awareness
Reflecting on Pride
By: Monica Patten, MD PGY3 This is a special edition blog post presented in partnership with the Association of Out Surgeons & Allies (AOSA) in celebration of Pride Month. Happy Pride Month to all who celebrate. Pride is rightfully named. As defined by Oxford 9, “pride” is a consciousness of one's own dignity and self-respect. This definition helps remind us why June brings such joy, visibility, and community for so many of us. As a member of the community and a surgical trainee, I have felt nothing but acceptance for who I am throughout my training. I know this is certainly not the experience all LGBTQ+ trainees share, but I am deeply grateful for the warmth of this community and our allies, and for the ways that medicine continues to work towards inclusion. But, to truly reflect on what Pride means this month, we can’t celebrate without recognizing the fear...
Emily Blackwell Did More Than Just Operate Against the Odds, She Built a Legacy of Inclusion
By: Aeryn Kangas-Dick, MD This is a special edition blog post presented in partnership with the Association of Out Surgeons & Allies (AOSA) in celebration of Pride Month. In 1854, a pioneer in surgery, Emily Blackwell was the second woman in the United States to receive an MD degree at what is now Case Western Reserve University.. She practiced surgery in lower Manhattan where, along with fellow surgeon Marie Zakrzewska, and her sister Elizabeth Blackwell, she was instrumental in founding a women’s hospital, the New York Infirmary for Women and Children. The hospital added a medical school, which trained 364 women surgeons before closing in 1899. Dr. Blackwell first met Elizabeth Cushier when she was a student at the medical school. The pair lived together for the rest of their lives, and they raised a daughter together. Dr. Blackwell was instrumental in advocating for state funding for the hospital, which...
From Barbers to Surgeon-Scientists and Beyond: Creation of the Modern Surgeon
By Connie Shao This is a special edition blog post presented in partnership with the Society of Asian Academic Surgeons in celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Surgery did not begin as a science. Early practitioners were barbers, monks, and battlefield medics operating without anesthesia, sterility, or formal training. In ancient Mesopotamia, surgeons drained abscesses and set fractures, blending technical skill with spiritual ritual. As outlined in the Code of Hammurabi written in 1754 BCE, this was all under the threat of severe punishment for failure[1]. By medieval Europe, surgery had been pushed even further from the practice of medicine as we know it today: physicians avoided it, while barber-surgeons, who trained through apprenticeships rather than universities, became the true procedural experts[2,3]. Paradoxically, these “lower-status” surgeons had more practical knowledge than academically trained physicians. That gap began to close during the Renaissance, when figures like Ambroise Paré...
Self-Advocacy as a Trainee: The Grace to Grow
Author: Rosmi Thomas, DO As a child, I grew up in a chaotic household, but it brought me resilience and a strong sense of self. In my youngest years, we lived in an extended family home, and my older cousin was one of my first role models. Despite the 15-year age difference, she took me under her wing and provided insight on self-respect that few young people are fortunate enough to grasp. She was the first person to open my eyes to the concept of advocating for myself, and she taught me the power behind asking for what you deserve. Her genuine ability to remind you that you are deeply loved, and her persuasive charm, taught me the first and most important lesson of self-advocacy: you must know your worth. As an osteopathic medical student, I was advised on the advantages and limitations of pursuing a surgical residency. As a...
How to Improve Your Healthcare Profile Picture: Small Visual Details That Increase Patient Trust and Strengthen Your Business
Camellia Russell MBA, DPM (c) In a world where patients choose providers online before ever walking through the door, your profile photo does more work than you think. Your healthcare business’s profile picture is an asset. Patients now choose their care providers how they choose everything else online: looking at ratings and reviews, reading comments, and yes…scrutinizing your photos before deciding who they’ll trust. These decisions are often made in seconds. Will a patient tap to book your next available appointment or swipe away? Here’s what the research says: Patients want providers who look warm, competent, and approachable. They tend to avoid providers who look cold and serious. One study published in JMIR mHealth and uHealth found that perceived warmth and approachability were two of the biggest drivers when patients choose providers online.¹ Another study from BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making discovered that facial expression and photo quality impact...
Understanding the Misunderstood: A Hidden Burden in Black Communities
Written By: Melissa Rony MSc, Mentor: Evan Garfain, MD This article is not intended to be used as medical advice. Views of the author do not reflect the views of the institution. I was inspired to write this article by the experience of a close friend whose Hidradenitis Suppurativa (HS) was misdiagnosed for many years and whose symptoms were repeatedly dismissed by healthcare providers, allowing her condition to worsen before she received answers. I am writing in the hope that more patients will become aware of HS, recognize early symptoms, and feel empowered to seek care while helping to debunk harmful myths about the condition. Equally important, I hope this encourages clinicians to keep HS in their differential diagnosis, especially when caring for patients of color who are disproportionately affected yet often underdiagnosed. Ultimately, greater awareness can help drive more research, resources, and comprehensive approaches to understanding and treating HS,...
Issues faced by the female surgical trainees in developing countries
By Dr. Eshana Samaranayake Across South Asia, women are still a small minority in surgical training programmes, and that imbalance shapes daily experiences in ways that are easy to miss from the outside. ‘‘Surgery is for men’’ I have wanted to become a surgeon since high school, but when I prepared for the entrance exam I heard frequent warnings from family, friends, and colleagues. Much of it was well-meant, yet it rested on an assumption: surgery is too demanding for women to balance with personal life, especially where women are expected to carry most household responsibilities. Those expectations sometimes made me doubt myself, not because I lacked interest or motivation, but because I wondered how I would fit into a role society does not always picture for women. I feel fortunate to have been selected for surgical training, and I am now in my third year of general surgery residency....
Empathy in Medical Training: Lessons from Illness
By Maria Jimena Barroso Alverde When I was little, I honestly believed I had a sixth sense. I’d get this knot in my stomach, or a rush in my chest, and I was convinced something big was about to happen. I didn’t know the word for it back then, anxiety, but it has shaped the way I experience the world. It has made me sensitive, alert, and made me always pay attention to the things few people seem to notice. I didn’t know then, but those sensations were my very first lessons in empathy. Years later, during medical school, life gave me the lesson I never asked for but somehow needed. At 22, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. One moment I was learning to use an ultrasound; the next, I was staring at an image that changed my entire life. Suddenly, I wasn’t the student standing confidently beside the...
Scrubbed in for the ABSITE: Webinar Highlights
Authors: Natalia Correa MD, Alizeh Abbas MD, Camila R. Guetter MD MPH, Nensi Ruzgar MD This blog summarizes key advice, tools, and resources discussed in the AWS Resident & Fellow Committee webinar “Scrubbed for the ABSITE”. What is the ABSITE? The American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination (ABSITE) is an annual test taken by all general surgery residents across the United States. It is a four-hour, computer-based exam of approximately 250 multiple-choice questions spanning the breadth of general surgery. Recent change to ABSITE Score Reports Historically, ABSITE scores were reported percentiles; however, recently, the ABSITE has shifted to reporting only raw scores, expressed as the percentage of questions answered correctly. This change encourages emphasis on personal improvement rather than comparison and competition. While this may decrease anxiety around small fluctuations, longitudinal performance still matters. Programs expect residents to maintain or improve their score percentage over time and programs set certain...
What Surgeons Can Learn from Greek Myth: A More Effective Mentorship Model
by Taylor Corsi, MD; Elise Presser, MD In Homer’s The Odyssey, Athena – protectress and goddess of wisdom, practical reason, handicraft, and war strategy – disguises herself as Mentor, a counselor who guides Telemachus in his journey to find his father and restore the kingdom of Ithaca. This story has framed the modern conception of mentorship as an intergenerational relationship between mentor and mentee that benefits the mentee’s growth and accomplishment of stated goals. While the importance of mentorship is clear in the story, the perception of how mentorship is best achieved is worth reinvestigating. Upon closer inspection of our beloved Greek myth, Athena’s wisdom was provided not merely from her form as Mentor. Importantly, Athena also disguised herself as a shepherd and the daughter of a ship captain. While many scholars have classically attributed Telemachus’ success to Mentor’s guidance alone, Athena advises a diverse network of figures who contribute...
