Real MD

How can medical students help their preceptors provide more meaningful, specific evaluations? In this episode of the RealMD Podcast, guest host Rachel Bonnet, Director of the Office of Education Quality Improvement, Evaluation, and Research, explores how student self-reflection can strengthen the evaluation process and support lifelong learning. Rachel is joined by Dr. Andrew Chang, a clerkship pr...

This episode features a recording from our Fall Storytelling Night, centered on the theme  The Sacred Ordinary . The Sacred Ordinary explores how meaning in life is often found in quiet, easily overlooked moments rather than in major milestones. These in-between spaces might appear in daily interactions, familiar routines that suddenly feel different, or small moments of connection or stillness th...

What happens when the path you’ve been following no longer feels like your own? In this episode of the RealMD Podcast, Sarah Fairweather shares the long and unexpected journey that brought her to medical school after a career in physical therapy, marriage, and raising three children. Sarah reflects on growing up with strong expectations about what her life should look like, learning to listen to e...

What can designing a building teach us about designing a life? In this episode of the RealMD Podcast, we sit down with Celestia Carson, principal architect at VCBO Architecture and a University of Utah alumna who has been part of the new Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine building project since its earliest planning stages in 2017. Celestia shares her unexpected journey into architecture, from...

What happens when we stop looking at medical training as a series of individual moments and start looking at the whole journey? Dr. Doreen Balmer joins the RealMD Podcast to discuss qualitative research, physician identity, and her new book, The Long Arc of Training: Six Stories of Aspiring Doctors . Together, they explore what can emerge when we follow learners over time, paying attention to the...

Incoming medical student Topher Calder shares his journey to medical school and reflects on the excitement, uncertainty, and lessons that come with starting this new chapter. Together, they explore community, resilience, and how to stay true to yourself throughout the journey.

At our medical school, we focus on community building a lot including intergenerational relationships. There is a clear benefit to having relationships with medical students who are further along in the process. Having near peer mentors who understand the road ahead is an invaluable resource. In this episode, we build upon this idea even more and have a special interview between two brothers first...

Neurosurgeon Randy Jensen has worked at the U of U for 28 years. Because so many mentors came out of the wood work to help him navigate his career, he has carved out substantial time to mentor students and help build out a new curriculum. In this episode we talk about his journey into medicine, specialty, and academic medicine. I think the main point I want to shine a light on is how the people wh...

It is hard to believe that Taylor Stewart is starting his third year of medical school. It seems like just yesterday he was starting medical school. In this episode we have a chance to catch up and also talk about his unique journey as a veteran who went from recon missions to discovering medicine and pivoting his career to become a physician. We cover alot of ground and for those who dont think t...

This episode features a recording from our Spring Storytelling Night, centered on the theme Tradition: "Stories of rituals: inherited, invented, and interrupted. Of finding familiarity in the way we fold a napkin, the words we whisper before a meal, or the path we take home. Our spring storytelling event honors the pull of the past and the courage to rewrite it. Come to listen to others findi...

This week, we’re sharing a special bonus episode featuring a conversation from Scope Radio with Dr. Tom Hurtado, Director of Student Affairs. Joined by medical students Noah Danesh (MS3, Keck School of Medicine of USC) and Suchita Kumar (MS4, Vanderbilt University), this discussion explores the power of storytelling, professional identity formation, and the role of mentorship in medical education....

Today on the RealMD Podcast we are joined by Sheherya Ali, a second year MD/MPH student at the University of Texas, Medical Branch at Galveston. In this episode, Sheherya shares how the influence of his mother and father help shape his dual passions for buisnes and medicine. And, how he ultimately chose to pursue a career in healthcare. From his diverse premed experiences to his thoughtful approac...

This is part II of my conversation with third year medical student, Sarah Petelinsek. Her journey into research was organic, based on her own interests and unique background. It’s true that research especially during the first year can be intimidating, the learning curve, finding the right people and projects. Often we don’t think that research can happen on our terms and based on our own interest...

TW Jones is a Pediatric Infectious Diseases attending at the U of U. He was recommended to be guest on this episode so I really didn’t know what to expect. Which makes the happenstance of hearing his journey into medicine all the more powerful. To anyone who has been told that you aren’t cut out to do something, the pre-med advisor who discourages you to apply, a family member tells you they don’t...

The Tribal Rural and Underserved or TRU program was created to help students see that value of being immersed in the tribal and rural space both from a standpoint of future physicians who will practice there, but also seeing a different view of what is possible in medicine regardless of where you practice. In this episode, I interview third year medical student Abel Chavez who grew up in a rural c...

In Healthcare, most of the time, you don’t get to choose your team, the patients do. This means the skillset to turn a group of people who have to work together into a high functioning team fundamentally rests on each of us. In this episode, I had the privilege to talk several faculty members who run the Interprofessional Education Program at the U. First off, I want to say the work they are doing...

Jordan Broadway (Psychiatrist) helped build RealMD from the early days and we continue to collaborate. In this episode she talks about her career transitions from medical school to residency to being an attending and how at each stage she has leaned into the dark to figure out her next step. I love how she has crafted a great career relying on her innate skills to build a strong community and make...

The daunting task of finding and doing meaningful work is understandably hard to navigate. Often, we impose our own limits about what is possible in a career and what doors are open or closed. As a result, the vision of life’s work can be watered down or abandoned. While there are always realities and challenges, what excites me most about this conversation is how Dr. Richard Ingebretsen (Internal...

Caroline and Ivan are second year medical students at Eastern Virginia Medical School and St. Louis University School of Medicine. On today's episode, guest hosts Elise and Poi talk about their unexpected journey to medicine. Getting rejected from medical school forced them to navigate through self-doubt and reflection. They share with us their tips on how to move through rejection and leave the o...

Sarah Petelinsek is a third year medical student who has made it a point to not define herself with the medical student label alone. In this episode we talk about asking for help, experiences that clarify values, maintaining beliefs during hard times, and redrawing the boxes we have to check during medical school. This point of redrawing boxes, struck me as a reminder we all need. There will alway...

We have a special episode of the RealMD podcast based on an event we do for our incoming students, significant others, family, friends, parents, and siblings called Support Your Support Night (SYSN). I am joined by Keena Memmott who plans this event which happens the night before the White Coat Ceremony when families and friends are in town. It is a special night where we get to acknowledge the pe...

Our Real MD students recently held their annual fall storytelling event, which always takes place in my backyard. The weather was perfect. This is a live recording, so you’ll hear the shuffling of storytellers, the audience, and even the crickets singing. The theme this year was self-discovery, and it was a magical night. Storytelling helps us build community and resilience as we share open, hones...

Greg Memmott (Pediatrics) is a second year medical student who is already matched into pediatrics as part of an early match program called EPAC at the University of Utah. Greg and I have worked together in RealMD over the past two years and presented at conferences about how to start leadership programs during medical school. Like everyone else, Greg’s journey includes unexpected twists and turns....

In this episode, I interview second year medical student, Emily Hill, who cohosts her own podcast called Women in White Coats. What started out as a means to explore medicine as a premed has turned into interviews with over 30 women who are physicians who have taken all sorts of journeys, navigated uncertainty, navigated tragedy, dealt with imposter syndrome. and found passion in their careers. Th...

The poet Rilke has a well known poem about living the questions during life’s journey rather than seeking or expecting the answers to unfold in a predetermined way. A fundamental aspect of navigating a career in medicine. In this episode I am joined by guest host and second year medical student Palepoi (Poi) Gilmore. We had the chance to interview Dr. Jake Robson, a Gastroenterologist at Primary C...