Insights on Residency Training

December 12th, 2019

Why Did I Spend an Extra Year as a Chief Resident?

Prarthna Bhardwaj, MD

I was in conversation with a residency applicant recently when we broached the topic of my career plans. I explained that I was interested in pursuing a hematology/oncology fellowship in the future. He asked “Why did you do a chief year, then? Were you trying to improve your application?” At first, I was somewhat offended, […]

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November 7th, 2019

Painting in a Visual (Abstract) Medium

Justin Davis, MBBS

I’m not creative. I wish I were. I listen to music (with my particular choices being classical and music from video games) and wonder to myself how people are able to come up with such amazing pieces of art and media. I’ve tried it myself. I used to play piano back in med school, before […]

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August 28th, 2018

So Let’s Chat About Extracurricular Work Activities

Justin Davis, MBBS

Well, we’re finally here. Somehow, an Aussie has sneaked onto a United States-based Chief Resident blog panel dealing with pertinent issues within medicine, and I actually have to think about what to write. (I’m being slightly facetious here, by the way.) So let’s start, shall we? One of the things that has been on my mind […]

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September 18th, 2017

Beast Mode Is Back! When Actions Speak Louder

John Junyoung Lee, MD

Cal Football I bleed blue and gold. No, I am not talking about Michigan, West Virginia, or Notre Dame. I am definitely not talking about UCLA Bruins (by the way, UCLA fans, a bruin is a brown bear). That’s right — I am a die-hard Cal Bears fan. Thanks to Cal football, and particularly to legendary Marshawn […]

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January 13th, 2017

Ganbare

Jamie Riches, DO

“May I never see in the patient anything but a fellow creature in pain.”- The Oath of Maimonides I am not immune to the post-election frenzy. Never in my relatively short life, nor in my even shorter existence on social media, have I seen people so divided. Shortly after the president-elect was named, I found myself […]

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August 19th, 2016

#OrlandoStrong #EndGunViolence

Kashif Shaikh, MD

I will never forget Sunday morning, June 12. I was off that day. I usually sleep with my cell phone on silent mode, and I slept late after binge watching some movie marathon the night before. I was still half asleep when I picked up my cell phone to see what time it was — but what I actually saw on my phone was a jumble of […]

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June 17th, 2016

My Last Day in Greece

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

Reflections and observations from my last day in Greece as part of the SAMS (Syrian American Medical Society) medical mission for Syrian refugees: 1) It rained during clinic hours. It was a bit inconvenient for the team. For the refugees, it was catastrophic. Their tents, already damaged, allow the drops of precipitation to find their ways in and soak […]

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May 23rd, 2016

My Third Day in Greece

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

1) At one point today in the Idomini refugee camp, I was playing catch with a beautiful baby girl in between some of the tents. She could not have been much older than my own daughter and, like my daughter, would throw the ball backwards over her head instead of towards me and then would […]

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May 22nd, 2016

My Second Day in Greece

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

1) The following are real conversations the team has had with patients/refugees in our short time here: Young lady who came in with urinary symptoms: “How old are you?” “I am 27 years old… I hope this is the last year of my life.”   Teenage male: “I have to get out of here. I’ve spent 3 months of my […]

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May 21st, 2016

My First Day in Greece

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

I am participating in the SAMS (Syrian American Medical Society) medical mission in Greece. 1) Loneliness is truly the darkest consequence of this crisis. The Syrian people haven’t just been kicked out of their homes. They were stripped away from their neighborhoods, friends, and family via death, destruction, sickness, and tough decisions that they had to make about splitting […]

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