Tag: social justice

Samantha M Rodriguez Samantha M Rodriguez (7 Posts)

Contributing Writer

Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine

Samantha is a third-year medical student at Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine in Miami, Florida class of 2022. In 2016, she graduated from Florida International University with a Bachelor of Science in biology. She enjoys yoga, going to the beach, and reading in her free time. After graduating medical school, Samantha would like to pursue a career in Pediatrics.




Imagine

Published by Samantha M Rodriguez

Upon arriving at the room, we learn that the nurse continued trying to speak to this patient in English despite the patient’s evident inability to speak the language. Following her half-hearted attempt at “patient education,” she proceeded to lift the patient’s gown and attempts to strap on the monitors. As a result, the woman is frightened by her nurse because she is unaware of what this foreign nurse is doing to her and her unborn child. One week out from detention. She is scared. Imagine.

Anatomic illustration of superficial facial/neck muscles and an interpretation of cadaveric donor

Reflections on Donor 8

Published by Yeonsoo Sara Lee

On the first day of anatomy, we were reminded that this course was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and that we were privileged to be experiencing it. For those of us first-year medical students who might not pursue surgery nor experience physically interacting with and entering the human body again outside of surgical clerkships, the professors said this would be an intense time. We would peer into the spaces and structures that — on some level — make up every human being. 

Leading the Rounds: The Medical Leadership Podcast — “Joy and Justice in Leadership with Dr. Ijeoma Nnodim Opara”

Published by Caleb Sokolowski

In this episode we interview Dr. Ijeoma Nnodim Opara. Dr. Opara received her medical degree from Wayne State University School of Medicine (WSUSOM) and completed a med-peds residency at the Detroit Medical Center where she served as chief medical resident. Currently, she is a double-board certified and an assistant professor of internal medicine and pediatrics.

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. 

#Top12of2020: in-Training 2020 Year in Review

Published by in-Training, the online peer-reviewed publication for medical students

Thank you for your contributions and your readership over the past year. It has certainly been a difficult one, and we are exceedingly grateful that you all used in-Training as a platform to share your reflections, opinions, and solutions. Run by medical students and for medical students, your ongoing support is what makes us a premier online peer-reviewed publication. We look forward to seeing your contributions in 2021, and we’re excited to see where the year takes us (hopefully some place better!).

Precedented: Historical Guidance on Freedom and Health in the Age of COVID-19

Published by Adrian Anzaldua

We will recall when, during the summer of 2020, the moral and political duty to engage with the most momentous anti-racist movement since the 1960s reanimated a nation paralyzed by fear. By the fall, cataclysmic wildfires on the West Coast poisoned the air from San Francisco to New York City. Coronavirus, cultural upheaval and manifestations of climate change all bore down on us as we entered the most consequential and divisive national election in living memory.

Christopher Howard’s Path to Medical School

Published by Coco Thomas

His parents attended a parent-teacher conference with the hopes of encouraging his teachers to transfer him to the gifted track. After their inquiry, the principal explained, “It would be better for Chris to be in the remedial track, so he can see people who look like him.” This instance of racism would be the first of many for Chris, whose journey to medical school required him to rise above institutionalized racism and implicit biases.

Ouroboros

Published by Leah Eburne

I have become, in these last six months, a twisty little ouroboros. I eat my tail because it’s all I know, and I savor my pain and confusion. I am always full and always empty and a little twitchy from all the coffee. We are one of the few medical schools in the country to push ahead early with in-person rotations during the pandemic.

To Stay Home You Need To Have One: Housing As Primary Prevention

Published by Rachel Lockard

Moreover, homelessness and COVID-19  both disproportionately burden marginalized populations — in particular, Black communities and Native Americans. When COVID-19 began spreading through the community, it came as no surprise that it would disproportionately impact those living in congregate homeless shelters. Overcrowded shelters, the inability to physically distance, and poor access to handwashing and hygiene facilities are coalescing for an unsafe environment that could accelerate disease transmission.

Forced Hysterectomies in ICE Detention Centers: A Continuation of Our Country’s Sordid History of Reproduction Control

Published by Lucy Brown

This unrest reached a high point in September, when nurse Dawn Wooten filed a formal complaint against Dr. Mahendra Amin, a Georgia physician working at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center, who she claims performed mass hysterectomies on detained immigrant women without consent. While the country reacted in shock, the reality is that coerced sterilization against communities of color is not new. The United States has a shameful history of exploiting Black and brown women’s bodies as part of a larger objective for population control rooted in white supremacy — and the medical field is partly to blame.

Trisha Kaundinya (3 Posts)

Contributing Writer

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Trisha is a first-year MD/MPH student at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. In 2020, she graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelors of Science in human sciences and disorders, a Bachelors of Arts in neuroscience, and a certificate in leadership. She has worked internationally for a nonprofit as a global impact fellow and medical journalist. She enjoys biking, kayaking, cooking, and writing on her blog, Medical Memoirs, in her free time. In the future, Trisha would like to pursue a career in academic medicine.