Tag: humanism in medicine

Mary McGrath Mary McGrath (1 Posts)

Contributing Writer

The Ohio State University College of Medicine


Mary is a third year medical student at The Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus, Ohio, class of 2023. In 2019, she graduated from The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science in public health. She enjoys baking, playing tennis, reading, and trying new restaurants with friends in her free time. After graduating medical school, Mary would like to pursue a career in internal medicine.




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.

Small Differences in the Face of Death

Every medical student has felt apprehensive about facing death at some point, right? Maybe you have experienced someone dying before, or maybe it is something you have never seen and only rarely contemplated. Regardless, there is a subtle tension lurking during your first two years of pre-clinical studies, during which disease and death are intellectualized and abstract. Then clerkships start.

An Overstuffed Backpack

It was a Friday morning at 4:30 a.m. and I was rushing to the hospital for pre-rounds. I was on my neurology rotation, and my pockets were heavy and stuffed with tools. My preceptor had texted me the room numbers of the patients I was to visit that morning. I had three patients to see in the hour before rounds — the first two patients I had been following every day this week and a third patient was a new admit from overnight.

Socializing in Medical School: Evaluating Our Racial Comfort Zones

I came across a photo on social media of some classmates that appeared almost identical to another one I had seen months ago — beaming medical students crowded together against a brick wall of a campus apartment. Déjà vu. But there was one difference. Nearly all the students in this picture were white, whereas all the students in the older picture were non-white. 

Progression of dandelion painting

Reflections On Resilience

In early spring, amid the earlier quarantines, I watched dandelions grow outside my window. At first, subtly and hidden among the blades of grass. Then budding, bursting yellow amid green galaxies. These tiny suns danced in April’s wind and their scent carried morning’s dew and earth-like warmth into midday, until the smells of grills and barbecues took stage.

Artwork for submission

Open Heart (2022)

This work is about vulnerability and the feeling of being vulnerable. There is a special exposure to vulnerability for everyone who is taking part in healthcare systems, be it of course as a patient who potentially suffers restrictions in their physical and/or psychic integrity trough illness or also the caregivers who are under pressure to be attentive, know the right things, act and speak properly all the time.

Anna Boehler Anna Boehler (1 Posts)

Contributing Writer

Medical University of Vienna


Anna is a fifth year medical student at the Medical University of Vienna in Austria. In 2018 she also graduated from the University of Vienna with a Master in history and art. She enjoys sports, painting and reading works of philosophy in her free time. After graduating medical school in the future, Anna would like to pursue a career in general medicine.