My Shiny, Black Heart
Rachel Eisenberg (2022)
clay sculpture and mixed media
I made this heart in an undergraduate sculpture class, dreaming of the day I would finally don my own white coat. A year later, it now sits on my desk in the exact line of sight I take each day as I peer above my computer screen, with my stethoscope draped around the base and my Gray’s Anatomy book perched next to it. Each clay piece in the foreground was created as a study tool for the five themes that I have since finished, with the Hippocratic Oath and my favorite physician biography in the background. I gaze at this conglomerate of mementos between and during each lecture, realizing each piece holds a specific memory from different parts of my medical school journey thus far. The heart’s abstract qualities remind me that, although my expectations of medical school and medicine have shifted during the first year of medical school, my passion is still evident, as this rock is still recognizable as a heart. I have in essence built a shrine to my medical school experience that will hopefully continue to grow.
Contributing Writer
Albany Medical College
Rachel Eisenberg is a first year medical student at Albany Medical College in Albany, NY class of 2025. In 2021, she graduated from Union College with a Bachelor of Science in biology and history along with a Masters in Business Administration in Healthcare Management from Clarkson University. She enjoys drawing, hiking, and baking in her free time. After graduating medical school, Rachel would like to pursue a career in pediatric radiation oncology.
