What Is In a Name?
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.
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Medical Student Contributing Writer
The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences
Nkiruka is a clinical medical student attending the University of Toledo. A deep passion for primary care and public health she is passionate about pursuing a career vested in the unique interests of her patients while being an active participant in garnering equity and access to healthcare for all.
The Difficult Patient
Medical student Allen Betts explores the often underrated effect of psychosocial determinants and the integral part they play in the influencing health and well-being. Read more to find out how he has come to appreciate the soft skills a physician gleans through patient encounters rather than through books.
One Day
Alicia Pugh writes a poem that reflects on how our backgrounds impact the way we view our patients.
Disparities in the Management of Cardiovascular Diseases in Women
Jean Anne Adomfeh unravels a common gender bias, contained in diagnosing chest pain, that has existed in medicine for decades and how through a few simple yet profound words of a teacher, combined with experiences along the way, she is inspired to help change the narrative.
The Pause
Katherine Panushka asks readers to reflect and acknowledge that our patients’ stories extend beyond their final moments in her poem, “The Pause.”
Headlights
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.
The Unusual Curse
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.
Mourning’s Glory
Lindsey Nae Wright reflects on mourning the losses that come with being a medical student.
More Than Poster Boys
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.
Conquering the Mount Everest of Education
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.
Skin Deep
Future physician Yomna Amer broaches the topic of religion in the clinical environment and opines that, along with diversity, it can be used as a powerful therapeutic tool to connect with patients.
His Perception
Medical student Alicia Pugh describes a conspicuous encounter with a patient that typified the lingering undercurrent of microaggresions against professionals of color. Read more to see how she responded to this experience.
Medical Student Contributing Writer
University of Illinois at Chicago
Alicia Pugh is a fourth-year medical student at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In her free time, she enjoys creative writing, gardening, and volunteering.
