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.
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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.
Excellence in Health Care
Health care providers face what seem to be insurmountable challenges on a daily basis; none more sobering than the inhumanities and tragedies that often occur when on the clock. Medical student Nicholas Czelatka gives his perspective on what quality health care truly means.
Healing Words
Medical student Sidney Adenya recollects a particularly momentous patient experience, which exemplified how words can be a strikingly powerful therapeutic tool of a physician. Read more to find out how this helped him reaffirm his passion for medicine through this reflective piece.
The Imposter
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.
He’s Smart and She’s Pretty
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.
Reproductive Planning During a State of Emergency
Medical student Ritha Mera reviews responses to reproductive health care accesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mera writes as an advocate for women of color and highlights health disparities in vulnerable populations. Through drawing comparisons to past natural disasters and tracking the current pandemic’s harmful impacts on reproductive health care, Mera makes an argument for contraception and family planning to be included in emergency protocols for future disruptions.
Being
As a storyteller, the author vowed to lead with the person’s name in an effort to uplift the subject of the story. This all changed when the author began anatomy lab during medical school.
Safe Haven
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.
Moving Forward
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.
Humanizing Blackness
Medical student Vidya Lala vividly describes her interpretation of the often cited terms black body and black lives. Read more to find out what these terms mean to her.
I Am
Searching for our identity and the discovery process behind it are quintessential human processes that almost all of us experience. Medical student Alesia Voice explores, through verse, her evolving identity-journey and how that strongly influences her road to physicianship.
When We Love
Unhealthy relationship exist in the world of health care and beyond. Medical student Alesia Voice explores, through this poem, how to operate within a significant imbalance in relationships.
Medical Student Contributing Writer
Texas Tech University Health Science Center
I’m Alesia Voice, a third year medical student at TTUHSC. I’ve been writing for a long time, mostly personal and creative pieces. I began sharing many personal reflections and narratives about my life happenings and medical school experiences on my blog The Third Voice in 2018 and have since began sharing my poetry there as well. My goal in my writing as well as in my future medical practice is to tell the truth... the good, the bad, and the ugly.