awareness
Authenticity and Queer Joy in Surgery
By Aeryn Kangas-Dick, MD The art of surgery is the art of connection. As surgeons, we have the unique privilege to meet our patients in times of need and offer them real, concrete, often rapid solutions to their diagnoses. As vital as the surgeon’s skills in the operating room are, the surgeon’s mandate is to create an immediate connection forged with trust and understanding with our patients. We ask them to be put under general anesthesia and to place their lives in our hands. In return, we become their fierce advocates. The sense of ownership in patient care is unmatched in any other specialty. We make ourselves available to tend to their needs after typical business hours and drop everything to care for their issues whether we are on call or not, often to the neglect of our personal lives. Creating a meaningful connection requires honesty, openness, skill, confidence, and...
Back to School Mom – A Decade Later: Trauma Surgery Fellowship with Teenagers
By: Dr. Evelyn Coile The house is silent. The house is silent for the first time in the last 16 years of training. Both kids received the news this week that they landed their first summer jobs. My husband and I finally sit staring at each other---no one to cook for or entertain. My eldest son, now a licensed driver, is taking control of the drop-offs with me closely watching a Life360 app and praying for constant safety. Previously, drop-offs were mostly handled by my husband. From community college night classes while working, to attending medical school, followed by a vigorous surgical residency, I was not available for drop-offs. It is quite ironic that as I look back now (as most parents do at this phase), I wish I had made it to more drop-offs. To wish them a “Happy Day Ahead!” To ask them “How Was Your Day?” It...
Pride in the Operating Room: How the Structure of Surgical Residency Can Keep Us in the Closet
By: W. Tyler Crawley Pride in residency is difficult, especially in surgery. How you are evaluated and how you are able to participate within the operating room are directly decided by the attending surgeon. Meaning that how you are viewed by an attending can impact not only your clinical experience but also your advancement within the program. This creates a power dynamic in which residents are put in a position to “get along” in order to “go along.” This is problematic for two reasons; the first is that it discourages residents from speaking up, whether that be an inappropriate joke, an inaccurate statement, or even something as simple as misgendering a patient. Personally, when I was an auditioning medical student and starting my surgical training, I was very discreet when it came to my personal life, especially around attendings. I heard many jokes and false narratives about the LGBTQIA+ community,...
Progress of LGBTQ+ Rights – A View from One of America’s Youth
By: Alexis Moren The progress of LGBTQ+ rights has seen significant advancements globally, although challenges remain. Over the past few decades, there have been major milestones such as marriage equality, anti-discrimination laws, gender identity rights, parenting rights, and the LGBTQ+ community serving openly in the military. Despite these advances, challenges persist. I have been part of conversations discussing how lucky we are to live during this time. This sparked my curiosity – are we? Do LGBTQ+ kids and teens feel this way? I have the pleasure of being close to a pre-teen trans girl who dreams of becoming both a trauma surgeon and a published author. I asked her to tell us about her journey and her aspirations. “I am trans. This does not define me but it sure plays an important part in many aspects of my life; I have been bullied at school, had to keep my identity...
Being a First Generation Immigrant from India: Breaking Down Stereotypes about “Model Minorities”
By Gopika SenthilKumar, PhD I still remember the news of the 2008 economic crash playing everywhere within a few weeks of us arriving in the US. As a first-generation immigrant family, this meant the highest level of uncertainty about our jobs, residence, and place of employment. Sure enough, in the years that followed, we ended up having to move six times over six years. I have a few distinct memories of these times. I still remember the first year that we were here - I was 11 years old, and I wanted a nightstand and wardrobe and a bookshelf in my room like all the other kids,... but it was too risky to spend our savings on furniture. Instead, I used to take cardboard boxes, build them into shelves, rearrange them if I was bored, and I was a very happy kid. We didn’t have a car for a while,...
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery: The Best Specialty You Know Nothing About
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery: The Best Specialty You Know Nothing About By Jaclyn Tomsic The famous philosopher Confucius once said, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” I can say that being an oral and maxillofacial surgeon has made this quote my reality. Oral and maxillofacial surgery, or OMFS, as we are most commonly referred to on hospital wards and in EDs, is an internationally recognized specialty. As defined by AAOMS, The American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, oral and maxillofacial surgeons are the experts in face, mouth, and jaw surgery.1 Despite this, few people truly understand what we do. I am here to shed some light. Let’s break it down for a minute. Oral and maxillofacial surgery. What does that really mean? Oral means mouth. Maxillofacial means jaws and face. Therefore, putting that together, OMF surgeons treat disease,...
Growing Up Iranian-American
Sophie Dream, MD, MPH My father moved to Chicago at a young age. He and his father had applied for him to get a visa to come to the United States to further his education. The day my father’s visa arrived, his father passed away in a sudden and tragic accident. A testament to my father’s strength and perseverance, he arranged for his father’s burial, set his mother up to have an independent life, in a very paternalistic society where she otherwise would be dependent on my father, and left for school in Chicago. He met my mother through an acquaintance before she had any thought of moving to the States. They fell in love the way people in the movies do and, after marrying, fled Iran at the very beginning of the Iranian Revolution, “as they were canceling flights and shutting the airports down for 30 years.” My parents...
Applying to Residency as an International Student at a US Medical School
By Yoshiko Iwai Part of being an international student in the US is navigating the complex process of visa sponsorship. I have been fortunate to have had tremendous support from my various international student offices, but even now I have trouble understanding the system. One of the reasons that obtaining a visa and maintaining status is so challenging is that there are so few international students to begin with—and therefore few mentors who can provide us with meaningful guidance. These are some things I wish I knew as an international student in the US applying for residency. I applied in general surgery, so the details may be different in other specialties. This is not legal advice and does not represent the official policies or views of the institutions I have been a part of. Rather, they are things I have learned through my research or from the generous advice I’ve...
WOMEN SURGEONS HAVE BETTER OUTCOMES THAN THEIR MALE COUNTERPARTS
By: Anna DeFreitas "Women cannot seriously pursue medical careers (…) unless they stop being women: due to physiological laws, women doctors are ambiguous, hermaphrodite or sexless creatures, monsters at any rate. Let those who fancy such a distinction try to acquire it." This affirmation by the French physician Lucas-Championnaire shows the long and arduous path women had to take to become doctors and surgeons. The practice of Medicine required masculine qualities, according to the 19th-century view: "In order to be a physician, one needs a sharp and open mind, a solid and varied education, a serious and strong character, a great deal of self-control, a mix of benignity and stamina, a complete command over one’s feelings, moral vigor and, when necessary, muscular strength. (…) Isn’t feminine nature just the opposite?" The Journal of Medicine and Surgery Practice stated: "Let us add that it seems obvious that in France women would...
Living at the Intersection of Person and Surgeon
By: Priyanka V. Chugh MD, MS When I started medical school, nearly ten years ago, I had an idea of what a surgeon looked like. Largely rooted in the perspective of the media, it was “supposed” to be a white, affluent, straight, cisgender man without any visible or invisible disability. As a South Asian woman, who is part of the LGBTQIA+ community, and lives with invisible disability, I never contemplated becoming a surgeon. In fact, I believed that my unique experiences and challenges would not be understood or accepted by surgeons. When I discovered that surgery felt like the right path for me professionally, a new anxiety clouded my excitement. I had never met a surgeon that lived at the same intersection of identities that I did. I met with women surgeons and South Asian surgeons; I spoke with disability advocates and followed queer surgeons on social media. I craved...
