Education

As of October 2019, the small country of Lebanon began its descent into its worst economic collapse in modern history. Exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lebanese currency has lost nearly 85 percent of its value on the black market, and the inflation rate within the country has surpassed even that of Syria, with the…

There is a picture of me kneeling in front of the Azure Window, once off the coast of Malta, eating a chocolate ice-cream cone. I am 12 years old, having just finished the sixth grade, wearing high-top “Bathroom Wall” Converse and not-at-all-grungy cargo pants in my attempt to emulate the 2008 aesthetic of Avril Lavigne.…

Transitioning from the classroom to the wards is an uncertain and anxiety-provoking time for many medical students. Schedules are constantly changing, as are expectations and learning objectives. Mentorship and advice from upperclassmen, residents, and attendings was an essential tool in my MS3 toolbox. I would go so far as to say that these pieces of…

Like many others, I have felt immense frustration in the past couple of weeks. The news surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement, compounded by many other incidents of injustice against minorities, has made me feel constant rage at the society we live in. I’ve tried to channel my anger into as much activism as I…

Black bodies are dying, and medical schools are partially to blame.  Never did I imagine that I would come to the realization that as a medical student; I was being trained and conditioned to identify and treat conditions predominately in white people.  It is time for medical institutions to address how medical school curriculums, which…

In early 2001, my sister was tired, paler than usual. We didn’t think much of it. Then, months passed, and crimson pinpoints appeared on her skin. My brother and I took turns grasping her arm and snickering as our handprints would appear as red dots just a few minutes later. Symptoms amassed silently, but on my…

Long before COVID-19 plagued our nation and world, physicians in the United States found themselves facing their own epidemic within the profession – occupational burnout. Associated with depression and suicidal ideation as well as potential risks to patient safety, physician burnout has uniquely profound and possibly deadly implications in this field, unlike in other professions. Likewise, doctors have…

Recently, the AAMC announced its partnership with HireVue’s video interviewing platform to introduce the Video Interview Tool for Admissions (VITA), an online, one-way recorded interview without a human interviewer. The candidate is shown several text prompts on HireVue’s system and instructed to record a ~3-minute response to each prompt. A list of participating medical schools…

An excerpt from Doctors’ Orders: The Making of Status Hierarchies in an Elite Profession. Copyright (c) 2020 Tania M. Jenkins. Used by arrangement with the publisher. All rights reserved. I met Trevor on his very first day of residency, at the start of three years of practical, on-the-ground training in internal medicine following medical school.…