0:00

Are you wondering what it's like to go to an HBCU

0:03

undergrad and become a physician

0:05

? Well , today , on the Be Med

0:07

podcast , I'm delighted to bring

0:09

you the live recorded episode

0:12

of the Be Med podcast directly

0:14

from North Carolina A&T State

0:16

University . We had four

0:18

amazing panelists Dr

0:21

Jessica Young , who is a clinical assistant

0:23

professor of pediatrics and the associate

0:25

program director for the preventive medicine residency

0:28

program at UNC . We were

0:30

also joined by Malik Mitchell

0:32

, a first year medical student at UNC

0:34

School of Medicine , with a passion for addressing

0:37

health disparities . Our next

0:39

panelist was Dr India Fry , who

0:41

is an attending pediatrician at Greensboro Pediatricians

0:44

and she also teaches as an adjunct

0:46

clinical professor with the UNC

0:48

Chapel Hill School of Medicine Medic Cell Program

0:51

. And finally by Dr Brandon

0:53

Keith Mills , an emergency medicine

0:55

physician and partner at Mount Airy

0:57

Emergency Physicians . He also serves

0:59

as the chief of the medical staff at

1:01

Northern Regional Hospital . These

1:04

amazing Aggie alumni

1:06

shared their time with us on the first stop

1:08

of the B-Med Amplified tour and

1:10

shared all their tips and strategies on

1:12

how to become a physician and ways

1:15

to prepare as a pre-med . We

1:17

had such a great time at A&T and they

1:19

were such great hosts . So be

1:22

sure to subscribe to the Black Men

1:24

Connect podcast channel and like

1:26

this video . Now let's

1:28

jump right in to the episode . Each

1:53

of you all talked about the family environment here , and I think that's such an unspoken thing

1:55

that everyone else doesn't know in the world , but we know . And when you think about

1:57

how you transitioned from your undergrad

2:00

time to medical school and beyond

2:03

, I'd like you to speak on how

2:05

you made the transition , and

2:07

I also want you to take a little bit of time

2:09

to speak on any challenges you may have faced

2:11

during your time at A&T and

2:13

as you pursued medical school

2:16

.

2:16

So , dr Weiss , this question has morphed in

2:18

my head while I've been sitting here thinking about it

2:20

, so if I don't answer , the question . Let me know this

2:22

is something I'm passionate about , so I'm just going to kind

2:24

of talk and cover a couple things . So number

2:27

one being at A&T

2:29

, I think the one main

2:31

theme that I can take out of it is tenacity . Right

2:34

, that's something that you it's instilled

2:36

into you . No one's saying , hey , I'm teaching

2:38

you tenacity right now , but through the challenges

2:41

and through the things that you face , the

2:46

nuances through your everyday activities here at A&T is something you're gaining , whether

2:48

you realize it or not . So , whether it's you know , you're getting ready to start the semester and

2:50

your scholarship hasn't come through and they're threatening

2:52

to drop your classes and you're sitting here thinking what

2:55

in the world am I gonna do ?

2:56

but it works out in the end .

2:57

I mean , you're still here . No one dropped you , you

2:59

know , dropped your classes . They didn't kick you out of school

3:01

. You're here and you figured out how to make it

3:03

work . And that is a life lesson

3:05

, whether you realize it or not , and it's something that you're going

3:07

to draw back on through your experiences

3:09

here at A&T . And so a

3:12

theme you've been hearing consistently from

3:15

everyone is sacrifice . Right , everyone had to sacrifice

3:17

something in order to get to where they are right

3:19

now , to the place that they are currently , and

3:22

so for me I think that's one of the biggest hurdles I

3:24

had was having to sacrifice my social life

3:26

. I felt like everybody else was going out

3:28

and partying every Thursday

3:30

, friday , saturday , and

3:32

for me poor , pitiful me I had to pick one

3:34

of those days to go out and party . You know what I mean . So

3:39

you're making that sacrifice because you know

3:41

what's greater , you know what you want to

3:43

accomplish in the end , and so I

3:46

think that's something that also is a theme that's going

3:48

to manifest throughout the rest of your life . You're going to have to sacrifice

3:51

when you get to medical school . You're going to have to sacrifice when you

3:53

start a family . I mean , there's always going to be something that

3:55

you're going to sacrifice your want for

3:57

either your greater good or for something that you need

3:59

or your family needs , and so I think that's something

4:01

important to go ahead and learn early on . When

4:04

we talk about challenges , when I got to medical school

4:06

I'm very transparent . When

4:09

I got to medical school , as

4:11

far as black males are concerned , we're a dying breed of medicine

4:13

. You know , you look at the 1970s

4:16

, and there were greater numbers of black males

4:18

in medical school then than there are currently

4:21

, and so when I got to medical school , it was a well-known

4:23

fact that there was no black male

4:25

in the recent history that had graduated

4:27

medical school in four years . They had to repeat

4:30

classes , they had to try things over

4:32

again , some of them failed out completely , and

4:34

so that was a daunting task . To begin

4:37

with , that was before I even stepped foot and took

4:39

my first class there , and

4:41

so , again , as India said , I had

4:43

to get out of my own head . I had to realize that

4:45

my steps were already ordained . I went to my source

4:47

, I didn't go to my thoughts , I went to

4:49

God , I went to prayer , and

4:51

I think that's one of the important things that you can't forget . It's

4:54

easy to forget that when you get there because you've got , you

4:56

know they talk about medical school like it's drinking

4:58

from a fire hydrant . No , it's like drinking from a waterfall

5:01

. I mean , you're literally trying to take

5:03

in a lot of information that's constantly coming

5:05

at you . As soon as you think you have a break , you don't , you

5:07

know you've got more information coming , and

5:10

so I think it's important to remember , like I said , who

5:12

your source is , number one . Number

5:14

two I like to think

5:16

of our medical school as little A&T

5:18

. I mean , I think in my class alone

5:20

we might have had five or six people from A&T

5:23

in my year , and so

5:25

that was an important source to have to know that we

5:27

had a shared , similar experience , we had a shared

5:29

background and we also had a shared

5:31

strength in that we've been through worse

5:33

and we know we can make it through it . So if

5:35

I make it , we're all going to make it , and

5:38

so one of the programs that we had when

5:40

I started medical school was the

5:42

Big Buddy Little Buddy program

5:45

, and so I think

5:47

that was also something important to see that you had someone

5:49

a year ahead of you that was helping to pull you

5:51

along as they went , and then somebody below you that

5:53

you're saying , no , I mean I've been there , you're going to

5:55

do it . That imposter syndrome is real . I mean

5:58

I remember talking to my mom after I finished

6:00

my last block of tests , my first year of

6:02

medical school , and she says okay , do you think you

6:04

belong there now ? I mean you've been there a whole year , you've

6:06

not filled out . I mean don't you think you belong now ? I

6:09

mean , I guess . I mean I'm .

6:10

I'm getting there . You know what I ?

6:12

mean she's like well , you don't belong , I don't know , who does you

6:14

know ? And so that's the important thing

6:16

is that that nothing is by accident . You

6:18

are where you are because you earned it no one gave that to you

6:20

. You made it through A&T , no one handed you

6:22

your degree , and you're in medical school because you belong

6:24

there , and so never forget that you're there because you're

6:27

supposed to be there . You're ordained to be there , and

6:29

walk that path confidently .

6:32

I love that . I

6:37

love what you all said about tenacity and

6:40

sacrifice . I think one of the things as

6:42

an undergrad it's really frustrating

6:44

, right . Like you said , I remember

6:46

when my line assistant was going out four days

6:48

a week and I had to wait until the weekend and I was devastated

6:51

. It's like why am I here studying for the MCAT

6:53

and everybody's out having a good time

6:55

? But I want to ask , would you

6:57

I won't even ask , I know you won't You'll say you

7:00

won't , you wouldn't replace that time

7:02

. You had to sacrifice studying for the MCAT for

7:04

your journey . Now would you Exactly

7:07

so , as you guys are studying , I just want you to keep in

7:09

mind that it may seem really

7:11

difficult and daunting , but when you look back on

7:13

the journey , all you'll remember is all the

7:15

amazing parties you did get to go to and

7:17

the fact that you passed MCAT and got into med school

7:20

. So that's just something to keep in mind

7:23

. And

7:26

so you all have mentioned a lot about challenges and struggles and difficulty and the importance

7:28

of family and community . I

7:30

want to switch gears a little bit and ask what

7:32

qualities do you think our students

7:34

here should think about and what

7:36

types of activities should they think about as

7:39

they prepare for their journey to medical school

7:41

or any health professional school that they choose to attend , for their journey to medical school or any health professional

7:43

school that they choose to

7:46

attend .

7:47

So , activity-wise , I think the most important

7:49

thing I'll never forget when I was

7:51

in residency medical school I don't remember , maybe it was

7:53

later medical school someone asked me what

7:55

are your hobbies ? I was like

7:57

hobbies .

8:00

I had a hobby since I was in high school , when

8:02

I was on the basketball team or playing tennis or something like

8:04

that .

8:05

I hadn't had time for hobbies in my

8:07

head , but you know , there's been this

8:09

big push for being holistic

8:11

and not , you know , just from like

8:13

a holistic medicine standpoint , but

8:15

being a well-rounded , real

8:17

, whole person . You know , what is

8:20

it that keeps you going ? What is it that keeps you happy , whether

8:22

that's exercising happy , whether that's exercising , whether that's running , whether

8:24

that's traveling , you know , whatever

8:26

it is it's making sure

8:28

that you encompass that , that you continue

8:30

to bring that with you when you go to medical

8:32

school , because you start to be a real person . Um

8:35

, I keep talking about my mom because you know she's talking about

8:37

the ledge many times when I was in med school . But

8:39

one of the things she said to me , um , when

8:41

I was having a breakdown during you . You know one of our

8:43

test blocks , you know she

8:52

says get out of the house , get in your car and drive to Walmart , Walmart . Why am I going to Walmart ? Just

8:54

because there's real people there . You're not in your little circle , your bubble of people

8:56

who are studying for medical school , who are just as crazy

8:58

as you are . You're around regular people

9:01

who aren't thinking about studying . They're

9:03

buying their groceries . They're buying , you

9:07

know , food and clothes for their baby , like go be around regular people , and it gives

9:09

you perspective , and that's the same thing that having these hobbies

9:11

it gives you perspective . And so it's important

9:13

to remember who you are outside of medicine , because that doesn't

9:16

define you . You know everything that you do as

9:18

a whole defines who you are , and

9:20

so it's easy to lose sight of that , but I think that an important thing

9:22

is to remember who you are , what your

9:24

purpose is and the things that you enjoy doing throughout

9:27

your entire journey in life .

9:30

Well , brandon took the words out of my mouth . But

9:33

I agree , and you are doing those

9:35

hobbies , because even me right now

9:37

, like when you put it into the real world , me

9:39

sitting in my office talking to my patients I'm

9:42

a pediatrician , so not only am I talking

9:44

to kids , from babies up until 18

9:46

, but I'm talking to parents and so being

9:48

able to communicate , so having

9:51

good communication skills so that they can understand

9:53

and communication is more than just

9:55

talking , there's that non-verbal

9:57

and things of that sort and so I think

9:59

even with that , when you're communicating , that

10:01

has been able to allow me to connect my

10:03

patients a little bit more , because there's a few of

10:05

my patients , their moms , they won't even say anything

10:07

, but just looking at , looking at that body language , allows

10:10

me to get more out of that conversation , from

10:13

what they say but yeah , I'm fine , but

10:15

then I learned that fine is a lot of things

10:17

. You know how you say it , I'm so . You find

10:19

it really fine . So communication

10:22

is good . That effectiveness , having your support

10:24

group , having your family , is

10:26

a big thing because , like Brandon said , your mom

10:28

or people who are like your family , so Brandon's

10:31

my family , jessica's my family , jasmine's

10:33

my family , I met her . What was it ? Zumba

10:35

? So I

10:37

mean all the different things that you go along

10:40

and really taking care of yourself , because

10:42

if you don't take care of yourself , nobody else will

10:44

. You can't take care of other people . That's going along

10:46

and being honest with yourself during that

10:49

time . Also , if you need to

10:51

, having a therapist . You know I

10:53

would try to debunk that stigma that

10:55

having a therapist means that you're crazy

10:57

and even taking that word off , it's

10:59

really being able to find those coping skills

11:01

because you encounter things every day . How

11:03

do we do this ? How do we have that time that we

11:05

can either meditate or pray , go back

11:08

to your source , all those things that come

11:10

along . And having , like

11:12

you said , the tenacity as you go forth , reaching

11:14

back to your supporters , getting help early , because

11:17

a lot of time you're all are intelligent , you're smart and

11:19

you'll figure it out . That was one

11:21

struggle I had in medical school . I'm normally figure it out and

11:23

I did great . I graduated with

11:25

all A's from A&T and

11:28

all those things and I figured it out . But

11:30

then with medicine , you're drinking from a water

11:32

fountain while you're trying to go through the ocean . You

11:34

know that's a lot of stuff you trying to get and then trying

11:37

to figure that out down the down the pathway is

11:39

challenging and so being able

11:41

to get that support and help that you need early

11:44

will be helpful . Because

11:46

at A&T and we were at ECU

11:48

there was another guy named Malik that we talked about . He

11:51

said whatever you need . All of them said whatever you

11:53

need , I'll help you . And

11:55

he sat down with me one day because I was having trouble

11:57

in my first semester . He was like we're going

11:59

to work through how to do this study schedule . We're

12:01

going to work through all this . He wanted to go into surgery

12:04

and he was on a surgery rotation . We wrote

12:06

it down . He was like the future , we're going to look back

12:08

at this day and we're going to laugh because we're going to make

12:10

it out of here . Because I was like I remember

12:12

crying when home and I was like if I'm going to make it through

12:14

this . This

12:18

is a lot harder than I anticipated . To help you , more than

12:20

likely they will Just don't be scared . The

12:23

worst they can do is say no . So

12:25

that's the biggest thing Don't be scared . And

12:27

it's okay to be fearful and just go

12:29

for it . Move through it and you're going to make it through

12:32

. So I went around the whole answer

12:34

but at the end of the day , we're here for

12:36

you . Have all the things that you need and

12:38

come back to us here , even after the

12:40

fact .

12:41

You may be a year later , but this reminds where you met

12:43

us and we're gonna help you so

12:45

in terms of like activities and things you should be

12:47

doing while you're here at a t , I

12:49

would say , things you

12:52

enjoy and then doing

12:54

, uh , taking leadership roles and like

12:56

those organizations that you truly

12:59

enjoy they can be medical or non-medical

13:01

related and then showing

13:03

consistency over time in

13:05

those roles . I think consistency

13:08

is a key thing in

13:11

terms of your activities like . It shows

13:13

that you can stick with something over time

13:15

and you can be dedicated to something and

13:17

I think medicine is a career where , like

13:19

admissions , people want to see someone that

13:22

they know is dedicated

13:24

. Because you have to be dedicated

13:26

in medicine , because it is

13:28

hard , like everyone was saying , there's

13:30

a lot of stuff you have

13:33

to know . I'm in the midst of it now . So it's

13:35

definitely like drinking from a waterfall

13:37

and

13:39

you have to like , like you said , you have to go

13:41

back to your roots , go back to like what

13:43

gives you strength and like go back to your . Why like you to go back to your roots ? Go

13:45

back to like what gives you strength and like go back to your . Why , like you said , go back to

13:47

your roots , go back to your family and

13:50

truly like , remind yourself , like , why

13:52

are you doing this ? Because this some days might come back

13:54

home from med school and I'm

13:57

like . I'm tired

13:59

because it's so much to learn

14:02

in a short amount of time . And you're

14:04

like I'm I have to study for

14:06

my medical science class , but then I got to study for

14:08

my doctorate class and then I got to

14:10

essay due for my social health systems

14:12

class . So it's like you're not only

14:14

. It's not . You don't only need to know the

14:16

science , you have to know how to talk to the patients . You

14:19

got to know about the health system , bi

14:21

things , all that and you have to balance it and

14:23

take care of yourself . So I would

14:26

start with you know showing

14:28

dedication to like something here

14:30

at A&T over time

14:32

. Like I said something you enjoy doesn't

14:34

necessarily have to be being the president of MAPS

14:36

. It can be being the president

14:38

of , you know , like

14:41

Atlanta Aggies or

14:43

something like that , but that

14:45

you show dedication to it over time . So

14:49

yeah , I think that's a great place

14:51

to start at .

14:55

Yeah , so I co-signed everything all three

14:57

of them said and kind of still a mix

14:59

of their answers . I

15:02

definitely agree . I think you know , as

15:04

everyone has said , you know medical school is hard

15:06

. It doesn't mean you can't

15:08

do it . I mean , obviously you know we're here today

15:10

for a reason and so it's very much possible

15:12

. It's just it's a challenge , and so the

15:15

more that you can figure out those

15:17

coping skills and just knowing

15:19

how to really motivate

15:21

yourself and push yourself early on , it's

15:23

really going to help you thrive when you

15:25

get to that more challenging environment . So I

15:27

think that's something that if you can do while you're

15:29

here , that'll be a great skill to have . And

15:32

kind of speaking to what Malik was

15:34

kind of mentioning too , I think the more

15:36

you learn to multitask so learning

15:38

how to juggle many different

15:40

things happening at once because , like he mentioned

15:43

, when you get to medical school you're probably going to be

15:45

studying for multiple exams at

15:47

any given time . Like Brandon and

15:49

India mentioned , we would have exam blocks

15:52

and so what that meant is we would have

15:54

usually two days , but we would have multiple

15:56

tests back to back , like on those

15:58

days , and so you're having a lot of exams

16:01

like every . What do we do every six

16:03

weeks every six weeks , and

16:05

so the more you can learn like how

16:07

to multitask and that can be

16:09

from you know your classes and joining different

16:11

organizations and taking on those leadership

16:14

roles . Those types of skills will

16:16

be directly transferable to you

16:18

once you go to medical school and you're

16:20

expected to then multitask with all

16:22

these different things you have to do all

16:24

of a sudden and then

16:26

studying . One thing I

16:29

realized , like looking back , is that

16:31

I didn't really know how to

16:33

study like that until I got to

16:35

medical school . I thought I did and I

16:37

like it didn't say you know , did really well here . So

16:39

I was like , okay , I must know how to study . But

16:42

then , once I got to medical school and realized

16:45

what I was used to doing was not going

16:47

to work , I'm like , okay , I have to figure something else

16:49

out , and so if you can figure out like

16:51

your study styles early on , that

16:53

might help you also when you go to medical school

16:55

. And so , like , for me , I'm a big

16:57

visual learner and so I learned that

17:00

, okay , if I can like draw

17:02

something out for me , if

17:06

I can like draw something out for me , if I can map it out , it's going to be easier

17:08

for me to be able to easily pull that information for when I need

17:10

it , like in a test , and so I had to learn

17:13

that through various different styles . And so

17:15

for me that was a little bit of challenge when I

17:17

first got to medical school , because I had to play

17:19

around with these different kind of studying

17:21

types before I figured out what

17:24

really worked well for me . You know , some people

17:26

worked or did really well in studying

17:28

in group settings , other people really needed that

17:30

independent time , and so just thinking of

17:32

little things like that , if you can figure

17:34

that out before you go to medical school

17:36

, that will definitely serve you well . And then the last

17:39

thing I'll say is thinking

17:41

about your team of mentorship

17:43

and what that looks like , and I

17:45

would encourage you all to have many

17:48

different mentors . And so somebody

17:50

like Malik , who is currently in

17:52

the grind in medical school , somebody

17:54

like me , india or Brandon , who are

17:56

already out in the field , have

17:59

some experience under our belt an

18:01

older physician , someone

18:03

that is doing something you want to do If you want to

18:05

be a pediatrician , making sure that you are connected

18:07

with the pediatrician , or if you want to do emergency

18:10

medicine , making sure you have a mentor there

18:12

. So just thinking about what

18:14

that network of mentorship

18:16

will look like for you and making

18:18

it as diverse as possible so you're getting

18:20

a lot of different perspectives and having

18:23

a lot of people essentially , that you can follow

18:25

on when you need it , because you

18:27

will need it . So those

18:29

are probably the three things that I would encourage

18:32

you all to think about while you're here .

18:35

Definitely . I love all of the things you said you

18:37

spoke to . The key highlights I'll take

18:40

away is faith , whether

18:42

that , whatever your source , is family my

18:45

family's back there supporting me now so it never

18:47

ends . So your story of moms

18:49

, you know , being called and helping

18:51

you through and the struggles my mom knows

18:53

we prayed before every step exam

18:55

, before every board exam . So just having

18:57

that support system , as you all said

18:59

, and then making sure that you

19:02

are figuring out who you are now

19:04

and what you enjoy so you can continue

19:06

to pull that through your career , because

19:08

you're always going to be busy and I

19:10

think what happens is , as a student , you think

19:12

, oh , okay , once I get to med school , oh

19:14

, I might have the time to pick it back up , but no

19:16

, it only gets more and more busy . And

19:20

then what you spoke to about communication , I really

19:22

want to emphasize too , because I think

19:24

we don't realize those skills

19:26

translate so well . Every day we're talking

19:28

to patients , right . Every day we're

19:30

talking to parents , you know as pediatricians and

19:32

you in the emergency room . You're talking to every age

19:34

group as well . It's not

19:36

just about can you study and get the grades

19:39

, those intangible skills of

19:41

can I make eye contact ? Can I read body

19:43

language ? Can I really be excited

19:46

when I talk to somebody I meet ? Those things really

19:48

matter too . So you all spoke to some

19:50

great qualities that I hope you all can take away

19:52

from what our panelists have said , and

19:55

so I'm going to have . I have one last question and

19:57

then we'll open it up to audience questions

19:59

. But if you could each talk about

20:01

where you are now in your career

20:03

and what you're doing and how

20:06

you see yourself continuing to make the impact

20:08

in medicine that you hope to make

20:12

, we can talk about that together we're colleagues , by

20:14

the way . We're both assistant

20:17

professors at USC .

20:18

So yeah , I'm off

20:22

the office here at UNC School of

20:24

Medicine . As Dr Weiss mentioned

20:26

, I'm a pediatrician and preventive medicine physician

20:28

, whicha lot of people don't know what preventive medicine

20:30

is . So I'd love to talk with you all about it if you're interested

20:33

. Briefly , just to give you kind of an overview

20:35

of what that is . It's a specialty

20:37

of medicine that essentially treats

20:39

like populations as patients , and so

20:41

you get to do a lot more public

20:44

health-minded practice and so if that's

20:46

something you're really interested in , I

20:48

would love to talk with you about it , because not

20:50

a lot of people know about that field . But

20:52

again , I'm a doctor at UNC

20:54

and I do a lot of different things . I

20:56

won't bore you all with that because I literally

20:59

could spend an hour talking about all the things

21:01

I do , but I do a mix of a lot of different

21:03

jobs . I stand my own

21:05

patients in clinic . I'm also

21:07

supervising our resident physicians

21:09

in clinic and teaching them as well do

21:12

something teaching . I'm here and there with the

21:14

medical school students and then other students

21:16

. That's just looking for kind of mentorship

21:18

and medicine . And I do

21:20

a lot again with my preventive medicine

21:22

background , a lot of public health work , and

21:25

so I work with the state health department

21:27

on some projects . I

21:29

do a lot of kind of physician

21:31

education , where I get to essentially

21:34

virtually travel to

21:36

places all over the country to teach physician

21:38

groups about things that they should be thinking

21:41

about and how to better take care of their patients

21:43

. As Dr Weiss mentioned the associate

21:46

program director for our preventive medicine residency

21:48

at UNC as well so do

21:50

a lot of different things , are very rewarding

21:53

, very busy , and

21:55

I'm a mom and a wife yes , I have a

21:57

home life too , so , like she

22:00

said , it doesn't stop it . Just you know things

22:02

, just kind of add on and you learn how to multitask

22:05

and you know just kind of handle it with

22:07

grace . But yeah , I would love to

22:09

talk with anyone afterwards if you're

22:11

interested about any of that . But yeah

22:14

, do a lot of different things now , which is

22:16

very rewarding and exactly what I wanted

22:18

to do when I kind of thought about

22:20

how I wanted my career to look . So I'm very happy

22:22

to be where I am today so

22:27

I'm just beginning my medical

22:29

journey .

22:31

I'm a first year medical student at UNC

22:33

. I currently serve as

22:35

one of the co-presidents for the student

22:38

national medical association at

22:40

UNC School of Medicine

22:42

. I am a National Future Leadership

22:45

Project fellow at like National SNMA

22:47

, where I'm getting skills you

22:50

know , learning how to potentially be a leader

22:52

at the regional and national level of SNMA . I'm

22:54

a part of the medical

22:58

education scholarly concentration at UNC

23:00

, where I'm a part of the medical education scholarly concentration

23:02

at UNC , where I'm learning about how

23:05

to pivot medical academic medicine from

23:07

the perspective of a medical educator . I want

23:09

to teach in the future and

23:12

potentially do research

23:14

at the intersection of , like medical education

23:17

and public health , and

23:21

so , yeah , that's a little bit about me . I'm

23:23

interested in anesthesiology

23:26

currently and I'll be doing

23:28

research this summer at MassGen

23:32

, Massachusetts General Hospital

23:34

in anesthesiology

23:36

and chronic pain management

23:38

. So , yeah , that's a little

23:40

bit about my journey first year medical student

23:43

and happy to talk to

23:45

anyone after the

23:47

program about medical school and

23:49

the transition to medical school and

23:51

what it's like being a first year medical student

23:54

and answer any questions you

23:56

have .

23:59

All right . So I'm currently in

24:01

private practice at Greensboro Pediatricians

24:03

. Been there about five years now

24:05

. I am in the current process

24:08

of becoming partners , so that takes a long time

24:10

. So we still hope

24:13

to be able to answer that pretty

24:15

soon . I'm an

24:17

adjunct professor with UNC School of Medicine

24:20

with the immediate Excel program

24:22

, and so what that is is if the students

24:24

do well within the program , they

24:26

already have the undergraduate degree . Some are masters

24:29

program , but they have an automatic

24:31

admission into UNC School of Medicine

24:33

, and so this is our third year in the

24:35

program and so I've had about six students

24:37

that have come through me since then . I also

24:40

partnered with A&T , so I've had about six students that have come through me since

24:42

then . I also partner with A&T , so I have an A&T student that partners with me each year that

24:44

shadows , and so if they do well

24:46

with me during that year , I do write them a letter of recommendation

24:49

for medical school , and so

24:51

my last two years they

24:53

both are in medical school . Right now I have a new

24:55

student with me . Currently . There's another

24:57

thing I work with A&T's pre-medical

24:59

department . I cannot say everything right yet because we're

25:01

in the current works and

25:04

haven't filled all the stuff out yet , but that

25:06

is something I'm working with within the pre-medical department

25:08

so that we can continue to have opportunities

25:10

for students , because we are not

25:13

connected officially with the medical

25:15

school , but hopefully we'll have some

25:17

things prepared for you all . And so

25:19

a lot of my thing is about mentorship and

25:22

making sure we have those opportunities for

25:24

our students If I can't have them in my office

25:26

. I do a lot of mentoring If they don't shadow me

25:28

. So I have some students that found me

25:30

online and do things of that sort . And

25:33

then outside of that , I'm very big within my community

25:35

, giving back to Greensboro , and

25:38

so I'm on the board at the YWCA

25:41

here in Greensboro and then the

25:43

Pettiford Foundation , and so that's where

25:45

Lupus Research and support within

25:48

here , and then Roxborough , north Carolina

25:50

, and so I always say that in the

25:52

sense of I know that I have a part in medicine

25:55

, but part of me being a pediatrician

25:57

especially primary care it's not

25:59

just medicine , it is a way that

26:01

you can teach , it's giving back into your community

26:03

, it's also being a counselor , it's being

26:06

nutritionist . There's so many different facets of

26:08

that that preventative side of medicine

26:10

that I want to see because we are building

26:12

our future generations , and so that's

26:14

where I see myself . Even though I'm here at graysboro

26:17

pediatricians , my mom always says she doesn't

26:19

see me just being a physician , and

26:22

so I'm seeing that trickle in slowly

26:24

over time because I

26:26

know this is what I've been called to do and

26:28

so I'm hoping that my calling will be a light

26:30

to others so that you can achieve what you've been

26:33

called to do .

26:37

So I'm currently a partner at

26:39

Mount Airy Emergency Physicians working with staff

26:42

for a private company that staffs the

26:44

hospital in Mount Airy . I've

26:46

been there for about seven years and

26:50

I am the chief of staff there at the hospital

26:52

as well . So as far as some

26:54

of the medical decisions that are made , I guess

26:58

for the doctors and nurse practitioners

27:00

and PAs on staff , we're

27:03

kind of the governing body that helps to make some of those

27:05

decisions . I'm

27:07

also a father to two boys . That's

27:09

probably my biggest , happiest , yet

27:12

most stressful job that I have

27:14

. And I'm also a proud husband to

27:16

my wife , who I met in medical school

27:18

. So being active in the community

27:20

, being active in the church , you

27:22

know , trying to give my boys

27:24

some of these same principles that we're talking to you guys about , that

27:27

you guys I'm sure already have . You

27:29

know , like I said , that's two full-time jobs

27:31

there .

27:32

But happy to help connect with any of you guys who

27:34

have any questions any way that we can help

27:36

.

27:49

I mean , I'm sure I speak on behalf of all of us that we're happy to do it . I love that , I love that

27:51

. So , you guys , see , I see . So this time we're gonna open it up to audience questions and well

27:53

, well , you guys , you know , if you can stand up , say who you

27:55

are and say what year you are and then

27:58

ask your question , I just want

28:00

to highlight the fact that there's a lot of diverse

28:02

interests represented here . Right , you

28:04

heard private practice , you heard

28:06

research , you heard preventive

28:09

medicine and public health . For me , it's

28:11

research , it's having an entrepreneurship

28:14

bug , it's seeing patients , it's teaching

28:16

. So you can do a lot of different things

28:18

in medicine and I want you all to start to think about

28:20

that early as you go along your journey . So

28:22

, with that being said , does anybody have a question

28:25

they'd like to ask ?

28:26

Hi , my name is Ayan Anyaborechi

28:28

. I'm a third year pre-med mathematical

28:31

student and my question to you all

28:33

is you kind of touched on this with why you're

28:35

interested in medicine , but I wanted to

28:38

know how did you know what specialty

28:40

best suited you and how did you know that you were

28:42

interested in ?

28:45

it .

28:47

So when I started out I wanted to go into pediatrics

28:50

.

28:50

The person who inspired me to go into medical school was my

28:52

pediatrician , and so I thought , for

28:55

sure , that's what I wanted to do . I

28:57

got to medical school , I did my pediatrics rotation

28:59

and I said I think this

29:01

is for me Like you know it's if

29:04

you know me , I am outgoing . I

29:06

am all over the place . My mind is racing

29:08

. So I needed something that fit that

29:10

same kind of mold , that same personality , and for

29:13

me it wasn't pediatrics . I

29:15

enjoyed family medicine . That was my first rotation

29:17

. I said I think I want to be a family medicine physician and

29:20

the next thing I did was OB and you

29:22

have to do a little bit of the OR . You have to do a little bit

29:24

of outpatient clinic . I said I'm gonna

29:26

be an obstetrician . Then the next one was

29:28

sight and see it , and I'm not doing

29:31

sight , so I did internal medicine . I think following

29:33

that I was like I like some caveats of

29:35

internal medicine , some of the facets there . I could

29:37

be a cardiologist , could be a gastroenterologist . I might want to do

29:39

that . I did peds and I said

29:41

I think I was actually more disappointed

29:43

and hurt , because that's why I went into medical

29:46

school thinking I was going to be a pediatrician and

29:48

realized it wasn't for me , which I think is just as valuable as

29:50

figuring out what you do want to do and

29:53

I think the last rotation I did that

29:55

year was surgery and and I enjoyed surgery

29:57

I said maybe this could be what I

29:59

do . I think I sat

30:01

down over the summer and I thought about it and I said I'm

30:08

not a morning person . I can't see myself waking up at 4 o'clock , having to

30:10

be there for a 7 o'clock start getting prepared for the day . So

30:12

I said surgery's out the door , plus , all my patients

30:14

are mostly asleep . I'm operating on them and

30:17

I like to talk and I can't talk to my patients that are asleep

30:19

so I can see them in follow-up in clinic . But the patients

30:21

you see in follow-up in clinic are probably not the ones that you

30:23

want to take care of every day , so that's a whole other

30:25

story so then I had

30:27

to sit down with our advisor and thought

30:30

about , okay , what might fit me , and

30:32

we came up with maybe anesthesia and maybe emergency

30:34

medicine , and so we're coming down

30:36

to the you know , the 11th hour , where I should have already

30:39

made a decision by now and I

30:41

did some away , rotations and anesthesia and

30:43

said I enjoyed it . I enjoyed the procedures

30:45

, I enjoyed being busy and seeing different facets of

30:47

medicine . However , it was that same kind

30:50

of issue of early mornings

30:52

patients that are mostly asleep and

30:55

then being in a cold , secluded OR for the

30:57

most of the time . So then I did emergency medicine and I

30:59

felt like I had found my calling , secluded OR for the most of the time . So then

31:01

I did emergency medicine and I felt like I had found my calling . I had

31:03

a little bit of OB , where I get to deliver babies . I

31:05

had a little bit of the anesthesia where I'm intubating patients

31:07

, I'm starting central lines . I had a

31:09

little bit of the family medicine component and that I'm seeing

31:12

patients of all age ranges , literally from

31:14

birth to death , seeing

31:16

a little bit of everyone . And

31:18

I even got some of that psych in there , whether I asked for it

31:20

or not so . I felt

31:22

like I had all components of medicine wrapped up

31:24

into one with that same fast pace

31:27

that I needed . That kept me guessing , kept me on

31:29

my toes , and so I feel like emergency

31:31

medicine ultimately found me , and so

31:33

it was the right match for me .

31:37

I think for me I

31:39

always wanted to be a pediatrician . That was like what

31:41

kind of hit me at the beginning . But

31:44

you don't really know until you go

31:46

through it . And so at my church

31:48

at a young age they allowed me to be the assistant

31:51

youth director and so it was over all the age

31:53

groups . So I worked with the babies up

31:55

until they were going off to the high

31:57

school age and so with that

32:00

just , I'm very bubbly . I

32:02

talk like Brandon . I like to talk a lot , being

32:04

him . If we're at conferences there , he's there

32:07

, I'm here . We never can get a picture because we're both

32:09

talking somebody , and so

32:11

it allows me to be myself . I

32:13

walk in rooms I have had to learn does not

32:15

bust in too many rooms at work because

32:17

the kids make behind the door but they but'll

32:20

help me . I watch Disney

32:24

movies , I sing , I keep to do

32:26

that and I really want to be

32:28

like just be there with them when

32:30

they're developing Adults

32:33

. I love you all , but you've already made your

32:35

choice in your mind of what you will and will not

32:37

do . You know I'm going to help take care of

32:39

my dad , Love him to death , but it takes a lot to

32:41

deal with that older person , I

32:43

joke around with it , but to say that I

32:45

like to make sure that we can go ahead and prevent

32:47

those long-term illnesses that

32:49

we have beforehand . And so I

32:51

think with pediatrics it was very much of

32:53

who I was and what my beliefs

32:56

were long-term , of making

32:58

sure that you wanted to be what you want to be

33:00

in the long run . I can talk about

33:02

every facet what school you're going

33:04

to , what your interests are and all

33:06

that , and so

33:09

that's why I saw myself in the primary care

33:11

setting . Now I went in there with that

33:13

mindset but , I , always kept my mind open

33:15

in medical school . So my first rotation

33:18

was surgery , because I said I'm going to get it over

33:20

with , but it was exciting . I said I'm going to get it over

33:22

with , but it was exciting . I called my mentor . I said we had called and

33:24

I stayed up for 24 hours and I got the

33:26

V in here and she said this too shall pass

33:28

. And it did . But um , I don't

33:31

want to get it four o'clock in the morning , but I enjoyed

33:33

it . So each time I went I saw a

33:35

surgery resident who had a similar personality as me

33:37

, was very bubbly and getting in there family

33:39

medicine . I like to talk to everybody

33:41

my family , joke around and say you would do well in

33:44

a nursing home because you go in there and

33:46

have fun times with the older people and

33:48

so just keeping that open mind as you

33:50

went there and then as you delve

33:52

in to see what is your passion , what

33:54

can you see yourself getting up to do ? So

33:56

the Malik said go back to your why

33:58

. And I encourage you even record yourself

34:01

now why do I want to be a doctor , why

34:03

am I here ? And each step that

34:05

you take , each phase that you go into , do

34:07

another one , or whether it's writing it down , and

34:10

remind yourself of those things , Because when

34:12

you're in the thick of things , you can forget why

34:14

you got to that place . And so I

34:16

would say that's kind of how I got to

34:18

where I was . I had it in my mind , but

34:20

it flourished and developed over time , because

34:22

you don't really know much until you get

34:24

into it , as Malik probably knows . Once

34:27

you got in it , you're like , oh , this is truly what it is

34:29

. And now you're like , OK , we're

34:32

making it through , and so I think that's what

34:34

you'll get . You'll have the mindset here . But once you get

34:36

your feet rolling , you get in that ocean

34:38

, you're treading water . You know somebody

34:40

throw that life jacket out and you say this is the place

34:42

that's pulling me in the closest .

34:47

So I have not chosen a specialty

34:50

yet , because I'm still a first year , but

34:52

I would like to say that it's

34:54

good to keep your mind open , I feel

34:56

like , especially when you're first starting at a med

34:59

school . Right now I'm interested

35:01

in anesthesiology , but who knows

35:03

, I could change . I'm open to

35:05

, I'm flexible . I'm not

35:08

super slow and fixated on

35:10

anesthesiology , because , as you move

35:12

, I'm in the preclinical phase

35:14

right now , so we're learning about all the different body

35:16

systems drugs , the

35:19

pathology , the physiology , all that

35:21

stuff and um I don't know like certain

35:24

blocks of things I've never thought about . I'm

35:26

like well I'm kind of good at this , like um

35:28

, I never thought I would be interested in this

35:30

like our pulmonology blog , never , ever

35:32

thought about that . But I was like I kind

35:35

of this is kind of fun to me like I kind of like

35:37

this so as you move through blogs , as

35:39

you learn about things . Or like my circulatory

35:41

slash cardiology block , I thought that was really cool

35:43

too . And so as

35:45

you move through things , learn more about different

35:47

body systems , and then I'm not at

35:49

this part yet . I'm sure my mind might change

35:51

about some things . But when you get to your third year

35:54

, like when you're in the hospital and you're actually like

35:56

in the midst of those clinical

36:00

settings and not just hearing

36:02

about it on the TV show or watching

36:04

a vlog about it on YouTube . But you're actually

36:06

doing it . A lot of people I know they've changed

36:08

their minds . I knew one of my friends . She

36:10

wanted to go into neurosurgery

36:13

and then she went on her surgery rotation

36:15

and saw she didn't like

36:17

it pretty much . And

36:20

now she's thinking about neurology . And

36:22

so just keeping your mind open

36:24

and you know , while you're in medical

36:26

school I think is a good thing , but it's good to have something

36:29

to think about or lean toward something , but

36:31

still like keep an open mind .

36:37

Yeah , I think for me kind of

36:39

similar to India . I always

36:41

kind of had this inclination that I wanted to be a pediatrician

36:44

and then when I came here and got connected

36:46

with MAPS and Dr White and the shadowing

36:49

program that India mentioned , I got paired with a

36:51

pediatrician , dr Chris Miller , who

36:53

is actually now India's colleague at Greensboro Pediatricians

36:56

and I just love

36:58

the work that he did . I

37:00

loved observing him , how

37:02

he interacted with his patients , the relationships

37:05

he was able to build with his patients , but

37:07

also the relationships he built with

37:09

the parents and the family , the caregivers

37:12

that came in with the child . I like

37:14

how he got to do kind of a

37:16

little bit of everything . He wasn't just confined

37:19

to just the medicine

37:21

of it right . Like he got to

37:23

do a little bit of mentorship and talk

37:25

to his patients about what they wanted

37:27

to be when they grew up and kind of instill some

37:29

of that like you can

37:32

do it and just kind of helping them with that

37:34

motivational speech from again

37:36

someone , particularly for his black patients . You can

37:38

imagine how important that was for them to

37:40

see him in that field and so

37:42

just watching him and how he was

37:44

able to connect with the families that he saw

37:46

and the things that he did outside of the

37:48

community . I just saw myself doing

37:51

that . But even with that , you know

37:53

, like everyone has said , I went to medical school thinking

37:55

like I think I want to be a pediatrician

37:57

but maybe I should keep an open mind

37:59

and think about all the other specialties that

38:01

are available , because there are just so many opportunities

38:04

and I pretty much narrowed it down

38:06

. Once I did my third year rotations

38:08

to pediatrics , family medicine

38:11

and OB-GYN , but pretty

38:13

much after I did my pediatrics

38:15

rotation I

38:17

decided on pediatrics . I think

38:19

I wasn't , you know , no shade to

38:22

adults , older people , but I realized that just

38:24

wasn't my passion to provide care

38:26

to older population

38:28

, elderly population . It just wasn't something

38:30

that really excited me . For

38:33

OB , I really liked the delivering babies

38:35

part , but the kind of being in the OR

38:38

guy part wasn't really my thing

38:40

and so I narrowed it down to pediatrics

38:42

for that reason and I think it's the best specialty

38:45

ever . I mean it's just so fun . You get to do

38:47

a lot of cool things and connect with a lot

38:49

of different people and really help people

38:52

, especially when they're experiencing

38:54

vulnerable moments . A lot of people will lean

38:57

on us as pediatricians as

38:59

someone to help guide them and I enjoy

39:01

that . Since I am

39:03

another specialty as well , I can speak briefly

39:06

to that For preventive

39:08

medicine . I honestly had not heard

39:10

of that specialty until I was almost

39:13

all the way through my pediatrics residency

39:16

. So by then I had graduated medical school

39:18

. I was in pediatrics training

39:20

and , like most of my colleagues

39:23

at the time , we were thinking about , well , what

39:25

are our next steps going to be ? Are we going

39:27

to go on to fellowship and specialize

39:30

like pediatric cardiology , pediatric

39:32

gastroenterology , or are

39:34

we going to primary care ? And

39:36

so those were kind of the two pathways

39:39

that people took , but for me I felt like

39:41

I didn't really fit well into either

39:44

one of those . I knew I wanted to do primary

39:46

care pediatrics , but I

39:48

didn't want to do that with all of my time

39:50

and for me I had this , this desire

39:53

to fulfill this like community

39:55

partnerships and practicing

39:57

medicine from kind of a higher systems level

40:00

standpoint . I really wanted to do that

40:02

. It was very interested in public health

40:04

but didn't really know how to get the training

40:06

to be a physician in that

40:08

area , and so I'm a millennial

40:11

. I hopped on Google and it's like what other training

40:13

programs are available , if any , that

40:15

I can gain the skill set that I'm

40:17

looking for to really practice population

40:20

health and to really address

40:22

things like health disparities that

40:24

are so prevalent that we see

40:26

, you know , every day in our practice . And

40:28

so I came across preventive medicine

40:30

and when I read about it I was like

40:32

this is exactly what I'm looking for , exactly

40:34

what I want to do will allow me to

40:36

gain those skills to really address

40:39

problems from a higher systems level standpoint

40:41

. So that's kind of how I got

40:43

into preventive medicine .

40:46

Good evening everyone

40:48

hi . My name is Alira Burnett . I'm a first year

40:51

biology student , a freshman biology student , so

40:54

my question was I have a couple questions

40:56

and I'll try to narrow them down For

41:00

one how did you romanticize being a student

41:02

, like you know , being a long term student and that

41:04

? My next question was you

41:06

know either from Dr Mills

41:08

or Dr Young , how is it being like

41:10

a parent ? I don't know if you

41:13

are a parent as well but if you are

41:15

a parent , like , how is it being a parent and balancing

41:17

, like the life of a doctor ? And

41:19

then , lastly , financially , was

41:21

it worth it ? And that was two .

41:25

I'm going to repeat the question .

41:27

Well , I'll answer your second

41:29

question about being a parent and

41:31

being a physician , because , like Brandon

41:33

said , being a parent is my

41:35

favorite job . It's the most rewarding

41:37

job I have . As much as I

41:39

love seeing my patients in clinic , nothing

41:42

gives me greater joy than to be

41:45

able to raise my baby girl . I have a three and

41:47

a half year old , so

41:49

, to put it plainly , it's

41:51

a challenge . I think both

41:53

Brandon and I are both working full

41:55

time , and so medicine is a very demanding

41:58

career and so , going

42:00

back to something I said earlier about , it's

42:02

very important to learn how to multitask

42:05

and to know how to handle

42:07

a lot of different things coming at you at once

42:09

, because once you are a parent

42:11

, it's nonstop . It's nonstop

42:13

Like you are on 24-7

42:15

. And so rewarding , but it's hard

42:18

. So , I think , just learning

42:20

how to also , you know bringing in some of the other

42:22

things that's been said , like what are your hobbies

42:24

? Learning how to just be a person outside

42:26

of medicine , if you know you especially

42:28

want to have a family , one day there

42:34

will come a time where you know you have to prioritize your family and

42:36

some things with your job and with medicine . You just kind of have to let go

42:38

for that moment , and so just

42:40

knowing how to really have that

42:42

good work-life balance , it's

42:45

really helpful . I'm still figuring it out . It's

42:48

hard , I'm still figuring it out you know , some days

42:50

and I used to hear people say this all the time

42:52

before I became a mom , but now that

42:54

I'm living it . I'm like oh yeah , this is what

42:56

they mean . But you know , sometimes you're the

42:59

best doctor . You're like killing

43:01

it in the game when it comes to being a physician

43:04

and doing things for your patient , but

43:06

maybe you feel like you fell short as a parent

43:08

.

43:08

And then there are other days where I'm like , well , but maybe you feel

43:10

like you fell short as a parent .

43:11

And then there are other days where I'm like , well

43:13

, I'm killing it as a mom , I'm doing all these things

43:15

and you know my baby girl is thriving , but

43:19

you know , I feel like I let some projects go that I really need to pick back up on at work , and

43:21

so it's a balance and just giving yourself grace . I think is so important when

43:24

you are a parent and also

43:26

in a demanding career . I

43:29

know you had other questions . I also in a demanding career . I know you had

43:31

other questions . I don't know if anybody else wants to answer one of the

43:33

other ones . I'm looking forward to it .

43:34

You had a question about financially . Is it worth it

43:36

to you the journey to medicine

43:38

? Somebody

43:41

want to answer that one

43:43

.

43:46

So yeah , so I think anything that makes you whole and fulfills you is financially worth it . Okay , so

43:49

you know , we were fortunate

43:51

enough to go to , at the time when I started

43:53

, the cheapest medical school in the country . It

43:55

was not by the time I graduated , but

43:57

still on the lower end of things comparatively

43:59

on the national scale .

44:02

So would I go back and do it again ? I certainly would .

44:04

I think that it's important to

44:06

follow your passion , follow your dream , and so at

44:09

what cost . You know whether

44:11

it's , whether , to me , to

44:13

put it bluntly , the

44:16

financial costs didn't pale in

44:18

comparison to the cost

44:21

of missing birthdays and

44:23

funerals and weddings and family

44:25

events , family reunions , and so you know

44:27

. But again , it's that sacrifice , it's

44:29

that tenacity that I was telling you guys about . You

44:31

know I paid the money because I had to pay to

44:33

play . But the thing that people don't

44:35

talk about is that you're going to miss a lot of

44:37

things that are going on in your family , your

44:39

friends' lives , that you know . You're making that

44:41

sacrifice because this is what's important to you

44:43

. And so for me to answer

44:46

your first question about romanticizing , you

44:48

know , the education piece . I

44:51

enjoy learning . I mean , I'd be lying if I said I

44:53

didn't , but I'm not the guy that's , you know , wanting

44:56

to go sit down at a lecture , you

44:58

know , as opposed to going out and hanging out with my friends

45:00

because I'm so social . So the

45:03

part for me that kept me going

45:06

, that kept me thriving throughout the whole experience

45:08

, was this is a means to an end

45:10

. And I know ultimately I want to become a doctor

45:12

. I know that this is my calling

45:14

to help folks , and so this is how I have to this is what I

45:16

have to do to get there , and if it means I have

45:19

to you know , take out these loans to do it . If it

45:21

means I'm going to miss another birthday , so be it

45:23

, because it's what I want to do in my life , it's what I'm called to do so

45:27

we'll go to the next question and then

45:31

we'll again .

45:31

You can ask more questions afterwards too . My

45:34

name is Desiree Jimerson . I'm a first year

45:37

biology student and I'm interested in

45:39

the PhD med

45:41

school route and I was wondering for the ones doing research

45:43

like , what is it like to balance between research

45:46

and still being a physician to your best

45:48

capacity ? Sure

45:53

, I can oh , you wanna speak to that ? Okay , I can speak to that one . So most of my

45:55

time right now is actually spent research

45:57

, protected time . So there are many

45:59

routes in medicine . You can

46:01

do private practice or work at a med school

46:03

. So that's kind of one of your first distinctions we'll talk

46:06

about . So that's academic medicine . When

46:08

you do academic medicine , some people

46:10

have their PhD and some don't so

46:12

that's another thing that I want people to

46:14

know . You don't have to do an MD PhD

46:17

to do research , but if it's something you're really passionate

46:19

about and you love the research aspect , you

46:21

can absolutely go that route

46:24

. I know a lot of students and some of my mentees

46:26

who are doing MD PhDs . One of

46:28

the big perks to that is they don't pay

46:30

. A lot of programs are full scholarships

46:33

to medical school for your MD-PhD , so

46:35

that's something to keep in mind . So

46:38

I took the route of doing medical

46:40

school , doing residency and then doing

46:42

a fellowship to get my master's in health sciences

46:45

, and so that's how I used

46:47

that time that I learned in my Masters

46:50

of Health Sciences to learn how to write grants

46:52

to find my research niche , which

46:54

for me is medical education in

46:56

the transition from undergrad to medical school

46:58

and I don't think a lot of people know

47:00

that you don't have to work in a lab at all

47:02

to do research some

47:05

people do clinical research and

47:07

other people do medical education research

47:09

, like myself , so there's a lot of different

47:11

avenues . I think you have to

47:13

stay making

47:15

sure that you're going to get the grants that you need over time

47:17

and making sure you find what you're passionate about

47:20

and pursuing that , because that'll really keep

47:22

you going and moving when you're trying to

47:24

shape your research career as well . Hey

47:27

, the Be Med Amplified Tour is

47:29

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47:31

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47:33

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47:47

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