The OSA Insider

In this very special back-to-school episode, Dr. Frayha interviews one of her long-time primary care patients on his recent 88-day hospital stay, his particular experience as a patient, and what it takes for a doctor to feel like a family member. All of our school, training, and hard work ultimately lead up to this - the patient-doctor relationship. 

These are exciting times at the School of Medicine! We are back for part 2 of our conversation on the new Renaissance Curriculum at the UMSOM, this time with Dr. Nirav Shah. 

In case you haven't heard, the UMSOM is launching a brand new Renaissance Curriculum this year! In this first of two episodes on the Renaissance Curriculum, fourth-year student Christopher Parrino shares his views on the process behind the change, what will look different, and what he's most excited about. 

We know that racism is a public health crisis. And to tide us over until future recordings with SOM leaders (both students and faculty) on anti-racism in medical education, we are bringing you a conversation on Race and Medicine between Dr. Frayha and Dr. Jay-Sheree Allen, a Family Medicine physician in Minnesota and host of the Millennial Health podcast. They explore the definition & types of rac...

We are taking a bit of a covid break and sharing our 2nd student-led episode! This is a conversation we recorded earlier with Dr. Jennifer Woodard, class of 2020, and Dr. Mangla Gulati on Quality Improvement - what it is, why we should all care about it, and how we can each do a better job at quality improvement and patient safety in our own lives. 

UMSOM class of 2015 alum and psychiatrist Dr. Melissa Shepard sits down with Dr. Neda Frayha for some real talk on the mental health challenges facing health care workers in the COVID-19 pandemic, and some concrete, tangible tools to help us get through this period. Spoiler alert: it's more than yoga. This conversation originally aired on Hippo Education's podcasts.  Resources: Free mental health...

Times are weird. In the first week of April 2020, Drs. Kimberly Lumpkins and Neda Frayha had a conversation about what is going on in the world, how they're coping, and some healthier approaches moving forward. 

These strange, scary days of the covid-19 pandemic are filled with uncertainty. In this special episode, we give space to your worries, answer some questions, and share guidance from experts on topics ranging from curriculum requirements to volunteer opportunities to finding room for hope.  Resources: https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/press-releases/important-guidance-medical-students-clinical-ro...

Our own Infectious Diseases specialist Dr. Devang Patel and our regular host Dr. Neda Frayha discuss the latest, clinician-focused updates on the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. This conversation originally aired on Hippo Education's Primary Care Reviews and Perspectives podcast.    

It's that time of year when 4th year students are just waiting for Match Day. In 2018, the residency match didn't go the way that Dr. Vibha Rao had hoped. Here she shares so much warmth, wisdom, and honesty about not matching the first time around, how it felt, what she did, and how she's doing now. (Spoiler alert: she's doing wonderfully and thriving in a residency program she loves.) Her story i...

On February 12, 2020, we learned that the USMLE Step 1 exam is going pass/fail in 2022. What does this mean? How will this affect medical students? How will residency program directors evaluate applicants? How should medical schools approach their curricula? Our own Dr. Neda Frayha sat down with Dr. J. Bryan Carmody,  Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Eastern Virginia Medical School and a pedia...

We wrap up this mini-series of advice column episodes with Dr. Kimberly Lumpkins by looking ahead - to choosing a career, finding a job, and leading a purpose-driven life. 

Happy new year! We kick off 2020 with part 2 of an ongoing series with Dr. Kimberly Lumpkins in which we ask her your advice questions. In this episode, we tackle surviving the preclinical years, what to do if your grades and scores are not where you hoped they might be, and whether or not all specialties are created equal. 

You asked for it - and here it is! Part 1 of an ongoing series with Dr. Kimberly Lumpkins in which we ask her your advice questions. In future episodes, we'll tackle why 2nd year can be so hard, what to do if you're not performing well academically, how to navigate toxic cultures, and how to find a job. But first, in today's episode, Dr. Lumpkins answers your relationship questions... what to look...

We hear a lot about Title IX, but how much do we really understand about it? What role does the Title IX office play in our lives at the SOM? We sit down with Ms. Mikhel Kushner, JD, MSW, who is the Title IX Coordinator and Executive Director for Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Maryland, Baltimore to learn more about how, when, where, and why to report discriminatory behavior based on...

Why does storytelling in medicine matter? How can it impact our lives, and the care we provide our patients, for the better? In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Emily Silverman, academic hospitalist at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and creator and host of The Nocturnists, to learn more about the role of narrative medicine in our work and well-being. This conversation originally a...

Q: What happens when a few medical students decide not only to nurture their own creativity, but to provide venues for other students to do the same? A: The Creative HeArts team at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. In this episode, medical students Fatima Sallman and Michael Sikorski share the origin story behind this student group and its publications (White Coat Reflections and The...

To say that the Couples Match can be a stressful experience is putting it mildly. It's like you take all the normal anxieties of the residency application process and just ratchet them up to an 11. But we have you covered! Drs. Gloribel and Josh Olexa walk us through the process from start to end, including the highs, lows, and the most important pro tips they learned along the way.    Additional ...

Hopefully we all try to do the right thing on a regular basis, but how many of us have blown the whistle on a massive public health crisis? Dr. Neda Frayha got to interview Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, the Flint, MI pediatrician who opened the world's eyes to the lead in the water that was poisoning Flint's citizens. They talk about how to become a more effective patient advocate, and how to face situa...

People talk a lot about Step 1. But we don't always talk candidly about what happens when a student gets a disappointing score. In this episode, we do just that. Dr. Katy Eslami shares her USMLE Step 1 story, including the ways she moved past her test score (and the ways she's still working on it), how she talked about her score in residency interviews, and what she'd do differently now if given t...

It's that time of year again! Our brand new MS3s are hitting the wards, clinics, and ORs for the first time. What do you need to know as you embark on this major transition? We revisit this honest and deep conversation with two members of the class of 2018, Dr. Ida Ahmadizadeh and Dr. Stefano Muscatelli, as they share words of wisdom, what surprised them the most about their new roles, and how to...

We've covered Step 1 and Step 2 Clinical Knowledge; now, it's time for Step 2 CS! What is it? Where can you take it? What are some widespread myths about the exam that need to be debunked? How should you study for it? Our two guests are Ms. Jennifer Llewellyn, Senior Academic Support Coordinator at the UMSOM, and newly minted Dr. Katy Eslami, who is about to start her Pediatrics residency at UMMC....

It's that time of year! Our fourth years are about to graduate and move on to their first year of residency. We are revisiting the best parts of two early podcast conversations on the transition to internship: one with Dr. Nubia Seyoum, Emergency Medicine physician at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center, and the other with Dr. Barathi Sivasailam, Internal Medicine chief resident at the University of M...

Health care policy is "going to affect you, whether you want it to or not." In this episode, Dr. Nidhi Goel and (almost-there-Dr.) Deepanjali Jain share their stories of health care advocacy, convince us to care about the intersection of politics and medicine, and teach us where to begin getting involved in causes that affect our patients.    Legislative Medicine elective at UMSOM   Why Do So Few...

Dr. Neda Frayha is back with internist and educator Dr. Todd Cassese as well as Lawrence Levy, the former CFO of Pixar and co-creator of the non-profit Juniper Foundation to continue their conversation about physician wellness and burnout. Here they talk about the need for continuous self-care rather than "checkbox yoga," and how to change the system while also working on ourselves to find joy in...