Columnist
University of Central Florida College of Medicine
Hello! My name is Meshal Soni and I attend the University of Central Florida College of Medicine and am a member of the Class of 2016. I attended the University of Florida for my undergraduate majoring in microbiology and also nutritional sciences. I am originally from New Jersey. My hobbies outside of school include painting, working out, playing a variety of recreational sports, dancing, watching movies, cooking and baking.
Nutrition & Wellness
Nutrition & Wellness is a column about how nutrition applies to us as medical students and to the different specialties of the medical field. In this column, we'll also talk about how medical students can maintain a healthy lifestyle despite our busy schedules.
Whether you are embarking on your Step 1 studying journey or starting your clerkship, it is absolutely essential to maintain your health and well-being throughout medical school. It can be very easy to get caught up in the flow of studying lectures or rounding on patients. Even though it may seem convenient to go for the bag of potato chips when you’re on the run in the hospital or plowing through lectures without taking a …
We discover, learn about and follow important world events through the endeavors of journalists and reporters working within media outlets which, taken wholly, has the purpose of disseminating information, presenting opposing analyses, and constructing discernible truths from a finite data pool. This purpose notwithstanding, as commercial entities, news organizations are still influenced by the need to continually associate with “fresh” topics lest they lose eyes and ears to the competition. Of course, what is and …
When I told people I was going to medical school, the first thing I’d hear was, “Oh, you’ll be a good doctor.” As an idealistic and energetic first-year, I was flattered every time a standardized patient complimented me. But I wasn’t a good doctor — I don’t even have an MD. I was exposed to esoteric subjects like biochemistry and physiology, but I wasn’t much help to any person in distress. I believed, like my …
It’s easy to see how the hospital can be an intimidating place for a patient. Being alone, in an unknown environment, covered only a flimsy cloth gown, and surrounded by strangers can make anyone anxious. Now, imagine not knowing what these strangers are saying to you, about you. Imagine these strangers cannot understand a single word you say. I had just finished up a previous case in the OR with the orthopedics team when the …
A web comic aiming to shine a creative and Rather Humerus spotlight on med school.
Public universities are increasingly becoming “smoke-free” campuses, and the city of Melbourne, Australia, has recently entertained the possibility of becoming a “smoke-free” city. Some countries, including New Zealand, have implemented policies towards an “endgame” goal, in which the entire country will eventually become “smoke-free” on the grounds of protecting the health and wellbeing of its people. There clearly exists a divergence between the policy making of some of the globe’s leading first world countries in …
Last week I made my grandmother’s banana bread and I have been thinking of her ever since. Cooking is a powerful thing: it takes us back to the past not only through taste but through doing the exact same ritual, following the same steps as someone in the past. I’ve been wanting to post for a while about the deaths of my four grandparents, two of whom died this past year and the other two …
A web comic aiming to shine a creative and Rather Humerus spotlight on med school.
A web comic aiming to shine a creative and Rather Humerus spotlight on med school.
It’s weird seeing a mother waiting to deliver her baby while watching Nickelodeon on TV. That’s because she’s 17 years old and is having her second child. I’ve met several women who were 30 years old and having their sixth child after ten pregnancies. I think this mother is on that track. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is an excellent resource during your medical career, states that about four percent of …
Remembering this pearl can be either humbling or comforting, depending on whether you find yourself in a peak or a valley. I hear it most often from my mother during “valley” moments. It’s the “silver lining” or “light at the end of the tunnel” concept. It is by no means a new sentiment, but it is one that bears repeating. Whether you’re a comrade in the midst of Step 1 studying, making a difficult transition from …
Room One With one eyebrow arched and his thin lips pressed together in a smirk, Vic Davis’ face was in a perpetual state of bemusement. The twinkle in his eyes belied his own protracted health struggles. A diagnosis of prostate cancer had truncated a successful business career, and signs of wear were beginning to show. His hair had fallen out and his eyes were sunken in. His speech was encumbered by a slight stutter and …
Columnist and in-Training Staff Member
Morsani College of Medicine at the University of South Florida
Ajay is a pediatric resident and a Class of 2017 graduate of the SELECT MD program at the University of South Florida. He is passionate about delivering primary care to underserved populations—specifically, low-income and homeless patients in urban centers. Ajay will be specializing in pediatrics, with a particular interest in child maltreatment.
M.D. or Bust
Numerous studies have documented that medical students lose empathy during clinical years, becoming jaded and pessimistic. This has been linked not only to diminished enjoyment of our work, but also to worse patient outcomes. My goal is to sustain the humanistic values that drive so many of us to medicine, so that, instead of being quelled by cynicism, our idealism can be refined by wisdom.
