Tag: health disparities

Nathanael Camick Nathanael Camick (1 Posts)

Contributing Writer

Florida International University College of Medicine


Nathanael is a medical student at Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine in Miami, FL, Class of 2025. In 2020, he graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a bachelor of arts in public health and natural sciences. Prior to medical school, he worked as a research coordinator in pulmonary and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Outside of medicine, he enjoys watching and playing sports, relaxing at the beach and listening to music.




Less Likely to Get a Kidney if You’re a Minority—Even if You’re a Kid!

During my three weeks working in the pediatric dialysis unit and the post-kidney transplant unit, I noticed a troublesome trend. The whiter and younger pediatric patients were resting comfortably in the post-transplant unit with their new surgically placed kidney being meticulously taken care of. The darker and older pediatric patients spent countless, mindless hours attached to a dialysis machine with little hope for a new kidney after years of being on the waitlist.

An Overstuffed Backpack

It was a Friday morning at 4:30 a.m. and I was rushing to the hospital for pre-rounds. I was on my neurology rotation, and my pockets were heavy and stuffed with tools. My preceptor had texted me the room numbers of the patients I was to visit that morning. I had three patients to see in the hour before rounds — the first two patients I had been following every day this week and a third patient was a new admit from overnight.

From Child Interpreter to Student Physician

I learned English out of necessity — not only for myself but also for my family. I grew up in Mexico and moved to a small Northern California town at the age of eight. When we moved to the United States, I was placed in an English-speaking classroom with no one who spoke Spanish. Necessity forced me to learn English quickly and, as a result, I became my family’s unofficial interpreter, including at their medical appointments.

Prescriptive Autonomy

An anxious, 36-year-old Hispanic female lays on the exam table, her feet in stirrups. A sleeved arm juts out between her tented legs as she stares resolutely at the ceiling. I wonder if she is afraid of what the amorphous black and white structures shifting on the ultrasound monitor may reveal.

Aleisha Khan (1 Posts)

Contributing Writer

Medical College of Georgia


Aleisha Khan is a first-year medical student at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, Georgia. She graduated from Duke University in 2015 with a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience. As a non-traditional student, she conducted neurocircuitry research on chronic pain in the lab of Dr. Yarimar Carrasquillo at the National Institutes of Health before obtaining her Master's degree in Physiology from Georgetown University. She also worked as a medical assistant in obstetrics and gynecology prior to starting medical school. In her free time, Aleisha enjoys running, yoga, tending to houseplants, and hanging out with her two rescued Whippets, Bleu and Sammy. She is currently undecided about her future medical specialty, but is interested in internal medicine, pediatrics, and neurology.