Rise
So, one way or another / I keep craning my neck / Looking up.
Tag: prose
Contributing Writer
UC San Diego School of Medicine
Sarah S. Bassiouni is a first-year medical student at the UC San Diego School of Medicine. In 2011 she graduated cum laude from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry. Following this, she earned a Master of Public Health from the University of Michigan in 2016, and she has been a nationally certified phlebotomist (PBT(ASCP)) since 2014.
Sarah is passionate about eliminating health disparities both locally and globally. In her increasingly rare free time, she can be found writing in local coffee shops or hiking with loved ones. Sarah plans to pursue a career in academic medicine and global surgery.
The Weight of a Smile
I’ve thought about this for quite a while: / How much I owe to just a smile.
EPIC Smartphrase: “.residenteval”
Good times have never passed as quickly as the three months, ten days and twelve hours
I have spent under Dr. ***’s service.
My Mask
We all earn our way here / Paid in hours of studying / and minutes of fun lost.
Impostor or Two Sides of the Same Coin?
“Eager and enthusiastic” / As I drag myself from bed. / “Positive energy” / Do you have an injury to your head?
A Crab in the Swell
I float in an ocean of sterile cerulean. / In this deep of drapery and gowns, / One could swim out and never see the shore.
Loving Her Dearly
When the love of my life started medical school, I knew she would need all of my support to get through it. I knew this because she told me.
Just a Few Minutes Before 6 A.M. Rounds
5:37 a.m. in hospital scrubs / Just a few minutes with each patient.
Penumbra
And now here she was, in the family lounge at a hospital waiting to speak to her father’s neurologist. Her dad, Ricky, had collapsed at work — or so she had been told. This was the most she had heard of her father’s life since she moved out of the house.
The Man in the Arena
Dr. Goodly saw patients on Thanksgiving every year. Wasn’t that the whole point of the holiday?
Forced Perspective
I know better. / I know nothing, and I am useless. / So don’t throw words at me insinuating that / I am knowledgeable.
If You Find Me
If there is an accident / And you find me / Don’t leave me / But hold my hand / Because I am scared
Writer-in-Training
University of Massachusetts Medical School
Hillary is a member of the MD Class of 2020 at University of Massachusetts. She received her BA in Neuroscience from Oberlin College and is interested in the intersection of art and medicine. In addition to writing, she also enjoys creating medically inspired paper art and has had pieces published in "Intima" and "Pulse."