I’m No Superman

Archived column.

Jennifer Yang Jennifer Yang (6 Posts)

Columnist

University of Alabama School of Medicine

Jennifer Yang attends medical school at the University of Alabama School of Medicine in the Class of 2016. She is from San Diego, CA and did her undergrad at UC Berkeley studying neurobiology and English. To keep her sanity intact during school, she distracts herself with music, food, reddit, and way too many TV shows. She firmly believes that laughter really is the best medicine.

I'm No Superman

Many of us go into med school with big visions for bettering modern medicine, but as we go through this journey, we realize that there is still a long way to go, and we can't do it all alone. This column is not meant to be extremely profound or didactic but simply a reflection on the what it means to stay human in midst of society's expectations and our own expectations.




The Golden Rule

Published by Jennifer Yang

Inpatient neurology at UAB is a busy service, accepting a variety of calls every day from the ED, inpatient consults, and transfer patients throughout the state. On a particularly hectic Wednesday afternoon during my second week of rotation, our team received a page from the psychiatric ward that one of their patients, Mr. S, was being transferred to our floor after a possible seizure. The residents were busy checking out patients to the night team, so I was sent to see the patient first.

A Med Student’s Biggest Privilege

Published by Jennifer Yang

[ca_audio url=” http://in-training.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/03-Wake-Up-Everybody-feat.-Common-Melanie-Fiona.mp3″ width=”500″ height=”27″ css_class=”codeart-google-mp3-player” autoplay=”false”] Two interesting opinion pieces published a few months ago inspired me write this column: one from Tal Fortgang, a Princeton freshman defending his “white man privilege,” and another from Max Ritvo explaining what exactly that white man’s privilege is. To summarize their points, the former author laments that his academic success is shadowed by society attributing his successes to being genetically a white man. As a result, society believes …

Step 1 Survival Guide (Uncensored)

Published by Jennifer Yang

[ca_audio url=”http://in-training.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/1-15-Million-Voices-feat.-African-Childrens-Choir.mp3″ width=”500″ height=”27″ css_class=”codeart-google-mp3-player” autoplay=”false”] Going crazy yet? After some obligatory panic moments, I’ve reconciled my fate for the next month. To avoid emotional breakdowns, here’s my list of dos and don’ts list for the next month of cramming all of medicine into your head. This is all based on true stories. Do: Taking a leaf out of a prep course tip: preserve the temple that is your bed for sleep and whatever other …

Leaning in(to) Medicine

Published by Jennifer Yang

[ca_audio url=” http://in-training.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/11-___Flawless-Feat.-Chimamanda-Ngozi-Adichie.mp3″ width=”500″ height=”27″ css_class=”codeart-google-mp3-player” autoplay=”false”] I grew up in a culture where boys are favored over girls. Most of the time, it’s something subtle like saying, “let’s hope it’s a son!” when a friend is expecting a child. With the one-child policy and a system where the availability of education is not as readily accessible to everyone, it’s easy to prefer a man to carry on the family name and the family honor. …

Life Among the Zebras

Published by Jennifer Yang

[ca_audio url=”http://in-training.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/03-Young-and-Beautiful-1.mp3″ width=”500″ height=”27″ css_class=”codeart-google-mp3-player” autoplay=”false”] We’re all familiar with those epidemiology pie charts that preface most of our pathology lectures. They’re the slides that everyone tunes out and gleefully skip over when reviewing for the exam, minus the few pertinent buzzwords: risk factors, mean age, gender and common symptoms. After all, “think horses, not zebras” is one of the most famous adages in medicine and rightfully so, because biology operates on efficient systems in …

I’m No Super(wo)man. Just Give Me a Wand.

Published by Jennifer Yang

In case you were wondering: Yes, the title of this column is a shameless display of my love for the television show, “Scrubs”. Multiple real MDs have affirmed that “Scrubs” is more true to life than all the other medical television shows — which I can only take to mean that I won’t be judged too badly if I ever yell “Eagleeee” in the middle of the hospital while running in slow motion toward my best …

Jennifer Yang Jennifer Yang (6 Posts)

Columnist

University of Alabama School of Medicine

Jennifer Yang attends medical school at the University of Alabama School of Medicine in the Class of 2016. She is from San Diego, CA and did her undergrad at UC Berkeley studying neurobiology and English. To keep her sanity intact during school, she distracts herself with music, food, reddit, and way too many TV shows. She firmly believes that laughter really is the best medicine.

I'm No Superman

Many of us go into med school with big visions for bettering modern medicine, but as we go through this journey, we realize that there is still a long way to go, and we can't do it all alone. This column is not meant to be extremely profound or didactic but simply a reflection on the what it means to stay human in midst of society's expectations and our own expectations.