Medical Student Contributor
University of Missouri-Kansas City
MS4 | Aspiring Child Psychiatrist | Social Justice | Mentorship | St. Louis baby
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.
Future surgeon Kayla Flewelling describes, in scrupulous detail, the psyche of a medical student as they traverses the learning pipeline, all the while trying to maintain a semblance of sanity, perseverance and perspective.
Imposter syndrome is a well-known phenomenon that healthcare providers can easily relate to at some point in their training. Future physician CJ Hornback dives into her struggles with this commonly-faced mental hurdle and how she ultimately overcame it.
Mohana is a medical student that brings to light the uphill battle against female objectification women face in the struggle to be taken seriously in medicine.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the author fondly reflects on the start of her unlikely friendship with Mr. R. This friendship ultimately became a safe haven for the author as she navigates her identity as a Chinese-American and learns about Mr. R’s cancer diagnosis.
Medical student Dawit Ayalew reflects on his own experience of life “constantly moving him forward,” how it inevitably compelled him to look backwards and ultimately how these ideas have influenced how he cares for patients.
As a young immigrant from the Philippines, medical student Russyan recounts his journey, through verse, from his village to medical school and the challenges, lessons and values learned along the way.
Medical Student Contributing Writer
University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine
Russyan moved to the United States from the Philippines when he was 15. His experiences as a low-income, immigrant of color are instrumental to his desire to pursue medicine and use it as a tool to elevate marginalized communities. A medical student at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, he hopes to one day be a primary care physician fighting for health equity through policy, advocacy and education. He enjoys coffee, singing, the enneagram and deep conversations.
