Journey to Medicine Journey to Medicine

Dr. Sergio Torres served as a hospital medicine physician at Stanford and is currently a medicine faculty at UCSF. He discusses his experience training as a physician in Mexico and the United States in this fantastic episode. His interest in medicine began as an adolescent despite having no medical influences in his large family. He details an impactful mission trip in which he was motivated to gain insight and answers to questions that people had about their health. After high school, Dr. Torres entered medical school in Mexico and completed a year of research to examine cardiovascular aging. Along the way, he confronted many questions about the limitations of medicine. After, Dr. Torres prepared to apply for residency programs in the U.S. and later attended a program at Baylor. During this episode, Dr. Torres provides excellent insight into choosing a fulfilling profession, explaining his background in service and his desire to help those that are less fortunate. Finally, he offers advice to students to pursue a path that is in harmony with who they are and to stop and ask themselves the essential questions along their journey!

In this encouraging and inspiring episode, Dr. Gail Gazelle, a Harvard Medical School faculty and author of the book "Everyday Resilience," provides tangible advice on how to move from burnout to resilience. She describes her early interest in medicine and her childhood experiences that led her to pursue a career in hospice care. Dr. Gazelle held various clinical positions and eventually completed a medical ethics fellowship to start a palliative care program. After her son's birth, Dr. Gazelle began to feel tremendous guilt and burnout, which led her to pursue her training to become a physician coach and write a book to help others. Throughout this episode, Dr. Gazelle provides fantastic advice about numerous steps that students and physicians can take to develop resilience and thrive in their lives and careers!

Throughout her journey, Jessica Buesing, chief resident at Stanford, put one foot in front of the other at every step along the way. Throughout undergrad, she was very involved in music in both her studies and extracurriculars, graduating from Williams with a double major in clinical psychology and music. After college, she pursued several experiences working in behavioral therapy and ended up in a nursing program at Columbia. However, a particular physiology course sparked a fascination and convinced Dr. Buesing to switch gears and pursue medical school. In this fascinating episode, Dr. Buesing discusses being brave, bold, and overcoming fear to follow a true passion as well as work-life balance and finding support systems.

"In this powerful episode, Dr. Steven Reid, neurosurgeon and founder of the non-profit Doctor Lifeline, discusses his crucial work to prevent physician burnout and suicide. He lays out the reasons for an increased incidence among physicians and various steps we need to take to prevent it. His story begins during undergrad when he accidentally fell into medicine and later completed a seven-year BS/MD program. While choosing specialties, Dr. Reid pursued neurosurgery even after being warned against it. However, during his training, he experienced “the dark night of the soul” and contemplated quitting. From his experience, Dr. Reid provides advice to students on the importance of enduring the challenging aspects of medicine, having open conversations, seeking help, and finding joy along the journey!"

"In this exciting episode, Dr. Sophia Yen, an adolescent medicine physician and CEO/Co-Founder of Pandia Health, describes the traditional path she followed throughout undergrad and medical school. From her experience, she offers insightful advice about useful positions and extracurriculars that are helpful for medical school admissions. Additionally, Dr. Yen details her passion and hope for pediatrics as well as her entrepreneurial spirit!"