Our task in donning roles of professionalism as health care providers comes hand-in-hand with all the aspects of our identity and the tolls that come with it. This is especially significant as the younger generation, consisting of more and more intersectional identities, becomes more commonplace not only in society at large but also in the health care world. However, when this ideal of professionalism is compounded by someone like me — a minority woman colored by a recurrent, pervasive backdrop of objectification for pleasure by Caucasian cultures; a female person of color who feels the need to tread carefully to succeed in a field historically dominated by men — where does it leave us?

For medical providers to treat all their patients justly — without discrimination and judgement — is a mindset that medical students are frequently taught to embrace throughout their medical training. What is not often discussed nor taught in medical education is the reverse situation: patient discrimination towards their medical providers.