belonged there. I witnessed my mentors fulfilling various roles as family medicine physicians: community role models, educators, leaders, friends and confidants. Reflecting on my career goals — commitment to creating lifelong patient relationships, leadership in medicine, education, advocacy, community involvement and research — I felt I finally found my home in family medicine with my mentors embodying the future I imagine for myself. I applied to the University of Utah because of the wonderful opportunities to get full-spectrum training from passionate family medicine doctors. My faculty mentors exemplify that, even in an urban setting, fullspectrum medicine exists as they work in multiple settings. How to Survive and Thrive in Residency I love my co-residents! We became close through our Friday protected time called “Survival Skills,” where we would meet up afterward for “Foodie Friday.” Every week during my intern year, my class went to a different restaurant in town and invited our families, team medical students and friends. Each week someone different chose, allowing us to get to know each other through food. This became a wonderful tradition as everyone was able to share a bit of themselves by showing us their comfort food or helping us indulge in a new experience. This built lasting friendships. I am proud to be friends and colleagues with my co-residents and am excited to see what they all do in their next chapter of life. The Next Steps I am currently in the interview stage for fellowship! I applied for FMOB! After fellowship, I plan to pursue being faculty in an urban underserved setting, practicing full-scope family medicine, including outpatient, inpatient and obstetrics care. I am particularly passionate about reproductive health, genderaffirming care, LGTBQ+ health, mental health, Latino health, advocacy, healthcare policy, research and medical education. In the next 20 years, I would like to see medicine become a single-payer system so that our patients can get the most optimal medical care for the lowest, most affordable price. In addition, I hope physicians will be able to unionize to obtain more protections. All the inequities and fragility of our system were exposed and highlighted during the height of the pandemic. I think there is an energy in our society of wanting better conditions since the pandemic. This is a great time where I believe important changes will be made in many sectors, not just medicine. Advice For My Younger Self Do things you are passionate about because you never know where your journey is going to take you. I did follow my passions, but I always felt a sense of insecurity, wondering if I should be doing more traditional pre-med things. Now, in retrospect, I am incredibly happy with my journey, and if I ever walk away from medicine, I feel that I have had meaningful life experiences. 19 |
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTg3NDExNQ==