reflection
Dual Identity
By Keerat Bains This is a special edition blog post presented in partnership with the Association of Out Surgeons & Allies (AOSA) in celebration of Pride Month. In qualitative research, reflexivity and positionality statements allow for the authors to constantly reflect on their own biases and how they influence the research. My statement reads a little something like this: “KB is a cis-gendered, pansexual, first-generation South Asian woman who is an incoming general surgery resident. They are informed by a background in health equity, sexual health education, gender affirming care and street medicine.” At face value, I look like any other femme, heterosexual individual, especially in the hospital. I am even married to a cis, heterosexual man. However, if someone took the time to look more closely, they’d see my rainbow caduceus pin and my “she/they” pin on my white coat; they’d notice my pronouns permeating in every space where...
Authority Doesn’t Have One Accent
By Linda Ding, MD, FACS 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. “The ED paged,” the circulator announced. “They have an admission for you.” I step away from the operating table and come to the phone. A familiar voice on the line starts describing a 74-year-old patient with end-stage renal disease and perforated diverticulitis. “Okay, sure, I can take the patient,” I said. “But you’re holding back a ‘by the way,’ aren’t you?” “Well, actually,” the emergency physician replied, “the INR is 7.” “Ooof. There it is,” I laughed. “I knew you were trying to pull one over on me.” A colleague once joked that they were surprised I did not get written up more often. The comment was meant lightly, but it lingered with me. How narrow is our...
Bridges & Breakthroughs: International Medical Graduate’s (IMG’s) Preclinical Research Experience
Author: Shivani Chaudhary (M.B.B.S, M.S General Surgery) Today, I want to share a deeply personal journey of resilience and perseverance which happened during my 2.5 years of preclinical neuro-oncology research. My research years began after I had already completed three grueling years of general surgery residency training, followed by a year of service at a community health center as part of my commitment to the Indian government. The excitement of landing a funded research position in a field I was passionate about was palpable, but I had no idea what challenges lay ahead. The first three months were a whirlwind of emotions that ranged from exciting yet intimidating. I was thrust into the entirely new realm of glioblastoma research, where I had to master unfamiliar techniques and learn a completely new scientific language. I even had to confront my deep-seated fear of handling mice. There were days when self-doubt crept...
Trusting Your Own Hands: Lessons from the OR
By: Dr. Wissam Benhami, MD, General surgeon Affiliations: Université des Sciences de la Santé (Youcef El Khatib) – Algiers, Algeria and Clinique Rahmouni Djilali (formerly Les Orangers), Chikh El Bachir El Ibrahimi, El Mouradia, Algiers Every surgeon faces moments when they feel like even though their hands know the truth, doubt pushes them to look outward for guidance. I often remember this playing out in two operations linked by the same thread. My hesitation was replaced by reassurance from someone who had not lived through the case from the beginning. The first case was an emergency colectomy in an unstable patient. The resection was complete, and the question was a familiar one. Should I restore continuity or divert the patient? The tissues were distressed and the patient’s physiology was fragile. My colleague also hesitated. It was not ignorance in either of us. Instead, it was the quiet calculations surgeons make...
Does Gender Bias Still Exist in Surgical Residency
By: Dr Swathy Elangovan, M.S General Surgery It's 2026, a time where the world is AI driven. Advancements and innovation drive people to more effective living. But it is a known fact that Surgeons can never be replaced by AI. Thus the course of surgical training remains crucial in saving the lives of patients. Both females and males residents have to be competently trained and given equal operating chances so that when they become an attending in the future, they would have the confidence to treat patients individually. The scalpel doesn’t know whether the operating surgeon is a female or a male .Then why the discrimination. One thing hasn't changed. The treatment against women in the field of medicine, specifically surgery, where buttering, flattery and fawning take an upper hand over sheer hard work, truthfulness and raw talent. You might be the best female out there in the course of...
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...
Yes, I Want to Be a Surgeon and No, I Don’t Need to Be Talked Out of It
By Lilah Kahloon Halfway through my third year of medical school, I began feeling the urge to lie whenever someone asked me what specialty I was considering. Going into rotations, I never fell prey to the urge some students have to say they are interested in whatever specialty they are on. When I walked into my first day of internal medicine and was asked what I wanted to do, I was honest. I was eager to learn about everything the internists had to teach me but I was interested in being a surgeon, and I didn’t see a reason to hide that. However, I quickly realized that there was often subtext to the reactions people had when I used the words “general surgery”. Sometimes there were looks of discomfort: the questioner scrunching up their nose as if there was a freshly opened box of blue cheese close by. Other times...
Stereotypes of physical appearance for women in medicine
By Olivia Charles, MS4 “Do you play basketball?” “What are you doing here?? You should be modeling!” “You’re wasting your height.” If I had a penny for every time someone said one of those lines to me during my journey through medical school, I could probably pay off my student loans entirely. I was always slightly taller than my peers since I was a kid, but I really had my growth spurt in high school. Being 6’ as a woman tends to attract a lot of attention–attention that for me was unwanted for a long time, particularly during my time in medical school. There has not been a single day where someone hasn’t asked me how tall I am, if I played sports, or what I'm doing in a hospital when I should be on a runway. While coming from a sincere place, these “compliments” always felt backhanded to me....
Show Up for Yourself: A Message to Women Surgeons Living with Disability
By Dr. Elizabeth Perazza Imagine ringing in the New Year, celebrating 25 years as a successful surgeon. You place a ruby-studded tiara on your head, proud to be 55 years old, 30 pounds lighter, and stepping into your power as Queen Bee—the new sheriff in town. Among over 100 surgeons, OR nurses, and technicians, you stand tall as the next Chief of Surgery. Then, six months later, everything changes. You begin to feel as though you’re slipping away—paralyzed, bedridden, and mentally foggy. You’re dizzy even while lying down. A tingling sensation creeps from your mouth to your toes. Your eyes hurt to open, and you feel exhausted just from breathing. You’re disoriented whether your eyes are open or closed. You undergo a spinal tap, waiting anxiously for results. Then the diagnosis comes: Multiple Sclerosis. Positive oligoclonal bands confirm it. That day, I became another name on the list of those...
I am Superwoman, I can do it all, but should I?
By Dr. Ashley Toussaint Since I was young, I’ve been called a “workhorse.” I’m the one people rely on to get things done, to do more, be more. If something needs to be handled, I’m your woman. That mentality has pushed me through life, and it has served me well. I was a Division 1 athlete in college, then went to medical school, and now, I’m a general surgery resident. That same mentality has carried me through my residency, too. I’ve had two kids while in residency and am currently expecting my third. I delivered both of my children the same day I worked at 40+ weeks pregnant, 18 months apart. I managed to breastfeed and pump for both of my daughters for over a year each. It wasn’t always easy, pumping while rounding on patients, operating, even driving to work. There were days when I did laparoscopic and robotic...
