The Future Minority Doctor Podcast

Listen in as Dr. Allison Fernandez shares her story of becoming an anesthesiologist — a specialist who helps patients manage their pain and get through surgery safely. She shares how she happened to learn about the field of anesthesiology because her mom was a housekeeper for a nurse anesthetist who invited her to shadow her at work. She also shares how she was able to adjust to the somewhat intim...

Second-year medical student Camila shares all about how she studied to take the MCAT and scored a 509 on her first try, which helped land her in an excellent medical school (UC Berkeley-San Francisco)! She also shares how even though her mom was a doctor, she was not immune from academic struggles and isolation during her premed college years — including having trouble finding a chemistry lab part...

Laurel Hiatt is currently in their third year of a combined MD/PhD program at the University of Utah School of Medicine. Listen as Laurel shares their story of growing up in the South and navigating premed life as a first-generation non-binary college student. They share some of the challenges they faced interacting with healthcare providers, and how these experiences plus a love of science motiva...

If you’ve ever wondered if you can succeed at becoming a doctor after having a different career or kids, Dr. Rose Diaz is here to show you it’s possible! In this episode, Dr. Diaz shares about her upbringing in a traditional Mexican-American family, how Little House on the Prairie and her pediatrician sparked her early interest in medicine, her ten-year career teaching kindergarten, how losing wei...

In this episode, Dr. Zulma chats with Aminta about her journey into medicine and how she managed to score a 514 on the MCAT! Aminta shares about how she struggled in high school, started out at a community college, and eventually transferred to UC Berkeley where she majored in psychology and discovered her passions for health justice and public health. She discusses how studying for 6 months, taki...

In this interview, Dr. Marina chats with Melissa Gonzalez, an amazing medical student who completed her first year of medical school in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. She shares about how her family’s experiences of poor access to healthcare access and shadowing in a free clinic inspired her to become a doctor, the culture shock and academic rigor she encountered in college, how she learned t...

Join Dr. Marina as she talks with medical student Erika Bernardino about her secrets for MCAT success. Erika shares how hospice work motivated her to become a doctor and the tips and tricks she she used to improve her MCAT score from a 508 to 511 — including what test prep materials she used, how much time she gave herself to prepare, how she made time to study while taking college courses, how sh...

In this episode, Dr. Zulma talks with third year medical student Sergio Villegas. He opens up about his life and career goals — including how being hospitalized due to complications from Crohn’s Disease at age 17 inspired him to become a doctor, the perseverance required to get into medical school (and why applying more than once is OK!), how he has navigated college and medical school with the up...

Check out the “body scan” meditation Dr. Lubliner refers to in this episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS2yDmWk0vs

Hear Dr. Laster’s inspiring story of her journey into medicine. She shares about growing up on the south side of Chicago, competing in beauty pageants, her love of singing (and a demo!), grappling with self-doubt in medical school, what she loves — and doesn’t — about her job as a kidney specialist for kids, and how she’s come to realize that even the best doctors aren’t necessarily smarter than h...

Listen in as first-year medical student Gurjit Kaur shares how she prepared to rock the MCAT! She talks to us about how growing up in an immigrant family in central California inspired her to go to medical school, how she rushed to prepare for the MCAT the first time around but didn’t get the score she wanted, and how she upped her game the second time around to ensure a competitive score that hel...

In this episode, we give an overview of what the MCAT is, what subject matter is tested, how long the test is, when it is offered and how to register, why it’s so important to prepare for it properly, and some general tips on how to prepare. We also discuss what we think the most challenging part of the MCAT is. If you’re in college and looking at taking the MCAT in the next 1-2 years, this episod...

Dr. Abinsay & Dr. Valdez are two married Filipino doctors practicing medicine in Hawaii. In this episode, they share their stories of their upbringing, how they decided to become doctors, the challenges they faced in college and medical school, what they love about their careers, what it’s like to be a doctor couple with children, and many nuggets of wisdom that they like to share with students th...

Is it hard for you to muster up the courage to ask a question in class, ask your teacher or professor for help, or admit you don’t understand something? Asking for help can be hard for anyone, but many minorities face additional challenges — including being brought up not to question authority, stereotype threat, a strong tendency toward self-reliance, or mental health struggles. In this episode,...

Do you struggle with your self-confidence? Listen in as we explore: what self-confidence is, why we sometimes lack it, what the “confidence gap” is, how you can develop greater self-confidence, and the dangers of over-confidence for doctors.

Alejandro Aviña-Cadena is a medical student completing his fourth year of a combined MD-MPH program at UC Irvine. Listen as he talks to us about the journey he took to medical school -- including growing up in a heavily Latino neighborhood in Los Angeles, being a C student in high school, confirming his passion for medicine in community college, transferring to a four-year university, learning to...

Do you want to learn how to improve your memory so you can do better in your classes? Then, this episode is for you! We cover the stages of learning (encoding, consolidation, and recall), tips for how you can study in ways that will make information "stick" better, and how you can take care of your health in order to keep your brain in top shape. If you struggle with memorizing lots of information...

Making the decision to become a doctor is hard by itself, but it can be even more difficult when faced with conflicting family, cultural, social, economic, religious, and gender expectations. In this episode, we dive into some of these topics, sharing a lot of the personal and family challenges we faced — like Zulma getting the cold shoulder from her dad when she decided to go away to college, and...

Listen to Dr. Roseanna Guzman-Curtis share what she loves about being a trauma surgeon and how she got where she is today. She talks to us about being inspired by her AVID teachers in high school, thinking she wanted to be an obstetrician but accidentally falling in love with the field of surgery, the “controlled chaos” of being a trauma surgeon and helping people at all hours of the day and night...

Nobody who becomes a doctor does it all alone. We all need mentors — people to give us advice, constructive feedback, and encouragement along the way. In this episode, we discuss how to go about finding a mentor, or multiple mentors, to help you along your path to becoming a doctor (or whatever else you choose to become). We offer advice on how to identify possible mentors, how to overcome the fea...

Have you or a loved one ever struggled with feelings of sadness, depression, worry, anxiety, or panic? Or, do you simply want to better understand these unique (but common) challenges? Join us and guest psychiatrist Dr. Renee Garcia for an in-depth discussion of depression & anxiety. (Trigger Warning: Discussions of suicide) (Disclaimer: This episode is intended for general advice only. If you hav...

Listen to Siale Vaitohi, a second-year medical student at the University of Utah School of Medicine, share her experiences of discovering and navigating her path toward becoming a doctor. She discusses her mixed-race family, growing up as a racial minority in a small town, what inspired her to pursue a medical career, some academic and cultural challenges she faced as a premedical student at a rel...

Do you want to get better at taking tests? In this episode we review some of the keys to improving test-taking skills, including: deciphering key concepts, combating test anxiety, finishing tests on time, and some specific tips and tricks to help you on multiple-choice exams. As usual, we share some of our own experiences and wisdom to help you get better at acing your tests!

Have you ever felt frustrated that your test scores don’t adequately reflect your knowledge and abilities? Have you ever looked around an exam room and felt nervous because nobody else looks like you? If so, you probably experienced something called “stereotype threat”. This term was developed by psychology researchers who were trying to understand why black and Latinx students get lower grades on...

Be inspired by George Hightower, MD, PhD as he shares the story of what inspired him to become a doctor and research scientist, how he became interested in dermatology (the study of skin and skin disorders), what being a dermatologist and researcher is like, and some of the challenges he overcame to get to where he is today.