Tag: medical student advocacy

Ashley Thornton (1 Posts)

Contributing Writer

Albany Medical College

Ashley is a third year medical student at Albany Medical College in Albany, New York, Class of 2026. In 2021, Ashley graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Science degree in nutritional sciences. She is passionate about nutrition and advocacy, and enjoys spa days, painting, charcuterie, and traveling in her free time. After graduating medical school, Ashley would like to pursue a career in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.




The Forgotten Prescription: Addressing Nutrition Neglect Amongst Medical Students

Published by Ashley Thornton

Being a health care professional can, at times, feel ironic because our intention is to promote health and wellness, yet we often neglect our own. As medical students, we consume large amounts of information in short periods of time, which can be both stressful and mentally strenuous. We often must be awake for long hours, whether it’s for rotations, for studying or for both at once. This lifestyle can foster many unhealthy habits, but are …

From Womb to Tomb (2022)

Published by Florence Yip

I created this piece as a donation to Female Tales Untold, a student-led event which raises money for SafeHouse Denver, an organization which serves women experiencing domestic violence in the Denver metropolitan area. This event is led my students from Rocky Vista University, the medical school I attend.

From Child Interpreter to Student Physician

Published by Bianka Aceves Martin

I learned English out of necessity — not only for myself but also for my family. I grew up in Mexico and moved to a small Northern California town at the age of eight. When we moved to the United States, I was placed in an English-speaking classroom with no one who spoke Spanish. Necessity forced me to learn English quickly and, as a result, I became my family’s unofficial interpreter, including at their medical appointments.

Voting is Healthy: A Voter Mobilization Campaign in Georgia Founded by Medical Students

Published by Surabhi Beriwal

As medical students at Emory, we spent our first six months building a firm conception of what it means to be healthy. It did not take long to appreciate how much of our patients’ health would be determined by their social context before they ever walk into our clinics and hospitals. The importance of adequate and healthy nutrition, safe housing and manageable stress is clearly linked to patient outcomes. We can see these issues on the ballot in every election. In this sense, voting is healthy.

Exquisitely Tender

Published by Carrie Crook

A 5-year-old African-American boy presents to the emergency department with left leg pain. His leg is exquisitely tender to palpation… If I read this vignette in the first year of medical school, I would have navigated to the multiple-choice answers to select anything related to sickle cell disease. The question writers are stating that the patient is Black, young and has a painful limb — this is not a difficult diagnosis.

The “Problem” with Politics and Medicine

Published by Carly Polcyn

In 2018, a patient filed a complaint against a medical student for wearing a “Black Lives Matter” pin on her white coat. When the student reached out to her school’s administration, she received this response: “It is best to not raise barriers in the way we present ourselves … Some of your political pins may offend some people, and it is probably best not to wear them on your white coat or while you are working in a professional role.”

The Long Overdue Cessation of Harmful Surgeries on Intersex Children

Published by Nat Mulkey

Recently two prominent children’s hospitals have made unprecedented announcements. Boston Children’s Hospital and Chicago’s Laurie Children’s Hospital announced that they would stop performing certain surgeries on children born with intersex traits. These announcements come after huge direct efforts by advocacy groups like The Intersex Jusice Project, lead by Pidgeon Pagonis, and InterAct, a national intersex youth advocacy group. 

Nat Mulkey Nat Mulkey (4 Posts)

Writer-in-Training

Boston University School of Medicine

Nat is a fourth-year medical student at Boston University School of Medicine in Boston Massachusetts, class of 2021. In 2017 they graduated from Hendrix College with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology. They will be applying into psychiatry this year and are currently interested in becoming a child and adolescent psychiatrist. Besides writing, in their free time they enjoy skateboarding, traveling, and trail running.