MD Program

Have we learned anything from HIV or COVID? M4 Nathen, M2s Noah and Shana, and MD/PhD student Aline discuss the new epidemic of “Monkeypox,” and try to discern if our country has learned anything about how to respond to emerging diseases. A BMC Medical Education journal article shines some light on the best (and worst) study techniques med students use to drink from the firehose.

Race is commonly spoken of in medicine as a risk factor for diseases. It has even found its way into the equations that help doctors assess biological function. But race--commonly acknowledged these days as a social construct and not a biological one--really a valid way to factor in the differences between one patient and another? M3 Vijay and other students are helping lead the charge to re-assess these ideas.

Listener Riley wants some suggestions on experiences that will help him grow while he pursues his path to medicine. We discuss some comments from YouTube on female urologists and male patients. That leads to a discussion on why hospitals default to environments for their adult patients which are downright icky.

Whether it’s a class assignment, a personal statement, or a scholarship essay, students are often commanded to reflect on their experiences. Reflection is can be a useful part of understanding what you are becoming. But what that means and how to do it are frequently not well defined. Our M4 co-hosts discuss whether their fears about the residency application process were well-founded or just wheel spinning.

Sometimes, you just don't want to take that extra loan money. One option: a part time job. But that is risky--the time you devote to that job could have been spent on studying, and perhaps could decrease your chances at those competitive residency programs. But there are medical students who make the choice to work, and some jobs might even help your chances.

MD/PhD students Michelle and Aline, PA2 Alice, and M2 Jacob discuss the pros and cons of their use of social media, including... ...who the heck gets to decide what is "professional," and does anyone even know what that means? Listener Alyssa joins the crew to discuss her question: how can she discuss the challenges she experienced during undergrad without sounding whiney (even if her challenges would sure have made Dave whine a bit).

Dr. Abby Hardy Fairbanks, medical director of Iowa City's Emma Goldman Clinic joins co-hosts MSTP students Madi and Riley, and M2s Mao and Tyler to help us understand how the recent SCOTUS decision striking down abortion as a federally protected right will affect their training. The changes may extend beyond OB-Gyn training to affect other specialties...as well as the trust that confidentiality brings to the doctor-patient relationship.

Chirayu (M2), Maddie (M2), Tracy (M2) and new co-host Levi (MSTP) discuss the financial changes that doctors experienced after COVID, and whether a career in medicine makes as much financial sense as it once did. MIT scientists use locust cyborgs to find cancer cells. And we visit with two premeds–Deeraj and Daniel–who are proving that competing with classmates is a losing strategy for studying medicine.

Dave asks his co-hosts--M2 Maddie, M2 Chirayu, MD/PhD students Aline and Hannah--to discuss the things they would like to change about medicine and medical education, if (when) they could. A study in JAMA Pediatrics finds one reason students of color may drop out of med school: mistreatment. Dave fiddles around with AI text-to-image software. Can his co-hosts guess what the AI was trying to create?