Founder and Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
Albany Medical College
A current Internal Medicine/Pediatrics resident at Stony Brook University Hospital. I was born and raised in Southern California. Being a 1st generation Mexican-American and a 1st generation medical student has provided me the opportunity to be thrusted into the culture of medicine but also left me feeling like an outsider. I believe Mosaic in Medicine has the potential to expand and strengthen medical culture and education by illuminating the stories, adversities and passions that encompass experiences that stretch far beyond race or creed. I want Mosaic in Medicine to be a platform in which we can relate to, inspire, and educate one another by showing that no one is truly an outsider in the medical community; we are all just pieces of different shapes and colors that add to the same whole.
The year 2020 has already redefined the social landscape through a pandemic and massive progressive social movements. Mosaic in Medicine’s mission and purpose rings as true as when it was started, bolstered by a renewed vigor.
Through his brief poem, medical student Allen Bell opines about the predictable responses of the health care establishment to physician burnout.
Fourth-year medical student Bianca Nguyen likens one of her doctor-patient relationships to a blueprint on how to refine the skill of negotiation as a health care provider. Read more to find out the pearls she gleaned from these encounters.
Medical student Lewis Wong describes what he gleaned from a seemingly run-of-the-mill clinical encounter with a 14-year-old refugee in his pediatric rotation, and how this sparked introspection into the lessons learned along his medical school journey as well as the core values he hopes to imbue as a community physician.
“Medicine is about so much more. Medicine includes teaching, caring and sharing empathy with others.” Read more to hear about how Negin Khosravi’s experience with one of her pediatric patients and her stuffed animal reignited her passion for medicine.
“After the surgery, I could, at last, bolt out the door to play with Andrew and those other boys. I could run wild. I could finally be a normal kid.” Medical student Varun Jain takes the reader into his past and dives into the associated challenges and emotions associated with living with and overcoming a heart condition.
After learning that her father was diagnosed with COVID-19, medical student Catherina Lubin ruminates on her deepest thoughts, emotions and perspectives as a medical professional and, despite this gut-wrenching reality, how she ultimately found reaffirmation of the quintessential quality, which makes us uniquely human: hope.
This sequence of events took place during my second clerkship, OB/GYN, and I knew there was no way I couldn’t write about it. I wrote this for my own catharsis but it also reaffirmed the importance of compassion, competency and awareness in medicine.
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.
Showing love in times of loss, being a beacon of hope, taking time to spend with family and regaining our humanity are just some of the values medical student writer Karl Heward emphasizes should be reflected in our practice of medicine while demonstrating how personal tragedy courageously inspired him to adopt this mindset.
There is something honorable about any career and focusing on that positive aspect is what we should all strive to do. The world works on a balance with each profession having its own significance and place. Sometimes we just needed to be happy with our choice, and live life as it comes.
We are taught about the social determinants of health in the first week of medical school. That things like finances, job stress, education, safety, and environment, often have as much an impact on health as does pathophysiology.
Medical Student Contributing Writer
Albany Medical College
I am a member of the Class of 2020 at Albany Medical College. I grew up in Brooklyn, NY as a first generation American, the eldest of 6 kids. My interests include public and global health, youth mentoring, swimming, traveling, and cooking foods from different cuisines.
