The OSA Insider

Have you ever wondered if you might need additional educational support? Do you feel like something is holding you back from functioning, studying, and working at your best? Today's podcast guest, Ms. Deborah Levi, the Director of UMB's Office of Educational Support and Disability Services, knows how to help. She shares helpful insights on how to define disability, understand if you might benefit...

We are continuing our series on mentorship with a wonderful conversation between a real-life mentor and mentee: Dr. Rena Malik from the Department of Urology and MS4 Sara Ashai. They share what makes a mentor/mentee relationship successful, along with common pitfalls to avoid. This episode was Sara's idea, and we're so glad she made this happen!

We are continuing our series on living our best lives, this time with concrete tools and strategies to help us achieve financial wellness throughout medical school and beyond. Our special guest is Ms. Sofia Cascio,  MBA, the school's first Director of Student Financial Planning. We get into creating and maintaining a budget that makes sense, debt management, and other tools to help us make the sma...

We all need help sometimes, and the Student Counseling Center at UMB is here for just that reason. We sit down with Dr. Cassie Moon from the counseling center to learn all about the resources available to students, how to access them, overcoming barriers to care, and the importance of recognizing that we are human beings before anything else. 

With Match Day 2022 in the books, we wanted to bring you a conversation on mentorship, including how to find an excellent mentor and how to cultivate helpful, strong mentor/mentee relationships. MS3 Chloe Snow and Pediatrics Chief Resident Dr. Rebka Tekeste share their strategies for success as mentees. 

So much has changed since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, including all the new treatment options for outpatients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. From oral medications to IV infusions, the range of options can feel overwhelming. Which treatment should we prescribe when? And for which patients? How does the omicron variant surge affect our choices? What's even available? In this conversation origina...

It is so easy to go through medical school without being exposed to the range of career paths available, regardless of which specialty you pursue. And so, we are starting a new series on alums who have gone on to enjoy "nontraditional" career paths. In this episode, we hear from Dr. Maurice Reid (of the Reid Rooms!) about his career in Emergency Medicine and then as an entrepreneur who started his...

Ever wondered how to request family care leave while in medical school? We've got you covered. Dr. Beth Lamos from the OSA shares everything we need to know about the new Family Care Leave policy at the UMSOM, and Dr. Natalie Hesselgrave, MS4 in the MD/PhD program, offers her perspective on family leave and juggling medical school with parenthood. 

Dr. Kristin Reavis wears many hats, including UMSOM alum, family medicine physician, Program Director of the Family and Community Medicine residency program at the University of Maryland, and Director of Student Diversity and Inclusion in the Office of Student Affairs. In this conversation, she tells us about her path to where she is now, her work in the D&I space for our students, and some of her...

The covid pandemic has been challenging for all front-line clinicians. Can you imagine if you were in charge of the public health of an entire county? In this very special conversation, Dr. Frayha sits down with Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman, Anne Arundel County Health Officer in Maryland, to learn about his public health goals and personal challenges in the pandemic, and what we can learn from them. Th...

The topic of wellness in medical education has been on quite the journey in recent years. And the OSA's own Dr. John Allen has been on his journey with wellness as a medical student, resident, and attending physician. In this conversation, Dr. Allen shares his own story as well as so many resources and tips for medical students seeking out their own wellness. 

Welcome to the start of a new school year! As our 3rd and 4th year students rotate through various clinical settings, we wanted to share this episode featuring lots of practical tips and tricks for maximizing efficiency in the outpatient clinical setting. The special guest is Dr. Nikki Southall, internist and head of ambulatory medical education at the Baltimore VA Medical Center, and you'll also...

Living through a global pandemic during med school is a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon. In this special series, we'll hear from different medical students about their experiences during covid and how the pandemic may shape their lives. In this episode, we feature Class of 2022 members Malina Howard and Lexi Van Besien. 

Living through a global pandemic during med school is a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon. In this special series, we'll hear from different medical students about their experiences during covid and how the pandemic may shape their lives. In this episode, we feature Class of 2023 members Jocelyn Wu and Chao Wang. 

One consequence of the covid pandemic is Long Covid, or as it's now called, Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC). In this special clinical episode, we sit down with Dr. Andi Levine, pulmonologist, critical care physician, emerging PASC expert, and SOM alum to learn all about this challenging syndrome and how we can take the best care of our patients. This episode first aired on Hippo Education...

When Dr. Devang Patel and Dr. Phil Dittmar created the brand new Covid elective in the spring of 2020, they had no idea they would embark on one of the most exciting teaching experiences of their careers, and one of the most inspiring learning experiences for their students.  Find out why Dr. Patel calls it "lightning in a bottle." 

In the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, our lives changed dramatically and all at once. Today, we hear from two friends of the podcast who, along with their colleagues, had to overhaul the way medical education was being delivered on a moment's notice: Dr. Devang Patel and Dr. Phil Dittmar. 

What is your mission statement? What is your personal brand for your career? These are hard questions to answer, and Dr. Kim Lumpkins is here to help! Listen in as she and Dr. Frayha explore why this matters, how to develop your mission and brand statements, and how to keep revisiting and adjusting them to make the best career decisions for your life. 

Just in time for Match Week 2021, we have a student-led episode on self improvement, personal development, and minimizing future regret. MS2 Joseph Deng joins Dr. Frayha to interview neurosurgeon and generally fascinating person Dr. Khalid Kurtom on making good decisions, living your best life, and striving to grow and improve as a human being. 

In this special conversation, our own Dr. Neda Frayha sits down with the amazing Dr. Louise Aronson, geriatrician and Professor of Medicine at UCSF and author of the fantastic book Elderhood to learn more about how we can take better care of our over-65 patients. Hint: many of these pearls can help us become better doctors all around. This conversation originally aired on Hippo Education's Primary...

For most of us, people over the age of 65 make up a huge portion of the patients we see and the energy we pour into clinical care. And yet most of us receive woefully inadequate training to provide the best care for these patients and to overcome structural, systemic biases against the elderly. In this special conversation, our own Dr. Neda Frayha sits down with the amazing Dr. Louise Aronson, ger...

Well, 2020 has been a year. And it is finally coming to an end! Our host Dr. Neda Frayha knew the last podcast episode of the year had to be a heart-to-heart with her good friends, Dr. Elizabeth Lamos and Dr. John Allen. Together they reflect back on 2020 and share their honest thoughts, frustrations, fears, and hopes for 2021 and beyond. 

Remember the #MedBikini saga? No? Well, we've got you covered, not just about the social media movement itself but the larger lessons it illuminates on power structures, social media etiquette, what counts as "professional" behavior, and why the word "political" is used to diminish discussions about social justice. Our all-star panel for the episode includes Dr. Kimberly Lumpkins, Dr. Shana Ntiri,...

To continue our conversations on Race and Medicine, Dr. Neda Frayha and her Hippo Education colleague Dr. Jay-Sheree Allen sit down with noted health disparities researcher Dr. Utibe Essien, an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Core Investigator for the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System. They...

We have covered the residency application process before, but never from the perspective of a residency program director. In this episode, we learn all about Dr. Erin Giudice, PD of the Pediatrics residency program at the University of Maryland: her career path, leadership philosophy, how she measures success, and what she really looks for in applicants.