Tag: family

Sabeen Rokerya Sabeen Rokerya (1 Posts)

Managing Editor

Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School


Sabeen is a medical student at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey, Class of 2027. In 2019, she graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelor of Science in Public Health, with minors in Spanish and Environmental Policy. She later earned her Master of Public Health degree from Columbia University, in 2021. She enjoys reading, hiking, cooking, and rating movies in her free time. In the future, Sabeen hopes to help prescribe joy for people of all ages and their loved ones through a career in family medicine.




A widowmaker, and some musings on empathy

“How’d you land in medical school?” Whenever someone asks me this, a family of frogs almost always immediately hatches in my throat. My long-winded journey itself doesn’t jerk tears, but the question always reminds me of the day I applied. The same word, like clockwork upon the inquiry, flashes from my heart like it’s a bat signal. “Widowmaker.”  Before medical school, my personal experiences with the health care system were mostly tied to those of …

The Art of Silence

No matter how much I learn, some things cannot be taught. There was no prepared script and no checklist to follow when my father tersely told me, “your uncle in India passed.” Five solemn words and a pregnant silence. His eyes, rung with the blue of cataracts, did not shed a tear. Instead, they were fixed on an empty corner of our worn sectional couch. My lack of words stretched across the silence. I could …

Melissa Huddleston Melissa Huddleston (10 Posts)

Contributing Writer

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Paul L. Foster School of Medicine


Melissa Huddleston is a fourth-year medical student at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Paul L. Foster School of Medicine in El Paso, Texas class of 2023. In 2016, she graduated from Baylor University with a Bachelor of Science in informatics and a secondary major in classics. In 2018, she graduated from Baylor University with a Master of Public Health in community health education. She enjoys hiking, jumping rope, and reading. After graduating from medical school, Melissa would like to pursue a career in pediatrics.