awareness
Operating Through Loss
By: Wissam Benhami Content Note: This post contains discussion of pregnancy loss, a topic that may be difficult for some readers. It was a Thursday afternoon when I walked out of the OR and drove straight to my gynecologist. The room was quiet and I let myself believe this was just another routine visit. My mind was already on the weekend ahead. He shifted the probe once, twice, and finally stopped. His voice was quiet, almost apologetic. There was no heartbeat. I nodded as he spoke, but his words dissolved before they reached me. I left the office with the image burned into my mind, a still, motionless curve on the screen and a weight in my body that felt both heavy and hollow. The next morning was Friday. A patient we had operated on the day before needed her discharge. I hadn’t slept a single hour. My eyes were...
How to Be an Ally
By Cori DeLisi, DO On May 28, AWS came together with the Association of Out Surgeons and Allies in our Cutting-Edge Conversations webinar to answer the question “How can we be allies to the LGBTQ+ community as trainees and surgeons?” If you identify as an ally because you implicitly support your LGBTQ+ patients and colleagues, consider what others see of your allyship and how far your impact reaches. Here we expand on the webinar’s takeaways for AWS members with added perspectives from Dr. DeLisi, a trainee who has been on both sides of allyship around sexual and gender minority identities. I’m Cori (they/them), a general surgery intern in Pennsylvania. After coming out as non-binary in medical school, I faced this dichotomy of trying to introduce myself with my pronouns while also feeling worried about shifting the conversation away from patients, learning, or healthcare in general. After excluding my pronouns from...
The Power of Social Media for Premedical and Medical Mentorship
By Ashley Cianchini In Medicine, mentors become the most important asset to thrive. The mentors we make along the way provide the most powerful insight on experiences they lived to keep us focused and motivated. Students without mentors often feel lost and have difficulty persevering through the biggest challenges in Medicine. Sadly, the traditional mentorship experience through shadowing, physician family members, or undergraduate experiences may often be inaccessible for some students, specifically underrepresented minorities and first-generation students. These students often become the first in their families to graduate high school or college. The dream of becoming a physician can feel extremely unachievable. Only 5.8% of the physicians in the United States are Latino, and only 5% are Black. This creates barriers for students with similar backgrounds, who struggle to identify with other physicians. Coming from a small school in the middle of Puerto Rico, it was difficult for me to...
A Journey Inside the U.S. Healthcare System as an IMG
By Andrea Iturralde, MD I want to start with: What is an International Medical Graduate (IMG)? An IMG is someone who received their medical training outside the United States and wants to pursue a medical residency in the United States. When I think about navigating the U.S. healthcare system as an IMG, many challenges come to mind. First, I want to focus on one of the biggest difficulties: moving to a new country. This transition can be overwhelming. You’re not just learning a new healthcare system, you’re also adapting to an entirely new life. Renting a house, handling paperwork, even opening a bank account—these are all tasks you must complete before you can even think about practicing medicine. Once you’re established, it’s important to recognize that the healthcare system may work differently from that of your home country. For example, in the U.S., nurse practitioners and physician assistants play key...
Locked In: Training Under Pressure in the Dominican Republic’s Public Health System
Medicine in Latin America By Paria Remolina Medical training across Latin America often takes place in environments defined by limited resources, high patient volumes, and immense service demands. These challenges do not reflect a lack of knowledge or dedication but rather the difficult realities faced by public health systems stretched to their limits. In this piece, we explore the structure and expectations of surgical residency in the Dominican Republic, where young physicians must navigate not only the complexities of clinical care but also the pressures of a deeply hierarchical and demanding training environment. A Culture of Respect and Responsibility In the Dominican Republic, respect for seniority is central to medical culture. Attending physicians and fellows are regarded with deep formality, greeted with titles, and addressed with deference. It is expected to stand in their presence. These gestures reflect a longstanding tradition of respect for experience and authority. For residents, this...
Healing Hands: Crafting Care from Medicine to Lei Making
By: Jamie McDermott “May day is Lei Day in Hawaii nei” is a saying that rings through the air every May 1st in Hawaii. Have you ever seen visitors wearing flowers around their necks? Or noticed hula dancers draped in floral designs at a luau? What is the history? In 1923, the Hawaiʻi Territorial Legislature passed Joint Resolution No. 1, recognizing floral emblems. This resolution aimed to designate the hibiscus (aloalo) as the official flower emblem of the territory. Their argument succeeded by drawing on the widely accepted association between specific colors, lei, and their corresponding islands. As time passed, more people started wearing leis on May 1, giving rise to the tradition of “May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii.” Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, when large gatherings were limited, the island community found creative ways to honor this uniquely Hawaiian celebration. What is a lei? A lei is...
Parental Leave in Surgical Training: Webinar Highlights
Authors: Kylie Dickerson, MD, MS; Nensi Ruzgar, MD; Camila R. Guetter, MD, MPH; Alizeh Abbas, MD; Maria S. Altieri, MD, MS In March 2025, the Association of Women Surgeons Resident and Fellow Committee hosted a discussion on Parental Leave in Surgical Training. The session began with a presentation by Dr. Maria Altieri, Section Chief of GI Surgery and Director of Bariatric Surgery, Pennsylvania Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania, who has published multiple papers on parental leave policies during surgical training. The presentation was followed by a Q&A session with a panel of trainees who shared their experiences related to childbearing during clinical residency or dedicated research time, being a non-birthing parent, and exploring adoption. The goals of the webinar were to discuss different pathways to childbearing and parental leave policies during surgical training. Dr. Altieri discussed her personal experiences with childbearing during different phases of training, from medical school...
Doctors Need to Give Better Talks: How the Signature Speaker Series Can Help
by Nimmi S. Kapoor, MD, FACS Doctors give the worst talks. Now I understand why it is hard for me to stay awake, pay attention, and understand the point of all these talks at all these conferences I go to, and it’s not just because my phone is too distracting. Indeed, my phone distraction has spared me from some of the dreadfully boring talks I have been subjected to year after year. The Association of Women Surgeons (AWS) Signature Speaker series helped me realize why and how some talks hit the mark, while most others don’t. The lessons learned from this experience were transformative for me. I was able to move past my own anxiety with speaking—I tend to have a bit of a shake in my voice at the beginning of every talk—and learn the tools to give a meaningful, impactful talk. Our Motivational Speaker and Instructor, Patrick Combs,...
Applying the Growth Mindset in Surgery
By Fara Bellows In surgery, the only constant is change. With each passing milestone in our careers, we encounter new challenges, new demands, and new surroundings. We also face novelty within clinical medicine: the literature is always growing, new technologies and techniques arise, and practice changes can seemingly come out of nowhere. Surgeons tend to be perfectionists. We strive to do our best and to deliver exceptional patient care. But we are human, and as humans, we are never perfect at something the first time we do it. So it can be difficult to stray from our comfort zone and incorporate new techniques into our toolbox, perhaps due to fear of failure or fear of the unknown. It can also be painful to experience patient-related complications and struggle with learning curves. However, we cannot shy away from novel therapies or ideas. We must embrace novelty: a successful career relies on...
What Transition Taught Me About Gender, Power, and Medicine
By Jailyn Avila, MD, FP-AEMUS, RDMS One afternoon, when I was a young attending at a large academic center, I was paged to the trauma bay to receive a patient in traumatic shock. Our team of 10-15 multidisciplinary medical professionals assembled in the trauma room as the medics wheeled our patient in, solely focused on saving the patient's life. Immediately after the medics brought the patient into our trauma area, my senior resident asked for the patient's history, after which the medic paused and stated, “You have really pretty hair.” My senior resident then politely asked the medic to continue their report, ignoring the inappropriate and unprofessional comment. After stabilization and disposition, I attempted to locate the man who had been so inappropriate with my resident, but his team had already departed. I circled back with my resident, who acknowledged the experience and how inappropriate it was, but she informed...
