Medical

With a leftover airline credit to spend, I recently decided to take a quick trip down to southern California and make one of my routine treks along Interstate 5 from San Diego to Orange County. I wanted to see how the area was dealing with the pandemic and enjoy some sun. No trip would be…

“I had been trained to be this way. No panic, just a calm journeyman’s approach to any affliction, like a mathematician working an equation. Years of preparation, acquiring a skill set, building up my vault, had readied me to stand in the lounge like a zebra. And so, I stared at my hands to see…

With promising early results of a coronavirus vaccine, there is increased excitement among the American public and policy-makers for a possible resolution to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, despite cheerleading by the scientific community and industry leaders, numerous uncertainties remain. Even with a favorable trial, the earliest “doable” COVID-19 vaccine, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National…

“A great man was lost today.” Those were my words to my wife at 1 a.m. several weeks ago on the phone, in reference to her father.  While she was attending to our younger boys two hours away at our home, I was staying with my mother-in-law, doing the best I could to help my…

This June has entered without the typical parades, rainbow flags, and jubilee. As the coronavirus lingers and the optimistic case for controlling the spread of COVID-19 casts a long, somber shadow over sections of the country, Pride seems like an afterthought. As a gay emergency physician, and someone who never found particular importance in the…

We sat down at a sun-drenched table in an outdoor restaurant enjoying the fresh breeze while sipping on our favorite drinks. He is a man with immense talent, a slight frame, and the art of the skill in dissecting the arborized vessels away from his main focus during surgery. He is also one with a…

For as long as I could remember, I had always wanted to be a doctor. I used to destroy my younger sister’s dolls, giving them incurable, permanent-marker-based diseases, surgically treating various ailments with craft scissors. The other earliest memory I have is of being told I had a few months to live at the age…

The human brain is the most complex organ in our body, and is characterized by a unique ability called neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity refers to our brain’s ability to change and adapt in its structural and functional levels in response to experience. Neuroplasticity makes it possible for us to learn new languages, solve complex mathematical problems, acquire…

How do racial issues affect patients’ physical and mental health, and how do we address them during regular visits? For those without the lived experience of the black community, how can we learn and educate ourselves? How are the current protests different from those in the past? In order for us to make enduring changes…