Having Your Pathology and Eating It Too
Just as our vernacular has embraced the language of food to describe people, so too has the medical community used such language to describe disease.
Opinions
Writer-in-Training
UCF College of Medicine
Christina Seto is a member of the Class of 2021 at University of Central Florida College of Medicine. She received her undergraduate education at Barnard College of Columbia University in New York, where she majored in both English and Neuroscience & Behavior, and minored in Classics. She is originally from Los Angeles, CA. She is interested in medical humanities and does research in narrative medicine. In her spare time, she writes a food blog entitled Brunch with Bear, inspired by her severe food allergies.
The Patient vs. the Clock: Time Constraints are Damaging Progress in Medicine
I was sitting in on a patient visit with the attending physician and a senior medical student, and I could tell that both of them were trying to guide him back on track as gently as possible.
Lessons to Learn from Reggie: The Importance of Medical Humanities
A recent publication in the Journal of Neurology caused significant outrage not only within a forum dedicated to Black doctors and trainees, but also in the medical community online at large. Much like the rest of the readers, I was deeply troubled and did not understand the purpose of the article.
Breaking the Stigma: Caribbean Medical Schools
She put down her drink, the corners of her mouth dropped slightly. “Oh, so a Caribbean medical school. What happened? You couldn’t get into a U.S. school?”
Can’t We All Just Get Along, For the Patient’s Sake?
When contemplating a career in medicine as either a nurse practitioner (NP), physician assistant (PA) or physician, I entered unwittingly into a landmine of opinions tainted with undertones of interprofessional resentment.
DIY Medicine
Do-it-yourself (DIY) medicine is particularly appealing to those who wish to take their health into their own hands and remove costly, time-consuming physicians from the equation. Crucial, however, is the fact that these companies are independently run and thus are not regulated by any governing scientific body.
Letter to the Editor: Stop the Bans
The news as of late reflects the dystopian status of present-day health care. Numerous states have stripped away fundamental reproductive rights by criminalizing abortion with ruthless disregard for anyone capable of becoming pregnant.
More Than Just Hair: Combating Hair Discrimination in Medicine
In 2006, India Arie released a self-empowering song called “I am not my hair.” For women of color, this song became an anthem that empowered and permitted a level of self-identity that challenged societal norms.
To Do or Not To Do Research? That is the Question
Medical schools have an interest in advocating that their medical students pursue research in order to prepare them for careers in academia.
Embracing Introversion in Medicine
My former pediatrician always had the brightest smile. She was an effervescent “people-person.” Between her and episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, I always thought that all physicians were outgoing butterflies flapping back and forth between patients and their vibrant social lives. Physicians are usually depicted as extroverts, and medicine a profession of the people.
Combating Burnout With Gratitude
In the middle of my second year of medical school, I began noticing early signs and symptoms of burnout. The stress, anxiety and diminishing joy terrified me because I wondered: How could I already be burned out when I had not even studied for Step 1 or started rotations at the hospital? Were there any remedies to what I was experiencing?
Weighing the Scales on Reproductive Health
Charity Scott, JD and professor of law at the Georgia State Catherine C. Henson School of Law, stood at the front of our medical school lecture hall with her arms stretched wide. “The welfare of a pregnant mother?” she said as she dipped one arm down, burdened by an invisible weight. “Or the welfare of an unborn child?”
Writer-in-Training
Emory University School of Medicine
Zaynah Alam is a member of the Class of 2021 at Emory University School of Medicine. She grew up in Chapel Hill, NC and has a BS in Neuroscience from Duke University. Her interests include science fiction, health as a human right, and eating at every pho restaurant in the city of Atlanta.