Doctor’s Orders

Doctor’s Orders is our section for residents and physicians to give wisdom and advice to medical students.

Ana Jimenez (1 Posts)

Resident Contributing Guest Writer

Albany Medical Center


Ana is a psychiatry resident at Albany Medical Center at Albany, NY, Class of 2027. In 2023, she graduated the CUNY School of Medicine as part of the combined 7-year BS/MD program at Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education. She enjoys spending quality time with family and friends, playing sports, making art, reading, and finding any reason to be near the ocean.




Reflecting on Ten Years of in-Training, by Editor-in-Chief Emeritus Ria Pal, MD

About three months into our roles as editors-in-chief of in-Training, we had created a system. Mondays, I’d come home from the hospital — usually with some ineffective Anki studying, or commiseration with my roommates, or hastily composing a Chopped-style dinner with leftovers — log into our WordPress backend, and start making my way through the latest batch of submissions.

Abrasions, by Morgan Shier, MD

My mother likes to tell the story of how, as a small child, I referred to the superficial wounds sustained in my first head-over-handlebars accident as an “abrasion.” I remember staring at my knee, fascinated by my body’s ability to heal itself. The sacred anatomy of wounds, atoms as spacious as galaxies, coalescing and woven with no instruction of my own to renew what had been lost. 

To Me, Ten Years Ago, by T. N. Diem Vu, MD

Ten years ago, I stepped onto the grounds of my medical school for the first time. I remember there was so much anxiety — I was anxious to become a student doctor, anxious to choose a specialty, anxious about my own insecurities around my impressive and brilliant classmates. I wish I could go back in time and sit down with my younger self at my favorite coffee shop. I’d treat her to a hot matcha latte with honey and vanilla (it’s going to change her life) and tell her everything is going to be okay.

Couples Matching for the Uncommitted

After four years of intensive studying, two years with long hours in the hospital and three years of dating, we made the decision to apply to dermatology and plastic surgery. Recognizing the competitive nature of both of these fields, we quickly realized that matching together may not be feasible. We wanted to take each other into account in the process without either one of us making a large sacrifice in the quality of our training program to be together. Open communication and transparency were critical for us throughout the process. 

Arianna Yanes, MD (2 Posts)

Resident Physician Guest Writer

Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania


Arianna Yanes is a PGY-2 dermatology resident at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2015, she graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology. She completed medical school at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in 2019.