I am Here and Alive
Dr. Ervin Anies explores the struggles and emotional turmoil of medical training, ultimately finding acceptance and self-worth.
Mental Health and Wellness
This category contains reflections on how students maintain their mental health in school and deal with the stress of burnout.
Resident Physician Contributing Writer
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
Ervin (Erv) is beginning his general intern year at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and recently graduated from the Uniformed Services Univerity of the Health Sciences in May 2022. While in medical school, he was the co-director for the on-campus peer-led curriculum aimed to foster conversations about diversity, bias, discrimination, and inclusion in both medicine and the military. His interests include medical education, promoting diversity, and utilizing the arts to augment the healing nature of medicine.
Orders, Consults, Notes
Intern Ervin Anies assesses the expectation versus the reality of the responsibilities medical students and residents are expected to manage.
Do Not Strike Out: A Patient’s Story About Accessing Mental Health Care
Third-year medical student Thomas Gagliardi reflects on the socioeconomic barriers to accessing health care, cultural competency and mental health.
Yearning for Yesterday
Shivani Sundaram, a third-year medical student, explores the need for humanity and patience in the face of algorithms and checkboxes.
The Medical Student Behind the Mask
Rachel Lawson describes her challenging experiences during her first year of medical school at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and how her experience was profoundly impacted by a vaccination clinic.
One Act Can Impact a Lifetime
Medical student Ta’Nae Harrod reflects on working with a young patient regarding her dietary and mental wellness needs.
The Ward as Medicine
The Ward as Medicine is about how one’s fellow patients on the psychiatry ward can act as mirrors, teachers and inspirations to a patient. Specifically, it is about a mom who, hospitalized for suicidality stemming from her guilt and anger over how she has mothered her children, gets reconnected with the identity of motherhood while interacting with others on the unit.
Changes
Medical student Saud Rehman has written a collection of poems focusing on the lockdown of March 2020 with artwork to give a visual representation of how he felt. Often times the manifestations of moods unrelated to coursework go overlooked, especially in medicine, and Saud hopes that these provide a representation of the humanity behind students going through difficult times.
SIRS
Dr. Evin Anies utilizes haiku about systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) to reflect on his journey as a newly-minted physician.
Mentorship as a Tool for Identity Formation
Zain Khawaja, a medical student, discusses his experience as a mentee and provides insight on creating social support networks via mentorship.
Pursuing Medicine as a Chinese-American in the Time of COVID-19
Henry Zou, an Asian American fourth-year medical student, reflects on the COVID-19 pandemic and finds courage and hope.
Who Am I?
Medical student Micaela Torres reflects on her progress in healing past traumas and improving her mental health.
Medical Student Contributing Writer
Charles R. Drew/UCLA University of Medicine and Science
Micaela is a first-generation medical student at the Charles R. Drew/UCLA Medical Education Program interested in surgery. She completed her undergraduate degree at UCLA and MPH at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her experiences growing up in a low-income, medically underserved community motivate her to
advocate for equitable surgical care. In her free time, she enjoys listening to music and reading.