What Brings You In Today?

We’re kicking off spooky season by exploring fear in medicine. In this episode, Dr. Helen Salisbury shares her essay titled “Reasons to be Fearful.” She also talks with us about different sources of fear health care providers face, the many ways in which fear presents itself in medicine, and what we can do to address fear in ourselves and others. 

In this episode, we explore extracurriculars in medical school by chatting with leaders of two student organizations at UW SMPH, Scrubs Addressing the Firearm Epidemic (SAFE) and PRIDE in Healthcare. We chat about their work, why it’s important to them, and how they balance it with medical education.

To kick off Season 3 of What Brings You In Today, we are exploring hobbies and extracurriculars in medical school. In this episode, we talk to Mallory, Megan, and Sarah about their hobby of rock climbing, and to Sammie about her hobby of painting Disney silhouettes. We discuss the foundations of their hobbies, the challenges of maintaining them throughout their medical training, the fulfillment that they provide, and the connections they inspire. 

Happy Pride Month! In this episode, we talk with Micah Larson (they/them), a recently graduated medical student from UWSMPH about their experiences in medical school. We explore the highs and lows of medical school, the challenges and joys of being a queer person in medicine, and hopes for the future. If you're interested in resources for LGBTQ+ folks both in and outside of medicine, check out: World Professional Association for Transgender Healthcare (www.wpath.org)UCSF Transgender Care (www.transcare.ucsf.edu)Wisconsin Transgender Health Coalition (www.witranshealth.org) 

Stories help us better connect with patients, build community with our peers, and process our own experiences in healthcare. In this episode, we continue our exploration of story-telling in medicine by talking with Thor Ringler, a writer who works for the My Life, My Story project at the Madison VA. He discusses the scope and logistics of the program, reflects on the richness these stories provide to patient experiences and care, and even shares two stories from real patients. 

Stories are fundamental to what it means to be human and to be human in medicine. Stories help us understand our patients, find community amongst our peers, and make sense of the challenges and joys of being in medicine. A few weeks ago, the power of stories was put on display at the Night of Storytelling, a live storytelling event organized by the Gold Humanism Honor Society at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.  At this event, we heard compelling stories from six speakers: Dr. Robert Golden, Ben Kannenberg (M4), Ali La Jeunesse (M1), Hasan Nadeem (M4), Olivia Rater (M4), and Dr. Jason Stephenson. We are excited to have hosted this event (our first live event!) and to be able to share it with all of you in this episode. We hope you enjoy!

In our second episode this month, we continue our conversation about alternative career paths in medicine. We had the pleasure of talking with Greg Raupp, a third year medical student at University of Wisconsin SMPH who trained as a social worker and joined the National Guard prior to starting medical school. He discusses his motivations for pursuing medical training, experiences with transitioning back into a student role, and lessons learned along the way. He also reflects on his ideal career and life in the future. If you are interested in learning more about getting involved with the National Guard, check out https://www.nationalguard.com/careers/medical. 

In this episode exploring alternative paths in medicine, we had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Seema Yasmin, an Emmy-award winning journalist, author, medical doctor, and professor. We discussed her multifaceted career and all the transition points she encountered along the way. She covers her journey from clinical practice, to public health work as an EIS officer, to journalism, authorship, and professorship. We talk about how scary it can be to “step off the conveyor belt” in the world of medical training and forge a new path, as well as the ways different opportunities and interests work together to create a life that is varied, fulfilling, and impactful. She shares lessons learned, career advice, and goals for the future.

From Monday, when students learned if they had matched, to Friday, when they gathered with family, friends, and peers to celebrate where they matched, it was a week full of emotions. In this Post-Match Day episode, Kate, Karina, and Luke return to tell us about their Match Day experience  and final thoughts on the excitement and anxieties surrounding this process.  We recognize that people experienced this week in many different ways, but regardless of Match Day results, the WBYIT team wants to congratulate every student who went through the Match process for making it to this point in medical school. We wish you the best in the rest of your journey in medicine!

On Match Day, medical students around the country find out their residency training placements. While Match Day is usually a day full of celebration, it’s preceded by months of application preparation, long interview days, hard decision making, and uncertainty. In this Pre-Match Day episode, we talk to three fourth-year medical students at UWSMPH, Kate Lauer, Karina Barretto, and Luke Richard, about how the last few months leading up to the Match have been for them. Tune back for our next episode in two weeks, where we check in with these students Post-Match!