career development
The History of the Match and the Perspective From One Medical Student’s Journey
By Hilary McCrary, MPH Throughout all of medical school, I always looked up to the current fourth year students. They seemed so seasoned and prepared to make the transition from student to doctor. The fourth year of medical school is also highly anticipated, as it is what medical students perceive as the first time they are solely focusing on their chosen career and traveling across the country for either away rotations or interviews. Now that I am towards the end of this process, I have had time to reflect on all of the components that go into the Match and what is takes to get there. The Match process was created in 1952 as a way to address concerns related to institutions offering a spot for residency training earlier than other competing institutions.1 This previous design put pressure on applicants to accept multiple appointments, as positions were typically offered over...
The Greenberg Spike: How speaking out on implicit bias and gender equity in surgery continues to trend
By Marissa A. Boeck When #ILookLikeASurgeon went viral in August 2015, many expected a short lived hashtag. Yet Dr. Caprice Greenberg, the president of the Association for Academic Surgery (AAS), has shown the conversation on diversity, inclusion, and equity in surgery is far from over. During the recent AAS and Society of University Surgeons (SUS) 12th annual conference in Las Vegas, Nevada around 2,000 medical students, residents, fellows, and attendings gathered to network, mentor, collaborate, and discuss academic surgery. Despite the abundance of stiff competition, the AAS Presidential Address “Sticky Floors and Glass Ceilings” by Dr. Greenberg stole the show. All those packed into the large event hall immediately knew the focus: women in surgery. This subject continues to be pertinent and necessary to discuss despite many notable advances, such as both the current and incoming presidents of the AAS and SUS being female. Yet Dr. Greenberg steered the conversation...
The Intersection of Race and Gender in Surgery
By Mohini Dasari In light of February being Black History Month, I was inspired to write about the intersection of race and gender in surgery. As a woman of color currently applying to surgical residency programs, the issues of diversity and gender have been on my mind for quite some time. While diversity can also refer to socioeconomic status, religion and sexual orientation, I will be focusing on one definition of diversity: race/ethnicity. Why does race matter? Do we live in a post-racial society, where we can all identify together under broader terms such as “women”? Can all women identify under the single label of “women in surgery” within a traditionally male-dominated field? While I would like to say yes, for the sake of unity, I must say “yes and no.” Whenever I go to national meetings, or when I was on the interview trail, I usually count how many...
The Osteopathic Match Day
By Aileen Larson and Grace DeHoff Every spring, fourth year medical students anxiously await “Match Day”. Students in both allopathic (MD) and osteopathic (DO) programs submit a rank list of their favorite residency programs and order them according to their preference. Residency programs also create a list of their top students and rank them accordingly. For allopathic medical students, Match Day is typically the third Friday in March. Every February, osteopathic medical students also await their fate in a similar match algorithm. This year the DO Match Day is held on February 6th, 2017. As an osteopathic student, there are many choices to make when applying for residency programs. While the MD match is open to both MD and DO students, the DO match is exclusively for DO students and organized under the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) National Matching Services Inc. A student may decide to attempt the match only...
Never overdressed
A resident’s perspective on dressing for success By: Danielle Henry The New Year brings new goals and personal improvement is always on the list of priorities. This month we are exploring the impact of professional attire on professional and personal achievement. Oscar Wilde once said, “You can never be overdressed or overeducated.” I have taken this to mean, you should never stop learning and can never be overdressed when you look your best. We are in a profession where we are always learning, and even though we wear scrubs often, we can still find ways to look our best. Ditch the scrubs when you can - When given the option to wear something other than scrubs, I always take the opportunity. One example is when I am presenting at the Morbidity and Mortality (M&M) conference I will often wear business professional attire. It is not required at my institution, however...
The Road to Wellness
By Jaime Lewis The road to wellness is often less than straight and narrow. Some stretches are full of potholes and construction barriers, causing delays, requiring tolls and taxes for passage, while other sections are smoothly paved, wide open, and headed straight into the sunset. However the journey proceeds I have found it is peppered with choices and opportunities to make myself a little happier, a bit healthier, and perhaps a little more “well”. Some moments it’s a choice of how to respond or react, how to understand my own emotions, or how to interpret the actions of another. Other days it’s making the choice to eat the healthier meal, to run the extra mile, to play with my children, or in my professional sphere- to finish up my charts, respond to a committee request, or spend a few extra moments with a resident. Recently I have worked to formulate...
Residency Applications: The Curriculum Vitae
By Mary Brandt This article originally appeared on Dr. Brandt's blog, the wellnessrounds. Other than the personal statement, there is nothing more distressing to medical students applying for a residency than putting together a Curriculum Vitae (CV). So, what exactly is a CV? “The original Latin meaning of curriculum was a course, but of the kind that one runs around (it came from currere, to run). Even more recent — dating from 1902 — is curriculum vitae, literally “the course of one’s life” (from World Wide Words) Your curriculum vitae is a document that serves as a summary of what you have accomplished as a professional. What’s the difference between my CV and what I put on my ERAS application? Your CV and what you put in ERAS differ in two important ways – the content and the format. ERAS will generate a CV from the information you enter, but...
Beyond the Basics of Tweeting
By Heather Yeo As we continue to explore social media in academic and clinical medicine at AWS this month we wanted to create a practical guide for physician clinicians and researchers interested in tweeting at academic meetings or participating in a tweet chat. This goes slightly above the twitter basics. For beginners, we recommend you also check out some social media guidelines and best practices. Why participate in live tweeting a meeting? Information sharing/learning When you are at a conference with multiple presentations of interest, you cannot be in two rooms at once, twitter allows you to monitor what is being presented in other sessions. The benefit of twitter is having access to multiple presentations virtually, when you can only attend one room in reality. Twitter’s short 140 characters allow for easy spread of simple messages – like most headlines. To understand full research, you may still need to review...
Looking Beyond 2016 for Women in Surgery
By Shree Agrawal When I was seven years old, I remember sitting in front of the television watching in awe of Hillary and Bill Clinton at one of his presidential addresses. I grew up watching her transform into someone who broke the mold of what it meant to be a woman throughout her lifetime. In truth, I knew I wanted to be like her. At that time, there seemed to be so few modern female role models challenging conventional views of women in society. I have taken some time to reflect on the meaning of being a citizen of a nation that has finally nominated a female candidate for President. Regardless of political views and our feelings about this presidential race, I think as women in surgery, we can appreciate the visible milestone of this election season. I would like to think in the next five, ten, and fifty years,...
An Open Letter to Young Women Considering a Career in Surgery
This post originally appeared in Hot Heels, Cool Kicks, & a Scalpel Dear Young Woman Considering a Career in Surgery, It was lovely to meet you the other day. Many times a month, a young woman just like you comes to me with similar interests and concerns. “I really love surgery,” she says, ” But I am afraid of the lifestyle and I really want to have a family.” Oh, and thank you for also inviting me to speak at your seminar the other day on Women in Traditionally Male Dominated Fields. I have been speaking at similar panel sessions since 2005 when I was a bit of a novelty at my training program as a clinical PGY-4 with an infant daughter. Your collective curiosity on what my life must be like is of great interest to me because to me it’s just my life. It’s the only reality that...
