This essay is a personal reflection centered around the phrase “calladita te ves más bonita” (you look prettier with your mouth shut), an expression commonly utilized by Latinx people that reflects the generational and societal imposition of silence upon Latinx women, particularly when discussing issues of political opinion, racism,...
What do you even know?
Great question. Um. I know I’ve learned a ton. I’ve taken lots of tests?
What do you even know?
I seem to be drawing a blank at the moment. Can I look it up and get back to you?
What do you even know?
I know you’re not really...
I used to think people were just born great, but then I thought about my mom....
Make no mistake - moments of greatness were not too much for my mother - they were too little. She could not expect them to help her in the complex and unpredictable thrall of...
I was following a patient with a pituitary adenoma. On my third month of clerkships, I still had very little confidence in my neuro exam. That morning after rounds, my attending offered to go see my patient with me and work on my exam. Still flustered and easily embarrassed,...
Content Warning: This piece contains a description of sexual assault.
I grew up with zero desire to go into medicine. Never thought about it. Don’t know why I would have. First of all, I hated science because I wasn’t good at it. Second, I cared way more about what people...
A crisp, fall Sunday in Philadelphia could only mean one thing: game day. I sat perched on the air mattress that occupied my living room (in lieu of a couch, obviously, because I was a medical student living like a frat brother), can of watery beer in hand, eye...
"To help people." This short phrase has been used for generations, in a variety of forms, to respond to inquiries about what motivates students to enter the field of medicine. The cohort of medical students who matriculated in 2020 likely responded no differently. However, seeing doctors—whose positions we were...
Being on my first month of clerkships means that details most hospital staff take for granted often strike me as odd. Like how the keys to the morgue dangle next to the elevator keys at Presby’s trauma bay—an ironic metaphor for what polite neighbors we medical providers can become...
While I was getting my hair cut last month, the first question my hairdresser asked me was “Which high school do you go to?” at which point I politely informed her that I was most definitely not a high school student nor a college student. To her shock, I...
Medical education is constantly evolving, just like medicine itself. But as we’ve all probably noticed this year, major events in the world can precipitate a huge paradigm shift that sparks rapid changes. This year is one of them: the COVID-19 pandemic has radically changed many aspects of our daily...
Dear Second Years,
Welcome to clerkship, a year that taught me countless lessons, and certainly more than I am able to fit on one page. But of the many tips I have for you with my infinite MS3 wisdom (kidding!), here are my top three.
I was fortunate enough to work...
What happened isn’t important. What is important is that I am sitting in a cramped hospital office space asking a man why he feels that he needs to leave while in the midst of withdrawal and go to Hawaii. He is young, only five or so years older than...
My hands shake.
They always shake. At the wrong moments, at the most critical moments, when all eyes are focused on me, when the collective stares burn through the back of my hands only to make the shaking worse.
At least that’s what it feels like. It feels like heat on...
To be honest, when the idea that we could potentially get time off of clerkship was floating around, I was kind of excited. Like a snowday, I thought we might have a short reprieve from rotations, get to catch up on projects for a couple of days max and...
How do you define meaning? I don't know what “logotherapy” means but I can get behind what Frankl has to say.
COVID takes more than lives; it takes away social interaction, it takes away human contact… it also takes away meaning. I know this might sound depressing, but in many...
As I'm writing this piece I'm looking out across Lake Michigan from our “fish-bowl,” a room we named in our new house. It’s snowing right now which is weird… it was sunny 5 minutes ago. My dad is sitting next to me and my dog, Remi, is at our...
Before the chaos – the constant instability that would come to define much of my life – I had a childhood that many dream of. I was a white male, born into a middle-class family, in a predominantly white, suburban town. While my family tree was a bit complicated, the first few years of my life were comfortable, stable, and supportive.
Where is the resilience to advocate for humanity in the face of pathology in medical culture? This piece explores the ease of seeing patients as people rather than their disease at the beginning of clerkship year in comparison with the end of the year, when the heftiness of medical knowledge and its culture obscures the person who has the disease.
Humans are intriguing. They are brought into a world of unknowns, yet are capable of learning what seems to be an endless amount. People say, “you get wiser as you grow older” through life lessons and experiences, but no one speaks about the inevitable challenges we face. It is...
There I was, in front of a matte black grand piano, palms sweating, eyes darting sheepishly about the mass of spectators. From the crowd, my father gave me a look of encouragement, and, in a fleeting boost of confidence, I began to play.
Frédéric Chopin’s Nocturne in E-flat major, Opus...
In 2000, my parents folded their Beijing apartment into neat little piles, tucked their lives into three striped suitcases, hugged closely what couldn't be taken, then flew to America. Too wise for dreams of a white-picket fence, they dreamed instead of “better.” They dreamed of America.
In 1966, my parents...
She sat at the table’s head with eyes downcast and black brows furrowed. Her thin body wilted over her knees, her shins creating a shield to protect her vital organs. The corners of her lips sagged unnaturally – as if weights had hung from each end for many months,...
We have the opportunity to make Perelman a more just, equitable institution by discontinuing the AΩA Honor Society at the medical student level. Let me explain.
On a recent survey from Penn’s Medical Student Government, I was asked to respond to the question, “I believe that AΩA should exist at...
As artificial intelligence becomes more prevalent in our lives as medical students, residents, and attendings, it is up to us to be open-minded about their potential but wary of the possible detriments to patient care, especially for minority populations.
This summer marked the inaugural release of the Planetary Health Report Card project at thirteen leading medical schools across the country, including the Perelman School of Medicine. The project aims to galvanize action from the med ed community around the key connections between patients’ health and current environmental crises. Perelman's results highlighted both strengths & opportunities for growth – at this critical juncture, medical schools must invest in planetary health and environmental justice to best safeguard the wellbeing of future patients.
Holistic admissions should be a bare-minimum responsibility of medical institutions to avoid perpetuating systemic racism and to make tangible progress towards improving diversity in medicine.
After staffing a COVID-19 medical shelter in Boston, we reflect on lessons learned about resource allocation in healthcare and services for people experiencing homelessness.