Episode 5: Reflections from Netter’s Class of 2025 — Four Years of Growth, Grit, and Gratitude
Rahul
Welcome to Learning to Lead, a podcast about leadership, teamwork, and reimagining healthcare. This podcast is for learners, educators, and healthcare professionals interested in building leadership skills in a supportive community.
We are your hosts Rahul Anand, Maya Doyle, Peter Longley, Amber Vargas, and Brooklynn Weber.
Together we bring you conversations with emerging and established leaders, deep dives and hacks to help you become the best leader you can be.
Rahul
Hi everyone, welcome to this episode of Learning to Lead. Today, we're excited to share our platform with the graduating medical student class of 2025. They're sharing their journeys through the four years of medical school. With me is our co-host, Amber, facilitating this conversation. Amber, take it away.
Amber
Hi everyone. My name is Amber Vargas. I am a fourth year medical student at Frank H. Netter School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University here in Connecticut. Excited about this episode, we'll take you on our journey through medical school and a snippet of our lives prior to and where we're going next. So we'll get started with some introductions. So if everyone could just say their name, background, hometown and what were you doing when you were accepted to medical school?
Adebowale
So my name is Adebowale, but people call me Wale. I was born in Rhode Island, Providence, Rhode Island and when I was accepted I was just in my apartment, wasn't doing anything special. I just opened my email and yeah, it was exciting.
Emmanuel
Hello, my name is Emmanuel Jomo. I was born in Ghana, that's where I was raised. I had my primary and secondary education there, and I moved here for college in New York. When I was accepted to Med school, I was in the lab. I got the time to check my phone, and that's when I saw the email. And I remember making a very wild and exciting shout that drew everybody in the lab to where I was. They thought something was going on.
Amber
Oh no. Like, “What's going on?”
Emmanuel
Yeah. And when they kind of came into the room and I was like, I got into Med school and everybody was like shouting, “Congratulations.” Yeah, it was fun.
Liza
Hi, my name is Liza Landry. I am originally from Sacramento, California but came over to the East Coast 12 years ago or so. Did undergrad, did a Masters program and then I was working as a Tech in the ED in Boston and was coming off a night shift, woke up just scrolling through my email. And saw the email that I was accepted to medical school. So I tried to actually like be really quiet because I wanted to surprise my husband. So I crept up behind him while he was like on a work meeting, waited for him to to get off, and then told him, like, super casually. And he was like, “Wait, what? Come again?” He was like, “What?” That was fun.
Amber
That's awesome. Yeah. I remember when I got my decision, I couldn't believe it. I was like, what? You know, after getting, like, lots of waitlists and rejections, you just think the next one is possibly also.
Liza
Well, and the title in the email said like “Application Decision,” and so that that never ended up being a good email.
Emmanuel
Right. Yeah, yeah, I think I had to read like like 5 lines to actually realize I got accepted.
Amber
Yeah, yeah.
Amber
Awesome. Thank you all for sharing. OK. So then now you're super excited, you got into Med school. This is what you've been dreaming of. You're going to be a doctor. What were some of the fears you were having about starting this journey, embarking on this journey?
Liza
So I was married before medical school started, and so I was moving my husband from across the street from his office, where he was able to walk and be in person. And he's been very career focused like up until that point. And so there's, like, just a lot of pressure of uprooting someone else to go on this journey with you, like being the support system for a medical student or for any of us going through this process, whether it's friends, family, spouses, kids, whatever. It's hard and so I think I felt the weight of that. Pretty intensely. So I think that was probably the biggest stressor for me personally, just because he was amazing. But it was definitely tough.
Adebowale
I would say for me, I didn't see myself as like a typical Med school applicant. I didn't decide until my senior year of college that I wanted to go to medical school, so I had to kind of take these post-bacc classes and I was not the best student at all. But I'm relentless, when I want something like I really go after it. So I got like straight As after that and I got in. But still like, coming here, I guess I was comparing myself to what I thought people would be like. A bunch of people with 4.0, and I was just like a little insecure, a little imposter syndrome. But when I got here everybody was like down to earth and chill. So that kind of alleviated fairly quickly.
Emmanuel
Yeah. So I was afraid that I would not be able to live up to the expectation of what a medical student should be, and is supposed to be like you know. Even though I mean, my family was in New York and I came to Connecticut, I was still afraid that I might not be able to spend any time with them. I had kind of, like, read all these horror stories about medical school. Like you have no time to do anything. So I was afraid that, you know, my big, my community was important to me, my family, that I will not be able to have time for them or I will not be able to keep all the friendships that I had. I was afraid of that. I also consider myself like a non-traditional applicant. So at that point, I had been out of school for about 3 years. And so jumping right back into, like, medical school, I was so afraid that I don't know. I feel like I wouldn't know what to do, like how to study. I feel like I I just don't remember anything. What it means to be a student anymore. So I was just kind of afraid of, afraid of that. But it didn't end up to be, it ended up being like something actually fun and it wasn't as I expected it was going to be, yeah.
Amber
Did you make time to see your family?
Emmanuel
Ohh yeah, every break that we had, I was going back to New York.
Amber
Nice. Very nice. Alright, so now you've done Med school. Everyone here are fourth year medical students. You're coming towards the end of your medical school journey, about to graduate in a few months, few weeks actually. Tell us the hardest things about medical school or anything that was difficult up at a particular stage of the journey. Anything you would have done differently? Liza, you want to get us started.
Liza
Sure. So I mean I think what I said earlier about the, the pressure you feel as a medical student where your career just kind of really dictates your life and the life of the people around you and what you're able to participate in and how available you are. And it kind of creates the schedule for everyone around you because of just how busy we are in medical school, and then the fact that like when we go to residency, we don't really have like options that we can choose from so to speak. We have the match that just kind of tells us where we go and it it works out generally. But I think just that sense of loss of control through the process is pretty challenging I think throughout and so just trying to find ways to soak in the moments that bring joy and that kind of spark, that excitement about the process or the excitement about the job and just excitement about like life outside of medical school and outside of healthcare are really, really important to help stay grounded throughout everything. Emmanuel, what do you think?
Emmanuel
Yeah. I think one of the top things was the constant adjustment that you had to kind of navigate, especially how medical school is kind of sectioned into different blocks and you are learning what you would probably learn in your two years of anatomy or biochemistry. You're learning in like 6 like 6 weeks. And then you kind of had to like pivot and go to something else, like every six weeks. I think that was the toughest thing because you had to figure out how to study. And the way you study for one block will be completely different from the way you study for the next block. And I think that was the toughest one trying to navigate it on top of that, when you actually started the third year, which is a whole different learning curve like clinical experiences that you know going through the rotations, that was also super challenging, especially in our school, where you have to go through different like hospitals and different healthcare systems. I think that was like the most challenging part of Med school.
Adebowale
Yeah, I would agree with that. And also what Liza said about like just kind of like balancing your life, your personal life, with school, that was the hardest part for me. I felt that the material that we were learning wasn't hard. It wasn't something that you can't like grasp, but it's the amount of it. On top of, like, things that may happens in life, you may have, like, a loss of a friend or a mother, right. You might have mental health issues that talk to develop. And it just makes it hard to balance everything that's going on. So a block that's not particularly hard can become really hard if you have a lot of things that are going on. So for me, like you know, having hobbies and things that make me happy was really important to, like staying afloat. For sure.
Amber
Thank you guys for sharing. Changing gears a little bit, so thinking through your Med school journey, think about each year. Is there a time or can you pinpoint an example of when you started to learn more about the other health professional members of the team, for example, nurses, social work, physician assistants? When did you start interacting with them? Getting an idea of what they know, what their scope of practice is. Emmanuel, you want to get us started.
Emmanuel
Yeah. So I think for me, it started in second year when we would do like a case, when we would discuss cases. I don't remember what we called it. I forgot.
Adebowale
PBL.
Emmanuel
PBL, yeah. Practice Problem Based Learning, yeah. Problem Based Learning where we would discuss cases and I think my school did a good job with incorporating sometimes some of these like people like some other students from different healthcare professionals to come and discuss some of those cases with us. I remember there was one time we had a case that had to do with some social work and we had a social worker student come and sit in the PBL and discussing. So that is when I began learning more about, you know, what is the scope of practice for that. And even like sometimes when we would do these like sessions where we do like ultrasound and X-ray. My school did a good job with pairing us with like X-ray Techs, you know, ultrasound Techs, right? Those students. And so that kind of helped us, helped me, kind of learn what like what is like the the scope of their practice? Like, how do they learn, how how long is their program, their training, what are they trained to do and not trained to do?
Liza
Those were super helpful. Yeah.
Emmanuel
I think it was really helpful, but I think ultimately starting third year rotations when seeing everything come together is when I learned more about how these different healthcare professionals, their roles in the healthcare system. Yeah.
Adebowale
Yeah, I actually forgot about those like PBL's and how they had different people come to speak to us. Whenever I get asked that question, I thought more about like third year, and going to different hospitals and different practices. And nurses in different specialties are definitely different like Emergency Medicine nurses, they have their own personality, Psychiatric nurses have their different personality. So it was really cool to like rotate through different spots and see how the workflow is a little different.
Amber
Yeah.
Emmanuel
Right.
Liza
I think so. Actually, when I was when I was growing up, my mom was a PA, but she was actually an MD who trained in Russia, didn't go to residency, went to PA school here. And after school when I was in middle school and high school, I'd go to her office and just sit and do my homework in her office. And so I'd see, like, the MA's come over and talk to her and the nurses in the office and I’d see what she was doing, versus the MD's. And then when I finished college, I was working as a Tech in the ED and so that was I think my biggest exposure to a lot of other professions. So like PT, OT would come and evaluate some of the patients for discharge and working really closely with nursing and the other techs and like there's so many different like professions that come together in the ED and just like in inpatient medicine or in inpatient medicine, like in the hospital in general. And then I think that again like like Emmanuel mentioned, and Wale mentioned, like on rotations and then in PBL like I think our school tried to create opportunities for us to kind of get that exposure which was really nice. But yeah, I think there's been a lot of different experiences, like from different lenses that I think have helped shape my understanding of like all the different professions that go into patient care.
Amber
Yeah.
Adebowale
Really get to appreciate like different, you know, professions. Like nurses do a lot, and I didn’t realize that, like they're so busy.
Amber
Yeah, they do everything.
Liza
Yeah, your eyes and ears for all your, for all our patients.
Adebowale
Absolutely.
Amber
So thinking about specialty, So what were you thinking you might have gone into when you came to medical school? Like, what were your aspirations? What were your career goals? How did that change throughout medical school and what did you ultimately end up applying to for your residency application?
Adebowale
I came in thinking Primary Care, Psychiatry, some along those lines. I've done a lot of work as a counselor for a little while, for young adolescent men I worked in Group homes with people who had mental disabilities. So something along those lines just working directly with people. So I was thinking like, yeah, like? Psychiatry and I kind of stuck to that path throughout the way. At one point I was thinking surgery, but then during my surgery rotation I found out very quickly that it wasn't. Yeah. So yeah, and I stuck on that and I ended up applying to Psychiatry.
Emmanuel
For me, I came to medical school thinking, I thought I was going to be an Oncologist. So when I came, my trajectory was to do a lot of, like, research while in Med school, apply to Internal Medicine and then go in a Heme-onc fellowship. And then at the end of third year, I just decided I was going to do Ophthalmology and I ended up applying to Ophthalmology.
Amber
How did you decide?
Emmanuel
Well, I I think that once I hit third year, I realized that I I became like more open-minded and I realized that I wanted to use the rotations to really explore what my interest or where my interest lies. And so at every rotation I could see myself doing something in it. And the people who were close to me at that point thought I was insane because like after Pediatrics, I was like, I think I'm going to be a Pediatrician. After like Family Med, I'm like I'm gonna be a Family Med like, I really enjoyed pretty much different things. But at the end of my third year, I was still not decided. I thought I was going to do Internal Medicine just because it opens doors for me, so that later on I can do a fellowship. But I didn't really know what I wanted to do, but I had some experience in eye care where I studied optometry in Ghana, growing up. And so I decided to explore that and do a rotation in Ophthalmology to see what happens. So in two, it was a two week rotation and when I started it first week, I realized that there are a little bit of everything in Ophthalmology. Like I get to see pediatric patients, I get to do a lot of like procedures in one day, I get to be in OR when I choose to, I get to see patients from the moment they were born as they are born as a baby up until the time they pass. And also seeing the relationship between like Ophthalmologists and their patients was something that was like really like, exciting. I really enjoyed that. Most of them had built like, you know, 20 years of relationship, 10 years, and that was the aspect of Primary Care that I really enjoyed. And so I realized that the little thing that I enjoyed in each specialty, fit in Ophthalmology in a way that I never saw before. So I walked out of that two weeks thinking, “This is what I want to do,” and I went.
Amber
Alright, that's awesome. Very nice, Liza.
Liza
I came in thinking I wanted to do Emergency Medicine, but I wanted to keep my mind open to all the specialties. So I would go into my I came into my third year rotations kind of similar to Emmanuel, where at some point during the rotation I would come home be like I “I think this is what I want to do,” and the first couple times that I said this my husband was like OK all right, like I'm on board. That sounds good. Like OK. And then I come home a couple weeks later and I'd be like, “I don't think this is for me, I don't know what I'm going to do.” He's like he's “I think you want to do EM.” I was like, “No, but what about all the drawbacks.” And so then I remember I saw my first, I saw my first brain surgery like my second day of my surgery rotation and I was like, I came home, sobbing and Drake was like, “What's wrong?” Drake’s, my husband. Because, like, “What's wrong?” And I was like, “Drake, I did not set up my life to go into Neurosurgery.” And that quickly, that, that desire quickly passed. I have a lot of respect for Neurosurgeons. It's amazing. Very cool surgery. Couldn't do it. But yeah, I found myself just kind of drawn, drawn to the triage of Emergency Medicine. So but I didn't get to rotate an Emergency Medicine to kind of confirm that until fourth year, unfortunately. So all of third year was kind of this endless existential crisis of, like, what specialty will I go into? I thought I wanted to do OB for a little bit. As I loved L&D because it felt like a very niche kind of ED. It was such a happy specialty, it was so cool. I loved the connection with patients and such like a critical point in time. But then when I rotated through the ED, it just kind of captured all of my favorite pieces of medicine. It felt really raw. It felt extremely human. It really prioritized building that connection with people very quickly, and it was just, yeah, it was just awesome. And when I came home from my ED rotations, my husband even noted he's like, “Liza, you belong in the ED.” Like this is he's like, “I've never seen you so happy coming home from rotations, even when you're working like rotating shifts in days and nights and like staying a little bit longer on some of your shifts like this is by far the happiest I've ever seen you.” And so that just kind of confirmed it for me.
Adebowale
Yeah, well said.
Amber
For me, my story is a little unique in the sense that I came in thinking one thing and ended up doing that thing. But but the the road was not, not linear, no it it was not at all. I have previous experience with the Emergency Medicine as an EMT, I worked in an ED, so I came in thinking, OK, most likely Emergency Medicine because I loved it. But I wanted to keep an open mind knowing that like, I hadn't explored other aspects of medicine. So I came in and I'm thinking, OK, most likely emergency, but I I joined like every student group 2nd year. Do you remember that?
Emmanuel
Yeah. Signing up for everything.
Amber
Yes, I just, I wanted to get involved. I wanted to see like what was really for me because I had all these different interests, but I didn't know which interest would be a passion. So I just wanted to explore. So during preclinical I was like, “ohh, I really like Neurology,” and I really liked what else I really like Repro. I really liked, I liked so many different things. And then I thought I would do those things. Then clinical year is really when things just were really dynamic, you know like I did Peds. I really thought I was going to be a Pediatrician for a little bit. I thought I was going to be an OB/GYN for a little bit. I thought I was going to be a surgeon for a little bit. I really just kept changing and then I decided on surgery, actually. I was like, OK, I'm going to do surgery. I loved it. I loved being in the OR, I loved the procedures. Where I did my surgical core rotation, the surgery residents did everything. They were running around the whole hospital cause it was a Community Hospital, so they were all over the place. And I absolutely love that. So that's what made me think I want to do surgery. Then I was on my surgery sub-I, and I'm like wait, I don't know. This is not the same. What's going on here? You know, I did my sub-I at an academic center, so it was very different. And I was like, OK, what was I truly liking about that other rotation and what is it that I truly want to do with the rest of my life. And I'm like, OK, I have these other passions, I like leadership, I like community, I like to be involved. I like to to build these meaningful relationships. So what field would allow me to do that?
And that brought me back to Emergency Medicine. I realized that I love the residents running all over the hospital doing everything, because that's what you do in the ED. I realized I was liking Pediatrics and OBGYN and surgery, I was liking everything because I like a little bit of everything. That brought me back to the ED. And then the community, you know, front and center. So that's a little bit about my journey.
Emmanuel
Yeah, it's interesting how when we are taught to think about choosing specialties, we think of it in terms of the specialty itself or like the, for example, Pediatrics like the whole entirety. But I think you're bringing out something very important thinking about what about the specialty that draws you into it, like rather than the block itself? I want to be a pediatrician. I want to be an OBGYN. But it's about while you are in it and during the rotation, is there an aspect of it that draws you into it? I think that's what helps you kind of figure out what you want to do. You know, what is important.
Amber
Absolutely, yeah.
Adebowale
Also like the lifestyle to it too, like you can want to be a surgeon. But can you live the surgeon life? Can you work like 6 days in a row, seven days in a row and not see your family and kids?
Emmanuel
Right.
Adebowale
All those things are important and even like if you start medical school at age 26, by the time you're 33, are you still going to want to, like, do certain things? So things just change. So, I think it's important to consider like the lifestyle of the specialty.
Liza
Yeah, that was actually one of the reasons I, I really wanted to want to be like a Family Med doc. I really wanted to want, like a nine to five because I was like, well, that's what everyone says. Is like the ideal work-life balance. That's that's what I'm supposed to want for work-life balance. And then when I was on my outpatient rotations, I was like miserable. Yeah, I would come home and I was like Drake. The sunlight is gone. There's no light. And then I have two days, two days in the week to go get sunlight. I was like, this doesn't work for me. I'm a complicated plant. And so I think there's so many people who love like a nine to five and and for me, I love the idea of switching my schedule up all the time, because otherwise I feel like it's just too monotonous and predictable. And I'm like that just it's not for me, but everyone kind of has the life that they want to build for themselves and like kind of going through rotations and seeing everybody find their niche is really, really cool.
Amber
Absolutely. I agree. Yeah. And in Emergency Medicine, something that's unique about it is like you can have a weekday off. Like you can do something while everyone else is at work. Kids go to school, everyone goes to work, you do your own thing, yeah.
Adebowale
Mm-hmm. And a piece of advice I would give to students is to not be afraid to ask personal questions to like attendings, like, even if it's something like, that's like a taboo topic. Like money. If you ask them, I feel like a lot of them are, like, open to talk about how much they make, what expectations are versus reality, how happy they really are, you know, ask questions.
Amber
Absolutely. They might be thinking it's taboo to bring it up, right? They don't know that you wanna know. So if you wanna know, I mean, I see myself as a physician who would want the student to ask me. I wouldn't bring it up because I don't know if they wanna know. But I'm happy to talk about those things. So, yeah, that’s a good point. All right, so this is a general question, how did you grow throughout your medical school journey? How did you engage in leadership development during medical school and how did it impact you personally or professionally?
Emmanuel
I think for me, it was through the Leadership Class that's given us this opportunity to recall this. I I think that was what helped me grow personally during my four years of medical school because I think they gave us the opportunity to do this early on in first year. And then this course like going through self, going through systems, all those things. I think the things that we learned from this course was really important in shaping me who I was individually and also like what type of leader I want to be.
Adebowale
I would agree with that. I didn't have too many leadership positions in the school. I wasn't really too involved to be honest. But I would say like the leadership class told me a lot about myself. One of my favorite things in this class was about staying on your side of the fence. That's my favorite. You know, thing that I've learned because I felt that during that time I was going through a lot of interpersonal struggles and I found myself in a lot of like emotional turmoil and taking out other people's problems. But employing that concept into my life, I learned to just kind of separate things and leave my emotions on this side of the fence. And you know, their emotions are on that side of the fence. And I can acknowledge other people, the things they're going through without, like, you know, stepping on their side, having them step on my side. So I felt that this, this course, the leadership course really taught me a lot about myself.
Liza
Yeah, the managing yourself that I learned through the leadership course was amazing. And I actually I didn't take it during M1, but I was in a couple of leadership positions during my M1 year one of which was the student Rep for one of our courses. And there were some moments where people felt like their feedback wasn't heard, or that it was heard, or it was misconstrued. And so someone that was in the leadership course actually told me about the staying on your side of the fence concept. And that was the first thing that kind of made me really curious about this course and made me email Doctor Anand be like, “Hi can can we please, can we please have this in M2? Thank you.”
Amber
I remember when you put that on a form and it sparked my interest, I was like, “What does she mean? Stay on your side of the net.” But that's such a great term. You know, in terms of like when you're giving feedback, right? Like, you know, it's really about explaining what's going on on your side instead of just like attacking the others or vice versa.
Liza
And it also like reinforces boundaries in like a healthy way without it being stonewalling and just actually wanting to volley a ball across, it's just it's such a great analogy. It's wonderful.
Adebowale
And I think will be very useful in residency because things are gonna be so busy and there's gonna be into, there's going to be a lot of room for like misinterpretation and different personalities. So being able to manage other people and, you know, their little quirks and it's important to keeping yourself sane and keeping a nice workflow.
Liza
Yeah.
Amber
Yeah. And knowing that you also have your own quirks, right? Like so keep them over here. Yeah. Yeah, no. Great analogy overall.
Rahul
This is Rahul. I'm curious if it came up on the interview trail at all.
Liza
Oh yeah, oh yeah, absolutely.
Emmanuel
Oh, it was, yeah.
And especially like during the time that we were talking about Ikigai, you know, the reason for being and figuring out why? Like what moves you? What makes you, you? I think it was also around the time that we were writing our personal statements. And I think all came in super neatly because like you are thinking about who you are as a person, what moves you, what is the real reason for being a physician and for choosing the specialty that you're choosing and taking that and applying it to your personal statement. I think that was also really, really great.
Amber
Sounds like we all really had this course intertwined with what we were doing in real time in medical school. Thank you, Doctor Anand. Thank you.
Rahul
One of the greatest pleasures is when we get to throw things in some of the sessions when you cross the net, yeah.
Amber
All right guys, so what are some things that you're proud of about your medical school journey? And we spoke a lot about fears and challenges and, you know what are just some things that you're proud of and that you reflect on, like, oh, yeah, I did that.
Adebowale
For me, I would say I took Step 1 and Step 2 back-to-back, so that was a really hard time like it was just months of just studying. That's all I did was study, go to the gym, come home, study, go to the gym. I did that on repeat. And so, you know, getting the pass for Step 1 and getting a decent score on Step 2, I just felt really proud of myself and I felt like the time I invested in the studying was like, you know, well worth it. So I felt proud of myself. Thank you.
Liza
I think I felt proud of myself that, I know as an undergrad I wasn't very I wasn't a very strong student, I didn't really know how to study. During my masters, I feel like I learned how to study, but I kind of overworked, felt like I had kind of overworked myself during it. And I think in medical school I got to a point where I felt like I understood what I needed to do in order to do well and learn what I needed to learn. But I think I started to kind of respect my own boundaries of, how much of myself I was willing to give to my career and to medical school and how much I needed to just reserve for myself. And I think finding that balance and continuing to try to find that balance was something that I just wasn't very good at in the past. And I think I've gotten a lot better at throughout. That's I think, that's probably the biggest, biggest thing that I feel like proud of through this.
Emmanuel
I think for me, two things come to mind. The first one is when I was at the end of my second well, first year I was able to present a PowerPoint. I made a oral presentation at a national conference and it was like out of like, a work that I was able to do in he summer. So before my school I started a project, and I was able to continue the project like lab work in medical school and be able to write about it and be able to make a PowerPoint presentation about it. I think I felt super proud cause like having that moment like at a national conference and having that overall presentation, I think I was super proud of it. I think the second one was when I actually matched and I think that was another super proud moment cause applying to, you know, the residency and making all these application at the time when I felt like I was a really late applicant because I didn't decide early, I kind of decided in the last minute and to kind of put together an application in March, I think I was really proud of that.
Amber
Yeah, that takes us into the next question which I was going, they say like one of the biggest things that, you know, medical students are proud of is matching. You know, medical students who are pursuing clinical careers after Med school, you know, some medical students decide to pursue other careers, post Med school. But for those who are looking to move into the clinical space, matching is a big milestone, a cornerstone of medical school for us. So we can segue into how match went. We just had our match a few days ago. Well, ophthalmology matches early, so Emmanuel has known for a little bit now, but we can, you know share those results because that's something that we should all be very, very proud of.
Emmanuel
Yes. So I matched into Ophthalmology. see the app state, Syracuse super excited Syracuse. Here I come.
Amber
Where? Where?
Emmanuel
SUNY Upstate, Syracuse. Super excited Syracuse, here I come.
Amber
Awesome. New York.
Adebowale
I matched Psychiatry at Howard University Hospital in Washington, DC.
Liza
I matched Emergency Medicine at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento.
Amber
Congrats guys. Such huge achievements, huge achievements. I also matched into Emergency Medicine at Yale, New Haven Hospital.
Adebowale
Congrats.
Emmanuel
Congrats, yeah.
Amber
Thank you. Thank you guys. So if there's just one thing that you can tell your M1 self, what would it be?
Adebowale
It's never as bad as it seems. Never. I always felt like my world was like crashing around me, but it was never that bad, it really wasn't, when I looked back. And I could have used a lot of that pent up energy and frustration to, you know, do more positive things or study more or whatever. But yeah, I just felt I spent a lot of time stressing, so I would have done a lot less of that. I would tell him to just relax and fall into your hobbies, things that make you happy. And then you know, get back to work after you feel happy again.
Emmanuel
For me, I would say Med school is hard, so take time to enjoy the little pleasures of life when you have them. When you have the moment when you have the chance, do something fun for yourself. Do those hobbies, those little things that you know really rejuvenate you and make you happy do those because Med school is hard.
Liza
I'd say resilience and grit are not the same thing. Grit implies a certain level of kind of brute force, and eventually it's pretty exhausting. Resilience is a lot more bendy and flexible, and in order to have that resilience, resilience is built from small celebration of all the little moments along the way. So don't be afraid to celebrate yourself and celebrate all the small wins, because that's what you're going to fall back on when you are feeling down, when inevitably something doesn't go right or there's disappointments. You can always fall back on the things that are the little glimmers in your life and the little celebrations and that will keep you going.
Adebowale
Absolutely.
Amber
For me, I would tell my M1 self to do more self-care things, like eating right, going to the gym, prioritizing those things. I think I felt like I just had to go above and beyond in terms of academics and extracurriculars and so I would tell my M1 self that it's OK to take an hour, go to the gym. You know it's OK to take an hour, cook something. So, that's what I would tell my M1 self.
Liza
I definitely feel like there was a lot of comparison, not not like comparison like outright. But I think internally coming in that sense of impostor syndrome of feeling like everyone else has it together. I remember looking around our class and hearing people talk about this really cool research project they were doing, and
like that was always something that I felt really self-conscious about that I didn't feel strong in. There were other people who were doing, who had just like, the coolest just back stories and such interesting, like, paths to where they were. I was like, how am I ever going to measure up to these kinds of people like when I have to when I have to apply to residency. And like I I just, I had confused the growth mindset for like if you just push yourself harder and harder and harder and harder then you'll be successful. And I think it's really hard to navigate like that comparison of being like, OK, like you none of us are going to have all the same strengths. And that's what makes us such a great class. And I think that's what makes us such diverse providers in all the different fields that we're all going into.
Amber
I think we all have feelings like that, you know, like, I felt like that towards everyone in this room. You know, Liza like you would speak up and in our group sessions, and you had all your cheat sheets. And I was like, oh, my goodness, what am I doing wrong? I don't know all this stuff. You know, like everyone, you know, had their own strengths in their own ways. And I think it also helped the rest of us feel motivated and inspired, like OK well, I can do that too. That person is doing that. Let me ask them what they're doing like, let. Let's connect, right? Let's do it together.
Emmanuel
Yeah.
Rahul
So you've arrived now as physicians, you're looking to go into your specialties and you are the future of healthcare. You're the present and the future of healthcare. You're trained in leadership as well. How do you think you're going to be different from the existing crop of healthcare workers? How are you going to build the healthcare system of the future differently?
Amber
I think for me it's always about community and belonging. I feel like that's the cornerstone of, like, successful, like, feeling a sense of community and belonging for myself, like in terms of being productive within my own life and my own career. But then also like teams like the people you're working with. I feel like it's important to check in, see how they're doing, let them know that you care about what's going on on their side of the net. You know, like that's what fosters community and belonging. And then on a larger scale, when teams feel like they belong, and that this is their community, then they care about the overall system and how that system is performing. So I think it really starts with that, like that's just one thing for me that I'm looking to bring into healthcare now as a resident. And then of attending in the future like just, you know, staying true to that mission of community and belonging is important to me.
Adebowale
Yeah. I would agree with that. I just want to move as a physician as like an authentic, like, approachable person. I wanna know it's really important to me to, like, welcome to the room and acknowledge everyone who's in the room say good morning to anybody, no matter what their position is like. I just want to be someone who, like, kind of breaks that barrier down between, like, the community and the physician because some people can be intimidated by physicians, believe it or not. So I just want to be someone who's like, you know, just like you, I'm a normal person. And a second point is that I want to inspire like young men of color to like do more and to like get into medical school or to health care if you want to. I didn't meet a black physician until I was 23, a black male physician. And before I met him, I'd even really imagine what I thought he'd be like. Maybe at one point I thought he was white, but then I walked into the room and I'm 6’3” and he was taller than I was, and he's a black male. I was like, “Wow, and you're a doctor.” That moment was like really inspirational for me. So I just want to be a good example for other people, you know, show people that you can do it.
Amber
You did it.
Rahul
Love that, love that.
Emmanuel
Yeah, I think I want to echo what Adebowale said, and also bring my authentic self into making an impact in the lives of others. I think that's one of those things that has been like it sounds cliche, but it's like my mission statement is to make impact and touch lives wherever I find myself. So bringing that, you know, creating a community wherever I find myself and being the leader that leverages the strengths of others to accomplish a common goal. And so that's what I hope to bring into healthcare that will all be people who would cherish our diversity. In the things that we do and the different fields that we have so that we can bring all the strengths that we have from every different background wherever we are and accomplish a specific goal to impact the lives of the people that we are taking care of.
Liza
I think similarly to what you guys have said so far, I want to prioritize being someone that's approachable and being someone that I feel like patients don't feel as much of a need to, I guess, impress. I think a lot of the time patients will when we ask them like, “What's your diet like? What are you doing for exercise?” And just different questions. They'll say one thing, and then they'll sit and think for a second. Be like, well, actually, and then go into some of the challenges that they have. And I think just being a safe space for both patients and for people that I work with, I think will hopefully create a better dynamic and also just allow for more patient like autonomy so that I can meet them where they're at and try to help them set and reach achievable goals even though I'll be in the ED, there's small things, just counseling about like setting up a primary care provider, or following up with with PT, or getting in touch with social work to work out a situation that may be inhibiting them from getting certain healthcare that they really, or certain needs met that they really should get met because they're human. They deserve that. So I think just kind of approaching medicine from like a very human perspective and trying to prioritize that, like patient education in a way that feels comfortable.
Emmanuel
Yeah.
Amber
Alright guys, you are all going to be amazing physicians. Like just listening to you each speak for this session has been inspiring and amazing. So thank you for being vulnerable. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for being here today. One thing that we do at the end of our session is just key takeaways. So just one thing that you took away from this discussion. Maybe something you learned today, something you thought about, or just something that you want the listeners to take with them.
Adebowale
I'll say just to kind of, just be yourself. Like as I'm, you know, listening to everyone, everyone here just has such a unique personality. But the thing I love about you guys is that you guys are all being yourselves. So I would just say that no matter where you are first year, second year, just like be yourself. If you feel like you're incompetent or you're not doing something right, just, you know, just be in the moment and just be yourself. Because, like I said earlier, it's never as bad as it seems. So just move authentically and just be honest and everything will workout in the end.
Emmanuel
I think what a key take away is I think where we're sharing one thing that we would do differently, starting Med school all over again. I think everybody echoed doing something fun and you know, celebrating little wins. I think that would be even more so going forward in residency. So that's something that I'm definitely taking away that when things get tough, when things get difficult, residency is probably going to be even much harder then I ever imagined, and so taking time to celebrate the wins, taking time to do something fun, taking time to have some me moments, some self-care moments. I think that's something that I'm taking away.
Liza
I just really love our class. I'm just so excited for everybody. Yeah, I think that's that's my biggest. Because I'm like, I'm sad that I'm that we're graduating and like I think there's so many people that I wish I had more time with, but I'm so excited for everybody.
Emmanuel
Mm-hmm.
Amber
Same same. I think one thing for me is I think I realized that we're now like in this position where people look up to us like we’ve spent our time looking up to other people and seeking.
Liza
We create.
Emmanuel
All the post-match panels.
Amber
Yes, and seeking guidance from others. But we're now in this this position where, you know medical students, pre meds e they're looking at us, like how do I get there? Yeah, just I don't know, it just kind of clicked for me that we're in this position now and you know, to be open and vulnerable with people who are seeking our mentorship is important.
Rahul
Yeah. First of all, what a beautiful journey through the last four years. That was a delight. Thank you, guys. And what I'm taking away is that when the story began, when you entered medical school after the initial excitement, there was really a period of finding yourself. It's like you lost yourself in the chaos and to-dos of medical school. And then you did find yourself. And then it's like a light went on and now that light is shining bright, it's radiating, it's ready to go. Spread all over, you know, help patients change our healthcare system for the better. So we are really proud of what you've done and who you've become and look forward to incredible things from all of you in the future. And you our listeners, we'd love to hear from you as well what resonated with you, what was left unanswered and you would like to ask our panelists. Feel free to continue the conversation. Tag us on social media or drop a comment. We'd love to hear from you. Thanks for tuning in. And until next time, take care and keep leading and keep learning.
Brooke
Thank you for listening to our show. Learning to Lead is a production of the Quinnipiac University podcast studio, in partnership with the Schools of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences.
Creators of this show are Rahul Anand, Maya Doyle, Peter Longley, Amber Vargas and Brooklynn Weber.
The student producer is Brooklynn Weber, and the executive producer is David DesRoches.
Connect with us on social media @LearningToLeadPod or email us at LearningToLeadPod@quinnipiac.edu.