Month: September 2022
Social Dimensions of Wellness
By Whitney Jin I currently attend medical school in the Texas Medical Center (TMC)—the largest medical center in the world. It truly is its own concrete jungle–I joke that while looking for apartments to live in for medical school, I prioritized the TMC skyline over the downtown skyline for a more fitting view. As a student still in the preclinical curriculum, I find that it becomes tempting (and comforting) to fall into a routine of classes, clinics, co-curriculars, and catching up on sleep. The two-mile radius between campus and its adjacent hospitals means that the vast majority of students spend most of their productive hours in a classroom, hospital, or a research lab. While it is a true privilege to be surrounded by so many patients, with diverse backgrounds and illnesses, we must remember that within medical facilities, we only meet patients at a snapshot moment in their lives. That...
Celebrating Hispanic/Latino Heritage Month 2022
By Minerva Romero Arenas, MD, MPH, FACS In an ongoing partnership between the Association of Women Surgeons and the Latino Surgical Society, we are proud to again bring you a Blog series for Hispanic Heritage Month (HHM). In this piece, I hope to highlight some important points we hope to bring to light during HHM. What is HHM? Every year, the US celebrates the history, culture, and contributions of Americans who immigrated or whose descendants originated from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. What started as a weeklong celebration in 1968, has now expanded to observation of HHM from September 15 to October 15. This period was chosen due to the significance of many Independence Day celebrations in those countries occurring in mid-September and Día de la Raza (Day of Heritage) being celebrated on October 12th. You can find more information on the National HHM website. How...
Trial by Fire
By Alyssa Brown I sat through orientation with a terrified look. We practiced placing central lines, arterial lines, and nasogastric tubes. They poured knowledge into us to try to prepare us, but I knew it probably wouldn’t be enough. I was starting my intern year in the surgical intensive care unit (SICU). The night before my first day in the SICU, I lay in bed and had questions flying through my head: would I be able to keep up? Would I be a good surgeon and resident one day? How bad is this going to be? Will people on the team like me? Will my black cloud have faded? My alarm jolted me awake as the sun started to peek through the blinds. I tossed on my scrubs and headed in. The SICU was packed with patients, nurses, and residents. The hustle of the morning and the newness of the...
Medicine is personal; deep down to your soul
By Anuja Mali “To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded." – Ralph Waldo Emerson One of the truths about choosing to study Medicine is that, from the moment you decide to go down that road, you are bombarded with the same question. "Why medicine? You'd think that once you get into medical school, you'll never be asked that question ever again, but you are. I am a first-year medical student aspiring to become a surgeon. I know I know- SURGERY? And how are you so sure about it? You have just started your med school. You haven’t even seen the patients. Do you even know how much time and hard work it takes to become a well-renowned surgeon? So, how do I respond when people ask me if I'm scared about how long it takes to become a doctor? There's...
From Ecuador to Wisconsin, now a categorical surgical resident
By Gopika SenthilKumar I met Dr. Figueroa during his post-doctoral research work at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He is part of a small group of international medical graduate (IMG) surgical residents who matched into a categorical position. In comparison, most IMG residents match into a one/two-year preliminary program. His story and advice will hopefully serve as an inspiration for future generations. Dr. Figueroa’s family played a huge role in his decision to pursue medicine and surgery. “Having my dad and grandfather both being surgeons, I was always surrounded by medicine since very early,” he says. “When I was 5 years old, I was driving around town with my grandpa, and suddenly he got a call to see a very sick patient in the ED. I remember entering the emergency department with him and waiting outside of the patient’s room. That day I felt deeply attracted by the hospital setting...
The journey back to the US for surgical residency
By Gopika SenthilKumar and Jamesa Fabien Dr. Anil Paramesh is a US citizen who was born in Detroit. He grew up there for eight years, after which his family moved back to India. He has numerous family members who are physicians and was exposed to medical specialties from a young age; this inspired him to pursue surgery. He says “this was because of the "quick-fix" mindset, where a surgeon sees a sick patient in the ER and is able to fix them immediately in the OR. The results of this “quick fix” become evident immediately. I also loved the experience of being in the OR right from the start.” He pursued the rest of his education, including his graduate medical training in India, and returned to the US for surgical residency. When asked if he considered returning to the US for medical school, he shares, “I did consider returning to...