Medical Student Contributing Writer
University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville
Katelyn is a medical student with a passion for issues around access to care.
Medical student Katelyn Girtain writes about her experiences as a child of a disabled mother that contributed to the lack of proper insurance and ultimately the occurrence of preventable health issues. She also explores relevant policies and the lack of literature on the impacts of parental disability/lack of insurance on children.
Medical student Lekha Reddy discovers the “hidden tools” that physicians use beyond the scope of lab tests, drugs and consults. She marvels at the power of a new hidden tool — reassurance — during a pediatric emergency room visit.
This creative piece explores the internal dialogue that a gay patient has with himself when his provider fails to use inclusive language and offers a question that probes disclosure.
Medical student Micky Akinrodoye reflects on his experiences of being a part of the care team for a complicated patient. With the understanding that every patient has a unique story and life experiences, Micky shares his outlook on the type of physician he would like to become in the future.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Medical student Allen Betts writes a letter to a former patient reflecting on the importance of treating a patient as a person rather than a disease.
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.
Through his brief poem, medical student Allen Bell opines about the predictable responses of the health care establishment to physician burnout.
Resident Contributing Writer
F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine - Uniformed Services University
Allen is a recent graduate from the Uniformed Services University and an Intern at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD. He was born in Germany and moved to Missouri when he was 12. In 2015, he graduated from the University of Missouri - Columbia with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry. Before starting medical school in 2017, he worked as an Assistant Manager of a plasma donation center, a live-in Volunteer Firefighter/AEMT, and he co-founded a company with his best friend from college. He enjoys restoring a 1977 F-150, hiking, and spending time with his puppy and his wife, who also happens to be an Intern at Walter Reed.
