Three years ago, before fully committing myself to the idea of going into medicine, I decided to shadow in a genetics outpatient clinic to help give me a clue of what it was about. When I met twelve-year-old Laura (not her real name), she was wearing denim overalls, white sandals, and a floppy green hat. During [...]

My preceptor would call this a “Pandora’s Box” case. Do not open the conversation if you are not prepared to grapple with all of its consequences. This is what I am thinking as I interview Ms. L. I have a standard set of social history questions. Ms. L screens positive for nearly all of them. [...]

My introduction to the Holocaust came at a family Passover Seder when I could not have been older than six. My grandmother clasped her hand around my wrist, lamenting that it was too skinny, and pointed to the food I had swirled around on my plate, urging me to please, eat. My father explained that [...]

What does it take to get into medical school today? High MCAT scores. Pre-requisites galore, coupled with a stellar GPA. Research experience. Clinical experience. Volunteering. It has become a series of checkboxes, many going through the process gripe. Worse, it’s an exercise in conformity. Yesterday at TEDMED, Dr. Jacob Scott shone the spotlight on this system [...]

I am in a room with 1,500 other people. Some are physicians; some are interested in business; there are lawyers, researchers, journalists, songwriters, dancers; some are patients with stories to tell. What we have in common is that we are all interested in health. Welcome to TEDMED 2012 – the world’s only TED-licensed event “focused [...]

“So. Why did you choose medicine?” During the first few weeks of medical school, this question came up a lot in the context of getting to know our fellow classmates. We did icebreakers, learning one another’s stories, sharing our inspirations and motivations. We heard the huge range of narratives and experiences that led us here, [...]

A few months ago, I went to a talk by a health economist. “How many of you think cost will factor into your decision-making with patients?” he asked the audience of medical students. About 80 percent raised their hands. Surprised, he commented that when he asked that question ten years ago, maybe 20 percent of [...]

The woman sitting across from me is eighty-one years old. I am sitting on her couch, not a straight-backed chair, and she is reclining on her sofa, not a hospital bed. I wear a sweater and leggings; I left my white coat at home. She offers me something to drink. It is my first time [...]

What is the most important characteristic a medical student should have? Intelligence? Empathy? Time management? I recently came across an article by Dr. Faith T. Fitzgerald, former dean of students at the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine, that pitches a different idea: Curiosity. Dr. Fitzgerald wrote her insightful piece in response to a [...]

Last year, while I was interviewing to get into medical school, one of my interviewers asked me: “What was the most difficult situation you ever faced, and how did you deal with it?” I started talking. It was not the first time I shared this particular story – or even the first time it had [...]