Behind the White Coat

Dr. Bruno Fernandes is an ophthalmologist who also holds a PhD in visual sciences. He is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt under Carlos Gracie Jr. and is a 4 time World Champion as well as a 4 time Pan-American Champion. He is also know as the grappling coach of former UFC Champion George St. Pierre and even promoting him to black belt. Key talking points: Don't be afraid to start new things and suck at them. Myths and misconceptions of martial arts. Getting out of your comfort zone. Don't fall into the trap of believing you have to dedicate 100% of your time to your career. Having a life outside of medicine is not only possible but necessary. How leaders often forget how it was when they first started.

Dr. Glenn Wakam is a 5th year general surgery resident at the University of Michigan. Prior to this  he attended Princeton University for his undergraduate degree where he played football for the Tigers . He then attended the University of California, San Francisco for medical school. In this episode we will be talking about Dr. Wakam’s journey into medicine, why representation in medicine matters and also about his experience of taking care of dying covid patients at the beginning of pandemic, who were disproportionately minorities.  

Dr. Robert Krell. A Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He is a child survivor of the Holocaust, and has devoted his life to the treatment of holocaust survivors and their families. Dr. Krell was born in The Hague, Holland on 5 August 1940. He survived the war hiding with the Munnik family and returned to his parents, who had also survived in hiding. In 1951, the Krells moved to Vancouver, British Columbia and Dr. Krell earned his medical degree from The University of British Columbia in 1965 and completed his psychiatric training at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia and also Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. In his private practice, Dr. Krell treated Holocaust survivors and their families, as well as Dutch survivors of Japanese concentration camps.

Annie Hoang is a medical student at the University of California San Francisco and is from Jersey City and will also be receiving her MPH at Harvard. She was born to Amerasian parents who came to the US under the Amerasian Homecoming Act. Annie received a degree in Molecular Cell Developmental Biology at Yale with a full-ride scholarship and was the first in her family to even attend kindergarten. In this episode, Annie talks to me about her journey to medical school, dealing with imposter syndrome, and what she calls luck in applying to Yale.

Dr. Ortega talks to us a little bit about his background and the importance of diversity and mentorship in medicine especially for those underrepresented in medicine. He is a Brooklyn native, born to immigrant parents from the Dominican Republic. Dr. Ortega went to Syracuse University for his bachelors degree and went on to receive his M.D. at Howard school of medicine where he also did his residency in general surgery. He also received a master’s of public health John Hopkins Bloomberg school of public health. He is currently the Lead Faculty for Research and Innovation for Equitable Surgical Care at the Center for Surgery and Public Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Ortega is a Co-Founder of the Latino Surgical Society, which aims to cultivate, nurture, and support the advancement of Latino surgeons.

4th year Harvard medical student and retired U.S. Army Captain Gregory Galeazzi talks to me about leadership, people with disabilities, and going from patient to now future provider. Captain Galeazzi earned his Army Ranger tab in 2008 and was deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan in the summer of 2010. In May of 2011 Greg was hit by an IED and lost both of legs above the knee and part of his right arm. Greg's resiliency took him back to night classes to pursue a new found passion: medicine.

Rising second year medical student Lala Forrest, a member of the Pit River Tribe, discusses her journey to medical school. She is an advocate for her community and has raised awareness for the lack of American Indian-Alaska Native role models in medicine and was involved in a social media campaign to raise awareness for Native American youth suicide and substance abuse. American Indian-Alaska Natives are the most underrepresented group in medicine.

Rising second year medical student Francis Coppola had worked almost 20 years in construction and painting before going back to school. He had to balance working full-time, being a parent, and going back to school. Listen to Frank's story as he shares with us his journey to medical school and wondering if age would be a factor in his application.

Dr. Minerva Romero Arenas, MD, MPH, is an Endocrine/ General Surgeon and faculty member at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. In this episode Dr. Minerva Romero shares her story of going into medicine and surgery. She also discusses why it is no longer enough to only support URM to get into school. It needs to be proactive in supporting URM through medical school, residency, and faculty positions.

Brooklyn native Sotonye Douglas discusses her journey to medical school and overcoming failure.

Retired United States Army Lt. General Nadja West was the 44th U.S. Army Surgeon General and former commanding general of the U.S. Army Medical Command. Please Join me as Lt. General West shares her story and gives us advice on leadership.