I first learned about Dr. Paul Farmer in college during a Public Health and Medical Ethics course. We read multiple excerpts from his various books along with the biography, Mountains Beyond Mountains, of this world-renowned figure in Global Health. His important contributions to medicine and people in poverty-stricken countries are innumerable. Dr. Farmer served as…
Category: Medicine
Podcast Episode 2: Mood & Meds
I know it’s been nearly two months since my first podcast episode! I finally got my act together to record another episode. Baby steps! In today’s episode, I discuss mental health and the stigma around it and its treatments. I offer some personal experiences here, and I hope you find this helpful! As always, I…
Sitting with Suffering: A Lesson from a Patient
“Don’t throw away your suffering. Touch your suffering. Face it directly, and your joy will become deeper. You know that suffering and joy are both impermanent. Learn the art of cultivating joy. Practice like this, and you come to the third turning of the Third Noble Truth, the “Realization” that suffering and happiness are not…
Measles, Medicine, and Modern Ethics
The ongoing news reports of measles outbreaks in the United States and my concurrent readings for a course in Theories of Justice has gotten me thinking. A lot. I’m thinking about the undoing of medical progress and the unfortunate damage done by the now debunked Lancet study about a purported link between the MMR (measles/mumps/rubella) vaccine…
Heart Disease Risk in South Asians: My Two Cents
February is heart disease awareness month, and I’ve been especially interested in the discussions around cardiovascular (CV) disease risk (along with diabetes and insulin resistance) in the South Asian population. I am so glad to see so many South Asian medical professionals highlighting this important topic on social media, since the risk of diabetes and…
Mental Load and Contraception: An Unjust Distribution
By now, many people have seen the “Mental Load” comic that has sparked a great deal of dialogue around gender roles in heterosexual partnerships. Our current generation is one in which both men and women in a partnership tend to work outside of the home. However, much of the burden of home and childcare still…
Breastfeeding & Pumping: A Practical Guide
I’ve been debating publicly talking about my experience with breastfeeding for a while now. After much thought, I decided to go for it because I myself found much comfort (and helpful information!) after I had my first baby through scouring the web. And by scouring the web, I mean at all hours of the day…
Sweet Gestures
After a very long and difficult string of weeks at work, often caring for patients who have endured terrible accidents (physically and biologically speaking), this evening I went to see a patient whose loved one’s gesture brought a smile to my face. This patient, a fairly young man who recently suffered a rare type of stroke…
Dr. Abraham Verghese on the Importance of Touch
Sometime during medical school, I heard about a book about treating patients during the onset of the AIDS epidemic in America. I was surprised and delighted to learn that the author, Abraham Verghese, was Indian, and, like me, his roots were from Kerala, India. Given my deep interest in HIV medicine and Infectious Diseases at the…
Dos and Don’ts of Dealing with Death
In many parts of the world, people understand the natural cycle of life and death. In America, it seems to be the opposite. Everyone expects immortality because of the vast scientific advances and research being done. It’s almost as if people feel entitled to living forever at any cost. But this way of thinking needs…
An Open Letter to the Boards
Dear Boards, Well, our last twelve months together have been a mixture of emotions, ups and downs, lessons, pain, and maybe one or two victories. I first heard the horror stories about you during first year of residency, but at that point I (along with my peers) was just trying to keep my head above…
Immortality & Ethics: The Henrietta Lacks Case
In May 2018, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery installed this portrait of Henrietta Lacks while three of her grandchildren looked on. The fascinating story of this important woman was revealed in Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010). I initially read this book during residency, then revisited it two years ago for a…
pen . paper . storm 