What Brings You In Today?

As we close out March, we continue to explore the theme of mentorship. We are joined again by guest host Deejay, a first year medical student and member of the Building Equitable Access to Mentorship (BEAM) mentorship program at University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. In this episode, we chat with Dr. Patricia Téllez-Girón, an associate professor in the Department of Family M...

This March, we are exploring the theme of mentorship. We are joined by two guest hosts, Deejay and Andrew, who are both first-year medical students and members of the Building Equitable Access to Mentorship (BEAM) program here at UWSMPH. We talk with Dr. Angela Byars-Winston, a tenured faculty member in the Division of Medicine and a leading researcher in advancing diversity goals and mentorship i...

In our second episode exploring the theme of inspiration, we chat with Stanford MD-PhD student Steven Truong. He shares with us his reflections on his father’s passing and the role that grief and relationships have in motivating him both personally and professionally.

We’re kicking off February by exploring the theme of inspiration. What inspires us to pursue careers in medicine? How do we keep going when things get tough? What hopes do we have for the future? In this episode, we chat with Dr. Jasmine Zapata, a pediatrician and public health doctor, about her journey in medicine and where she draws inspiration from. 

In this episode we continue our exploration of doing new things by chatting with Sue Yi, an 8th year MD/PhD student at University of Wisconsin-Madison who is completing her final year of medical school. Sue describes her experience starting Ohai nails, a hand painted, luxury custom press-on nails company she started in fall 2022. We talk about challenges that come with starting something new, how...

In our first episodes of 2023, we are exploring the experience of doing new things. January is often a time of change, whether it’s the start of a new semester in school, the beginning of a new project, or new resolutions in general. We chat with Dr. Lisa Barroilhet, a gynecologist-oncologist and principal investigator of a research lab here at University of Wisconsin-Madison. She discusses the tr...

This holiday season, we’ve been thinking a lot about our loved ones, and the ways that they support us in our journeys in medicine. So to look more closely at these relationships, members of the WBYIT team are interviewing family members about their experiences with our education and what it’s been like to be with us on this adventure. In this episode, Anqi talks with her sister Annie, and Mayra t...

This holiday season, we’ve been thinking a lot about our loved ones, and the ways that they support us in our journeys in medicine. So to look more closely at these relationships, members of the WBYIT team are interviewing family members about their experiences with our education and what it’s been like to be with us on this adventure. In this episode we feature Haley and Beth’s significant others...

We continue our three-part series on advocacy and civic engagement by talking with Wisconsin State Senator Kelda Roys about her views on and experiences with physician advocacy. She provides insight on why it is important for medical professionals to be involved in policy creation, examples of effective advocacy efforts, and advice on how to get involved at any stage of training. 

It’s election season, so let's talk about voting! In this episode, we talk with Sam Crowley, MPH, a second year medical student at University of Wisconsin SMPH and student leader of RxCivicHealth. We chat about why voting is so important for physicians and for patients. For more information on the resources discussed in this episode, follow the links below:  VotER: https://vot-er.org/ To regi...

In this episode, we continue our celebration of Spooky season by exploring the concept of fear in medicine with Allison Coffelt, an award winning author, poet, and teacher who focuses on narrative medicine. She shares with us her piece titled “Winter of Fear”, a poem published in JAMA in April 2021 about caring for patients during the height of the COVID pandemic and the inevitable feelings of lon...

We’re kicking off spooky season by exploring fear in medicine. In this episode, Dr. Helen Salisbury shares her essay titled “Reasons to be Fearful.” She also talks with us about different sources of fear health care providers face, the many ways in which fear presents itself in medicine, and what we can do to address fear in ourselves and others. 

In this episode, we explore extracurriculars in medical school by chatting with leaders of two student organizations at UW SMPH, Scrubs Addressing the Firearm Epidemic (SAFE) and PRIDE in Healthcare. We chat about their work, why it’s important to them, and how they balance it with medical education.

To kick off Season 3 of What Brings You In Today , we are exploring hobbies and extracurriculars in medical school. In this episode, we talk to Mallory, Megan, and Sarah about their hobby of rock climbing, and to Sammie about her hobby of painting Disney silhouettes. We discuss the foundations of their hobbies, the challenges of maintaining them throughout their medical training, the fulfillment t...

Happy Pride Month! In this episode, we talk with Micah Larson (they/them), a recently graduated medical student from UWSMPH about their experiences in medical school. We explore the highs and lows of medical school, the challenges and joys of being a queer person in medicine, and hopes for the future.  If you're interested in resources for LGBTQ+ folks both in and outside of medicine, check o...

Stories help us better connect with patients, build community with our peers, and process our own experiences in healthcare. In this episode, we continue our exploration of story-telling in medicine by talking with Thor Ringler, a writer who works for the My Life, My Story project at the Madison VA. He discusses the scope and logistics of the program, reflects on the richness these stories provide...

Stories are fundamental to what it means to be human and to be human in medicine. Stories help us understand our patients, find community amongst our peers, and make sense of the challenges and joys of being in medicine. A few weeks ago, the power of stories was put on display at the Night of Storytelling, a live storytelling event organized by the Gold Humanism Honor Society at the University of...

In our second episode this month, we continue our conversation about alternative career paths in medicine. We had the pleasure of talking with Greg Raupp, a third year medical student at University of Wisconsin SMPH who trained as a social worker and joined the National Guard prior to starting medical school. He discusses his motivations for pursuing medical training, experiences with transitionin...

In this episode exploring alternative paths in medicine, we had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Seema Yasmin, an Emmy-award winning journalist, author, medical doctor, and professor. We discussed her multifaceted career and all the transition points she encountered along the way. She covers her journey from clinical practice, to public health work as an EIS officer, to journalism, authorship, and prof...

From Monday, when students learned if they had matched, to Friday, when they gathered with family, friends, and peers to celebrate where they matched, it was a week full of emotions. In this Post-Match Day episode, Kate, Karina, and Luke return to tell us about their Match Day experience  and final thoughts on the excitement and anxieties surrounding this process.   We recognize that people experi...

On Match Day, medical students around the country find out their residency training placements. While Match Day is usually a day full of celebration, it’s preceded by months of application preparation, long interview days, hard decision making, and uncertainty. In this Pre-Match Day episode, we talk to three fourth-year medical students at UWSMPH, Kate Lauer, Karina Barretto, and Luke Richard, abo...

The Solidarity Week for Compassionate Patient Care is a nationwide celebration organized by the Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS) that promotes clinician-patient relationships based on caring, personalization, and mutual respect. This year, UWSMPH was one of over 50 medical schools to participate in the week-long celebration. As part of the events, GHHS asked medical students to reflect on what t...

In this special Valentine’s Day episode, we’re talking about love in medicine! As medical students, we spend so much time and energy focusing on our careers but of equal importance is growing and maintaining relationships outside of the hospital. What is it like to navigate life milestones like getting married or having children while in medical school? In what ways does medicine make relationship...

In part 2 of our series "Doctors as Patients," we continue to explore how medical students and residents with chronic illness navigate  training within a field that often places value on able-bodiedness. We chat with fourth year medical students and co-founders of the Disability Advocacy Coalition (DAC) student organization at UW SMPH: Wendy Sun, Kimberly Rosenthal, and Athena Wilson. St...

This episode discusses mental health, depression, and suicide.  National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 800-273-8255 In medical training, we are taught how to provide care for others: we learn to communicate clearly, perfect physical exam skills, elicit a thorough history, and more. Far less discussed, though, is how medical trainees navigate their own medical and psychiatric care in an environment w...