The D.O. Diaries

If you're interested in pursuing a career in aviation, one option to consider is flight medicine. Flight medicine is a specialty that focuses on the health and well-being of Navy pilots, flight officers, and other aviation personnel.  Dr. Rizzo is an experienced flight doctor with several years of training with the Navy. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the field, and he's pa...

Welcome to episode 26 of The D.O. Diaries Podcast! In this episode, we are excited to feature Dr. Robert Singleton , a board-certified anesthesiologist who has been in private practice for about 6 years. Dr. Singleton is a highly qualified physician who prioritizes balance in both his job and family life. He shares his insights on how he manages to maintain this balance, and how his faith influenc...

We're pleased to be joined by Dr. Rahul Damania , a highly accomplished Pediatric Critical Care Physician and co-founder of HyGuru . He has gained immense popularity for his educational YouTube videos and Instagram page, where he provides in-depth explanations of complex USMLE topics in a straightforward and easy-to-understand manner that is accessible to a wide range of medical students. Dr....

We have officially kicked off our Specialties in Medicine Series, where we interview specialists in different clinical settings to give you the best possible idea of what your future career might look like! For this episode, we have Dr. Brittany Ladson, DO , who is a DO and an emergency medicine resident physician at Central Michigan University. Tune in to hear her insight on why emergency medicin...

We'll walk you through a typical day of our lives and share a realistic view of how much time we spend studying and doing medical school-related activities.  We'd love to hear from you! Feel free to share a screenshot on your social media, rate us on Spotify or Apple podcasts, leave us a review, and let us know what you think of today's episode! IG: @ thedodiariespodcast , @meghan_medl...

What better way to end 2022 than with a reflection! Join us as we share what we've learned after 3 semesters in medical school, how our study strategies have changed, and our plans for our licensing exams.  We'd love to hear from you! Feel free to share a screenshot on your social media, rate us on Spotify or Apple podcasts, leave us a review, and let us know what you think of today's...

You sure don't want to miss this episode especially if you're considering applying to competitive specialties! Our guest Jonny is a 4th-year osteopathic medical student at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine currently applying for Dermatology residency programs.  He shares great advice on how to be a competitive applicant and utilize your network. Getting research experience in medic...

In this episode, we brought on our favorite OMM professor, Dr. Hawkins Mecham. Dr. Mecham grew up hiking in the mountains and helping raise animals on his family's small farm in Utah. He completed his medical education at Des Moines University COM and went on to specialize in neuromusculoskeletal medicine. We get vulnerable and talk all about Dr. Mecham's journey to medicine, his mental he...

Join us as we interview Dr. Alice Akunyili, one of Kaplan's previous USMLE faculties and our school's current assistant dean for academic affairs. Dr. Akunyili grew up in Enugu, also known as Coal-city, in eastern Nigeria and received her Medical Degree from the Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Timisoara, Romania.  We talk about dealing with Imposter Syndrome and hardships...

Join us as we discuss different ways we practice self-care as medical students. Regardless of the field you are in, self-care is important. Your day-to-day practice can truly help to take you from just doing fine to enjoying life and your studies.  We'd love to hear from you! Feel free to share us on your social media, rate us on Spotify or Apple podcasts and leave us a review and let us know...

You read that right! Our school is pretty unique in that they require us to work two 8-hr scribing shifts per month. We talk about the ups and downs and how we’re managing our time with our busy schedules. We'd love to hear from you! Feel free to share us on your social media, rate us on Spotify or Apple podcasts and leave us a review and let us know what you thought of today's episode! IG: @-dodi...

In this episode, we have the one and only The Period Doctor aka Dr. Charis Chambers an OB/GYN with fellowship training in Pediatric & Adolescent Gynecology. Dr. Chambers has a very active role on Instagram and has amazing posts on women's health education and patient advocacy. We talk about Roe v. Wade and what women can do to advocate for themselves with this new supreme court decision. Make...

In today’s episode, Arazoo interviews AJ, a fourth-year medical student applying for Psychiatry. He has nearly 100k followers on Tik Tok @medquestions , where he posts fun and educational videos about being a medical student. We talk candidly about his decision to hike more than 300 miles over the summer, applying psych this cycle, how he balances school with life, and why he uses his platform on...

In this episode, Meghan brings on her boyfriend (Rakeem) and they talk about their long-distance relationship. They talk about the ups and downs of a long distance relationship and how they stay intentional. Distance is hard but with the right person, it's doable! We'd love to hear from you! Feel free to share us on your social media, leave us a review and let us know what you thought of today's e...

This episode is a special one as we are interviewing one of Meghan’s most influential mentors, Dr. Adam Howard. Dr. Howard has had a pretty non-traditional journey to medical school. He dropped out of high school to become a taekwondo master! After returning, he went on to obtain his Master's from Brown University. He is now a psychiatry resident at Duke University School of Medicine and works as...

In this episode, we bring on a special guest Abdulla Jastaniah from the Anking team. Abdulla is a 4th-year D.O. student at VCOM Virginia. He took 2 gap years before starting medical school. He picked up a passion for learning and spaced repetition during med school, leading him to join the AnKing Team. Outside of medicine he does stand-up comedy and is into beatboxing. Fun fact - many of the UWorl...

We value vulnerability and openness in our podcast. So what better way than talking about our goals for our second year? We answer these 3 main questions: What are some steps we plan to pursue to reach our full potential? How are we going to prioritize our non-negotiables (self-care, training, etc) What are 3 things we want to accomplish in the upcoming semester? We'd love to hear from you! Feel f...

In this episode, we discuss the differences between DO and MD. This is not your typical history lecture — we add our own twist by talking about our personal experiences with OMM (Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine) and why we love the osteopathic philosophy. We'd love to hear from you! Feel free to leave us a review, share and tag us on your Instagram, and let us know what you thought of today's ep...

This episode is all about productivity. Our lovely guest, Gemma, is a coach and medical student. She discusses some of the ways she manages her time between a full-time job and her studies. Be sure to check out her page @gemmaruffin We'd love to hear from you! Feel free to leave us a review and let us know what you thought of today's episode! IG: @_dodiariespodcast, @meghan_medlyfe, @amshwany

This is our first away episode as we enjoy the "last summer" of our journey. We reflect on the good, the bad, and the ugly from our first year and how we can be better versions of ourselves. The inspiration for this episode comes from Womens Health Movement , which Meghan is a part of. We'd love to hear from you! Feel free to leave us a review and let us know what you thought of today's episode! I...

In this episode, we get vulnerable and talk about mental health. We start with an excerpt from Dr. Epstein's book, Attending: Medicine, Mindfulness, and Humanity , and reflect on the definition of mindfulness, before discussing the tools we used to stay sane during our first years, such as meditation and journaling. Resources we talked about: The Daily Stoic , Headspace We'd love to hear from you!...

In this episode, we talk about some of the things you should and shouldn't do the summer before your first year of medical school. Most importantly, remember to celebrate your acceptance and spend time with your loved ones! We also share a list of things you can do/purchase to aid your transition. We'd love to hear from you! Feel free to leave us a review and let us know what you thought of today'...

In this episode, we are continuing our talk with the pre-med years and sharing some golden nuggets of advice about MCAT prep and the application process.  We talk about the importance of diagnostic exams and how you can become a better MCAT test taker. We also share some important factors to consider when applying to medical schools and some ways you can save $$$ . We talk about resource...

In this episode, we discuss our decision to take a gap, or "growth," year between undergrad and medical school. We also talk about our experiences during our growth years and the different activities that will make you a competitive medical school applicant. We'd love to hear from you! Feel free to leave us a review and let us know what you thought of today's episode! IG: @meghan_medlyfe, @amshwan...

In this episode, we talk about our college years, what extracurricular activities we did, and the resources that come handy in your pre-med years. We reflect on the lessons we learned and what we would have done differently. We'd love to hear from you! Feel free to leave us a review and let us know what you thought of today's episode! IG: @meghan_medlyfe, @amshwany