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Journeys in Medicine: An ECFMG Blog
Posted on Categories Clinical Training Experience, My Story, Words of WisdomTags , , ,

Redefining the Path Forward

By Dr. Walaa Hasan

“Mom, you will pass—I believe in you.”

Those words from my seven-year-old son, Selim, still echo. Diagnosed with hearing loss at the age of three, Selim has faced life with resilience and strength that inspire me daily. If he could adapt and thrive despite his challenges, I knew I could, too.

My journey from Egypt to the United States has been one of starting over—not as a setback, but as an opportunity to grow, redefine myself, and chase my dreams. In 2019, my family and I relocated to the United States to create a better future. While my husband, also a physician, began his residency, I focused on rebuilding my medical career in a new country. Balancing rigorous preparation for residency with motherhood, I found strength in my family’s unwavering support and the lessons I learned along the way.

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How to Succeed in Your “Rookie” Year

By Dr. Sushania Pryce

In U.S. sports, the “rookie” is the newest member of the team. In basketball, the rookie often doesn’t get to begin the game with the “starting five”—the group of skillful players who start the game—but they are always eager to play. When I left my home country to begin my journey as a resident in the United States, my initial thought was that I would be just like the rookie. To some extent the analogy is true, but in the case of being a medical intern, you are both a rookie and part of the starting five: even though you’re new to the team, you have to play every game.

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Posted on Categories Clinical Training Experience, Cross-cultural Experience, Words of WisdomTags , , , ,

The Pop-Up Cultural Marketplace

By Dr. Vernicia Hernandez

I am an internal medicine resident at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital (UM/JMH) in Florida. The director of my program, Dr. Stefanie Brown, is committed to recruiting the most diverse class of residents, which is reflected in our residency cohort. There is strength in diversity, and it can be leveraged through a culture of mutual understanding and respect. To help promote this culture in my program, I decided to launch a project called the ‘“Pop-Up Cultural Marketplace.” The Pop-Up Cultural Marketplace project aims to foster a better understanding of the other societies, values, and cultures represented by the community at my host institution.

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A New Beginning for HIV Patients

By Dr. Ram Prakash Thirugnanasambandam

“Is it true that there is an injection for HIV now?”

This is a common question many patients have asked me at the outpatient clinic over the past six months. It felt like a dream come true for most of my patients who had been taking daily medications since their diagnosis. To me as well, it was a remarkable advancement in the treatment of this disease, which has defined much of my J-1 physician training experience thus far.

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Against All the Odds

By Dr. Poorvi Agrawal

Since I was a young child, my father taught me to dream. That is how a young me, with no medical background or exposure to the healthcare profession, dreamed of becoming a provider one day. I graduated from B.J. Medical College, which is affiliated with one of the largest hospitals in Asia, Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad. I was introduced to research and the science behind it during my practice, and it was then that my dream expanded: I dreamed of one day becoming a physician-scientist. The idea of juggling caring for patients, where every patient poses a new question for science, and working in the lab to discover answers to those questions, sent an adrenaline rush to my system. It was then that I decided to pursue the dream of furthering my medical education in the United States, due to its large investment in the research sciences.

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