March 4, 2024 • 24 mins
When you're standing at the foot of a mountain, the peak can seem impossibly high—that's how the journey through medical school can feel. But Khalid El-Jack, a tenacious fourth-year medical student and our guest this episode, proves that with the right mindset and support, even the steepest climbs become conquerable. He walks us through his story of triumph, from the daunting days of pre-med to his match in a coveted ophthalmology residency, interweaving the threads of global health interests with community impact and the fulfillment of making a tangible difference in people's lives.
The path to becoming a physician doesn't have to be a solitary trek. Throughout this episode, we discuss the underestimated yet powerful role of peer mentorship, shining a light on how finding your tribe in medicine can lift the veil of isolation, especially during the challenges brought on by the pandemic. Khalid and I reflect on the transformational connections made through clubs, organizations, and our emerging B-MED Connect app—tools that bridge gaps and build communities. For those who might hesitate to reach out, we share personal tales of overcoming shyness and the importance of persistence when seeking mentors.
As we wrap up, the conversation turns to the interesting realities Khalid faced starting his medical education amidst COVID-19, the transition to clinical clerkships, and the palpable excitement as residency looms on the horizon. It's an honest look at the multifaceted journey of medical students today—the trials, the errors, and the growth that come with each new stage. Khaled's optimism and practical advice serve as a beacon for current and aspiring medical students alike, illuminating the path to what is not just a career, but a calling. Tune in to absorb the wisdom, feel the encouragement, and join a community that understands the heartbeat of the medical field.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do you feel stuck as a pre-med trying to figure out
how to navigate the journey intomedical school?
Well, today I have a phenomenalguest with me.
His name is Khaled El-Jack,he's a fourth year medical
student and he is going to shareall about his tips and
strategies that help propel himinto medical school.
(00:20):
And now to being a fourth yearstudent who recently matched
into an ophthalmology program.
Let's jump right into theepisode.
(00:43):
Hello everyone, welcome back tothe BlackMed Connect podcast,
affectionately known as theBeMed podcast, where we share
inspiring stories of blackphysicians and physicians in
training.
And today I am delighted tohave my guest with me.
His name is Khaled El-Jack.
He's a fourth year medicalstudent at Perlman School of
(01:05):
Medicine in Pennsylvania, and weare absolutely delighted to
have you here to share moreabout your story.
So thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Thank you so much, dr Weiss.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Absolutely so.
I should be calling you futureDr El-Jack, of course, because
I'll let you share what theaudience with the good news is.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, I had the pleasure to recently match into
the field of ophthalmology,which has been a field I've been
looking to get into for a while, and thankfully I'll be
actually moving to sunny southFlorida, the University of Miami
, this summer.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Awesome Congratulations, thank you so
much.
That is absolutely to becommended.
So you mentioned that you hadthis dream of being an
ophthalmologist for quite sometime.
Tell me more.
I'm interested in that fieldand share a little bit with the
audience, who may not even knowwhat ophthalmologists are.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah.
So I came into medical schoolat like 2020, right in the
middle of COVID, without aspecific specialty in mind.
I just knew that I wanted topursue kind of a procedural
specialty.
But I knew that the field thatI wanted to pursue I wanted it
to have an element of being ableto do global health in that
field, including my familiesfrom Khartoum, sudan, and that's
(02:18):
like a community.
That's been a huge role in mylife.
I used to visit Sudan a lot asa child.
So when I went further on inmedical school, I found that
ophthalmologists can fairlyeasily go on global trips, be
able to do these quickprocedures, life vision changing
procedures and really impactquality of life, and that's kind
of what pushed me into thatfield.
And for those that arenecessarily familiar with the
(02:40):
work that ophthalmologists do,they're specifically eye
surgeons.
A lot of common ophthalmologyprocedures are like cataracts,
lasik, patients with glaucoma orpatients with diabetes can have
vision threatening eyeconditions as well, and there's
a lot of differentsub-specialties in ophthalmology
.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
That's amazing.
That's amazing.
I love how you talked aboutcoming in during the pandemic
and how your desire and passionfor global health is a big
reason why you choseophthalmology.
Tell me more about how you hopeto kind of impact the global
community with your work as youproceed into residency here soon
(03:20):
in July.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, I think long term.
There's two main ways ofthinking of global health.
Number one is like actuallyphysically going abroad and
working with communities abroadand of course, ideally I would
love to go to Sudan and workwith patients there.
Unfortunately, there's a lot ofcivil unrest at this time in
Sudan so it's quite difficult tophysically go, but hopefully,
(03:43):
as we think of after trainingand in the future, it would be
an honor to be able to servethat community into them.
The other avenue of doingglobal health is actually right
here at home, especially in alot of major cities like I'm in
Philadelphia currently.
We'll be in Miami.
There are communities from allaround the world in major cities
, so sometimes people thinkglobal health is just like you
(04:04):
have to get on an airplane andtreat a patient abroad.
But it really starts withtreating like immigrant
communities in your own homecity, developing networks for
them to get eye screenings ifthey need surgeries after the
screenings, or medications Likethose are always conservative,
global community and in trainingeven.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Absolutely.
I love that.
I genuinely don't think peopleunderstand how much we take care
of patients from diversebackgrounds all over the world
right here, and what the needsof specific communities are and
how they're different.
And so you know as much aswe're all very much so the same
human humanity wise.
I think it's it's important toknow that when people come from
(04:45):
different locations worldwide,it's nice to know that they have
communities and individualsthat want to make sure that
their needs are met based ontheir backgrounds.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
And so could you share a little bit more about
what the process was like.
Let's say you're a first year.
I'm actually going to go backeven further.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Let's say you're a pre-med the pre-med here.
Let's say you're a pre-med incollege and you think you may
want to be an eye surgeon oneday and ophthalmologist.
What advice would you have?
What are three tips you wouldgive to a student who may be
thinking about this as a careerchoice for them?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Yeah, I think going.
Going back to pre-med, I thinkmy first tip is to kind of think
of things as one step at a time.
I think it's easy to be yourfreshman year of college.
You just turn like 1780 and youmove to inner city and you're
like, oh, one day I want to bean eye surgeon, and you think
about like this overwhelmingburden of, okay, now I have to
(05:45):
like skip all these steps, gothrough residency and eventually
I'm going to be an eye surgeon.
So tip one I would say is likewhat is the immediate step in
front of you?
So the immediate step in frontof you as a pre-med student is
like, okay, I have to get intomed school.
So there's a whole series ofevents that have to take place
from pre-med to med schoolbefore you can jump through like
hoops, number two and three toget to eye surgeon.
(06:07):
The second tip I would saythat's going to be helpful even
within med school would be tofind the right mentors.
So you're doing a good job bylike watching videos like this,
getting information, but to finda correct mentor for you to
kind of help guide you throughpre-med, through med school, and
then to get into, like theophthalmology residency and even
within residency, like tobecome an attending physician.
(06:29):
You need to find mentors thatare going to advocate for you
and kind of give you the thebest advice moving forward.
And then I think three.
If I am going to think aboutlike pre-med specifically, it's
going to be very important totry.
Everybody says, like protectyour grades, do the best
academically, but frankly, likeI wouldn't advise people to get
(06:52):
overwhelmed with their end goaland then kind of mess up like
the original pathway.
So without that in mind, it'sgoing to be difficult to even
like go from like the pre-medstage to the medical stage.
So like really focusing on eventhough there's a lot of
extracurriculars and everythingyou have to fit in really making
sure that you have like asstrong grades as possible, as
strong test scores as possiblefor yourself.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I love that.
I think you know, as you dotalk to a lot of pre-meds and I
do as well the tips you justgave are extremely important
because I think when you've hada lifelong dream, or even if
it's a newer goal that you knowyou develop in college, it's
really easy to almost getoverwhelmed because the path is
so great.
And so, to your point of like,keeping the main thing, the main
(07:37):
thing you know, keeping yourgrades as the priority, making
sure you're paying attention tothe steps you need to for the
immediate future.
That semester, I think, isreally critical.
And then your second tipregarding mentorship, is huge.
So can you share a little bitabout, maybe a college mentor
you had, and then even in medschool?
(07:58):
Now, if you have some mentors,like, what did you do to find
them and why has it beenofficial for you to have mentors
?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yeah, I have been very fortunate that a lot of my
mentors, especially in college,in med school, they've been more
like academic professors andpeople within my med school.
Within college, I was lucky tohave a strong network of peer
mentors, of students thatactually were just only two
years older than me, three yearsolder than me, and they
(08:26):
actually didn't even go to myundergrad.
As I mentioned, I come from aSudanese background, so I grew
up in Wisconsin and a lot ofthese mentors two of them in
particular grew up in Michigan.
So these are people I've beenchildhood friends with, but they
were a couple years older thanme and they had gone through
pre-med and, like theysuccessfully actually made it to
(08:47):
medical school.
So I depended on them greatly.
They were like people who wereluck and stuff with me as I was
going through pre-med to try tomake sure that I could get to
them next level, and I would saythat sometimes it's better to
even have.
It's not mutually exclusive.
You don't just need either peermentors or professors, but I
think having had both havingpeer mentors is a lot easier to
(09:09):
relate to them because they'rearound your age, they just went
through the exact same thing.
They're not 20, 25 yearsremoved from the process and
then kind of giving outdatedadvice or advice that like might
be difficult for you.
So if there are people in youruniversity maybe they're two
years older than you there arelike, for example, clubs like
(09:30):
MAPS or SNMA or like othercultural diversity clubs or even
just a pre-medical club at youruniversity.
Seeing people have gone throughthe exact same thing that
you're going through right now.
I think that's a good place tostart to find peer mentors.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Absolutely and to your point, you never really
stopped needing individuals tohelp you.
So, whether you're in yourstage of the journey or, like my
stage, as an early facultymember, out of my training, you
need peer mentors to, like yousaid, relate to the immediacy of
what you're going through.
But then it's good to havethose layers too.
(10:06):
Yeah, exactly I love that, Ilove that.
So you were able to have somementors kind of in proximity to
you at your university and someindividuals from your community,
and really that's what Bmed isall about.
And so I'm going to take thismoment to plug our new app
that's launching soon theBlackMed Connect app, the Bmed
app, which is a new platformwhere you will be able to
(10:30):
connect with peers andindividuals at every single
level, and so we're excited thatwe're launching this platform
in March.
That's right.
You'll be able to download theapp on Android or iOS in March,
so be on the lookout for theexact drop date.
And thank you to Cali for evenbringing up the importance of
community, because that's whatwe're all about here at Bmed
(10:51):
making sure we help you buildthat community.
With that being said, let's talka bit about the shy student,
right, the student who they knowwhat they want to do.
I call them like quiet giants.
They know exactly what theywant to do, but may not be the
vocal person, the outgoingperson.
What advice would you give to astudent who may need mentors or
(11:14):
may need peers to connect with,but they're not necessarily
familiar with how to go aboutnavigating, building those
connections?
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Yeah, I think I would say two things.
Number one you don't have to belike just because I'm here on
this podcast speaking doesn'tmean that I'm the loudest voice
in the room or something likethat.
I think you just need Oneperson who can relate to you.
You don't need a hundreddifferent mentors or a hundred
different friends to support youThrough a journey.
(11:43):
You just need a couple peoplethat really relate to you and
understand what you'reinterested in.
So I think, number one, don'tdon't be overwhelmed by the fact
that you have to have hundredsof people.
And then Two, I would say itreally is like any other thing.
It takes practice.
So you start reaching out.
You might get overburdened bythe fact that you reached out to
(12:06):
five people and no one reallyresponded to you, and sometimes
people take that very personally, but that's that's not really a
personal thing.
Oftentimes the people thatyou're reaching out to can be,
can be quite busy, especially inmedicine.
So it's really about volume.
You continue reaching out, youcontinue to try to have meetings
and even if you are shy overtime having those meetings, you
(12:26):
kind of develop a practice and alittle bit of like a thicker
skin when it comes to likehaving Opportunities that didn't
necessarily work out ormentorship relationships that
didn't work out and then overtime it becomes a much easier
practice.
But five years ago, or likebeginning of pre-med, is very
different, like I'm verydifferent now, eight years later
, in terms of reaching out topeople.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Absolutely so you speak it to the growth of just
going through the process andreally building those skills and
practicing those skills.
And so Now let's talk a bitabout your transition from From
pre being a pre-med intomedicine.
What was it like for you, themed school admissions process
and and what was your experiencelike as like a first-year med
(13:09):
student?
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Yeah, I think the medical school admission process
I think it's a difficult andlengthy process for anyone.
I specifically took a gap yearbetween undergrad and med school
.
While I was applying, I wasdoing a summer research project
actually here at the Universityof Pennsylvania.
But it's a lengthy process.
Like you submit the primary,you get a ton of secondaries.
(13:32):
You have to go throughinterviews.
At that time when I applied, itwas the last cycle of in-person
interviews, so I was liketraveling across the country
trying to do the interviews aswell.
But thankfully, ultimately, IReally wanted to attend the
medical school that that Icurrently attend, so I was very
thankful that that ended upworking out for me.
And then transitioningTransitioning was also quite
(13:55):
difficult because, I mentioned,it was during, like right during
COVID, like August of 2020.
So in the beginning it was itwas tough moving to a new city
and like not really knowing, Ididn't really know.
I Maybe knew two people in thecity of Philadelphia when I,
when I moved and but you findthat, like, a lot of my
classmates were in that exactsame position.
(14:16):
So we still were able toconnect and and over time, we
were able to develop like goodrelationships, like within our
class.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Excellent.
Do you feel like when you firstgot there in the middle of the
pandemic, I know you all werepretty much so isolated.
What did you guys do to try tobuild those connections up?
And especially as a, a traineefrom an underrepresented
background, historically like,how did you build those
connections and were you able toconnect to your community as
(14:46):
well there?
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Yeah, I got lucky.
There's a lot ofintersectionality in my
background.
I am Sudanese but I'm alsoMuslim, like of faith.
So when I actually duringOrientation we have to get COVID
testing, and when I went to theCOVID testing I met two
classmates of mine who are who,honestly, like I met them within
three days of school and fouryears later they're like still
(15:10):
my absolute best friends in medschool.
So like literally, it just sohappened that in that first week
I was able to have a connectionand in in my mind I think, like
some people in med school havelike a ton of friends they
interact with with a lot, of, alot of people.
I Thankfully already had asupport system from like back
home and undergrad, so I wasn'tlooking to make like 50 new
(15:31):
friends.
So this core community of likea handful of people like they
kind of carried me through thefour years in med school and
they're so, so great.
I.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Love that.
I love that to your point.
So many people think, oh,you've got to make friends with,
like everybody.
And obviously you want to befriendly.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, I'm good terms with everybody.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Yeah, I'm good terms with everybody, collegial.
But all you need is one or twogood.
You know people you can reallybounce ideas off of or laugh,
cry whatever you need to do,study all night.
Whatever the case may be withyeah and so what was your
experience?
like you know, during med schooland you know, for individuals
(16:11):
who may not know, it's matchseason, so Caled already knows
where he's going, but a lot ofstudents are just now getting to
the point where they're goingto Find out very, very soon
where they're matching intotheir residency programs.
So let's talk a little bitabout your kind of classroom
experiences and then jumpinginto the clinical world.
(16:31):
What were those two worlds,like for you.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yeah, I think, first and foremost, one thing that
definitely is apparent now,going after grabbing, going
through muscle, is that it goesby very, very quickly.
I like people use to tell methat I think, oh no, it's like
four years, it's really reallylong.
But no, but honestly, likemonth to month, semester to
semester is like it's justpassing very, very quickly.
(16:53):
I would say I view my schoolreally in different stages, like
you're saying, likepre-clinical versus clinical
versus like after the clinic.
All those stages are likecompletely different experiences
.
So I would say, like if we wentfrom the beginning, my school,
like the first year and a halfis spent in the classroom, but
for us it was a lot of virtualwork because of the pandemic,
but we still had to come in todo our like small group
(17:16):
problem-based learning.
That was.
That was honestly it felt likea more intense extension of
undergrad, like because it was alot of classroom based work.
You have a lot of examinationand the material comes at you
pretty quickly.
But after, I would say thefirst semester is a really big
adjustment, like adjusting tothe level of material.
But then, like when you get toa year, like one, and you're in
(17:39):
the organ systems and you have asystem of how you're studying,
then it's like, okay, this, thissomewhat becomes manageable.
And then when you transitionfrom the the books to the
clerkship, that's like a wholedifferent transition.
So the clerkships that I thinkwas probably the the most
intense period of medical schoolbecause it's it's one year long
(17:59):
.
You're going from rotation torotation.
You don't like, as soon as youbecome familiar with one thing
like you're being transitionedto another team.
At night you have to study foryour shelf exam.
That's coming at the end of therotation.
So definitely I would considerthat period probably the most
challenging but also, I wouldsay, probably one of the more
rewarding times.
(18:20):
You're directly interactingwith patients every single day.
Most of the time you're likeplaying a key role actually on
the team and in patient care.
So I think, even though thehours are longer and it's a lot
more intense, it's it's justlike a very different feeling
than than being in the classroom.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Agreed, absolutely.
Do you feel like I don't thinkpeople are ready for that
opportunity to realize, wow, I'ma part of the care team for
someone in a very stressful,tough time in their life, so
that transition is huge.
What did you do to kind of getyourself prepared to be that
student doctor on the team?
How did you begin to connect orstart to build up your clinical
(19:02):
skills when you dealt withpatients more?
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Yeah, I think the number one skill or tip I can
give for someone on theirclinical rotations is to like,
really understand, like to havevery strong like situational
awareness of what's what's goingon around you.
Because sometimes, as like amedical student, you think, oh,
like, all eyes are on me, likeeveryone's evaluating me and
(19:26):
that every like, we always haveit from the lens of me, me, me,
because that's what we're usedto.
You get an exam.
It's only about you.
Like that grade is only areflection of, of your ability
and your scores.
When you get to the clinicalrotation, yes, you're being
evaluated, yes, you're on a team, but at the end of the day,
like everything that's going onis to take care of a person.
So, over time, you develop thatlike situational awareness
(19:48):
where it's like, oh, I haveextra time, you know, maybe I
could talk more to the patient.
I could understand, like, whatare the reasons they're not able
to take these medications?
What are the reason?
Like they're here the second orthird time?
Like these are things that yourresident or your attending may
not have the time to do forevery patient, but you sometimes
, or like somebody might say,like the patient might be hungry
(20:10):
and you might think, oh, likethat, that might be beneath me
to like go do some, but it'sabsolutely not like you.
You can play or you can likechange someone's whole day just
by listening to them, gettingthem some food, sitting there
for like an extra five minutes.
Like that ability to understandthe situation, that's something
that I think develops over timebut is really, really important
(20:30):
.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
I love that you said that.
I love that you said that youcan spend five more minutes with
the patient and it can changetheir whole day.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Because you're absolutely right.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
I think as you go through each stage, your
responsibilities change and so,as the student, you have the
most opportunity to just learnfreely and contribute in a way
that you know to some extentit's very helpful for the
patient but, like for theresident or the attending, there
are required things that mustget done, and so I love that
(21:03):
insight and that advice to likehave that situational awareness
and look for the spots where you, as a med student, can be
extremely valuable.
It's funny.
I remember having theopportunity to just talk with a
patient as a med student abouttheir family and about their
upbringing and, as and mostpeople know like, your doctor
may ask you a few questionsabout your family or your
(21:24):
upbringing, but it's oftentimesbecause they need to make sure
it's well documented and makesure it's not related to why
you're there, versus justwanting to learn and understand
more about your patient.
So, that's a great great pointthat you bring up to have
situational awareness.
So if you watch the entireepisode, then we have a special
(21:45):
bonus for you.
So, Khaled, I'll let you sharewhat that bonus is with our
audience.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Yeah, Thank you, Dr Weiss.
So we're giving away ourpre-med guide that we've created
.
So this is a 24 page guidecreated by me, my classmate and
the med school bro team Specifichighlights in it.
We have a MCAT study schedulein there.
We have my own personalstatement that I applied to
medical school with.
We also have an example ofmedical school secondary that I
(22:12):
used to apply to medical schooland screenshots of my activity
section used to apply to medicalschool.
And finally, there is atemplate letter for sending out
research opportunitiesprofessors.
So if you're ever confused onhow to reach out, we've got you
covered on that.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
I love that.
I love that.
So thank you all for watchingand definitely definitely click
on that resource and I want youto comment med school bro down
below so we can make sure youget that resource.
And if you want to check us out, I got a few things I need you
to do.
If you haven't done so already,please subscribe to black med
connect.
You can listen to us on allpodcast platforms.
(22:50):
So if you're walking or ifyou're studying or needs a
motivation, you can listen to uson our podcast platforms or you
can check us out on YouTube andsubscribe there.
And if you haven't followed uson social media, check us out on
Instagram, tiktok, anywherewhere you like to kind of check
out social media where they'reas black med connect as well.
(23:11):
We hope you enjoyed this week'sepisode, part one with Khaled.
He is a fourth year student whoreally just gave us some really
, really great gems on how tonavigate through your premiere
journey and your early years inmedical school.
If you enjoyed this episode,then you'll absolutely enjoy
part two, where we also sharemore tips and strategies on how
(23:34):
to navigate the med schooljourney and his exciting
endeavor with med school bro tomake sure to build community for
those who are trying to getinto med school.
So if you're excited about thatand you enjoyed this episode,
don't forget to join us nextweek for the part two of our
episode with Khaled.
Until next time.
Always remember to dreamwithout limits.
Do you feel stuck as a pre-med trying to figure out
how to navigate the journey intomedical school?
Well, today I have a phenomenalguest with me.
His name is Khaled El-Jack,he's a fourth year medical
student and he is going to shareall about his tips and
strategies that help propel himinto medical school.
(00:20):
And now to being a fourth yearstudent who recently matched
into an ophthalmology program.
Let's jump right into theepisode.
(00:43):
Hello everyone, welcome back tothe BlackMed Connect podcast,
affectionately known as theBeMed podcast, where we share
inspiring stories of blackphysicians and physicians in
training.
And today I am delighted tohave my guest with me.
His name is Khaled El-Jack.
He's a fourth year medicalstudent at Perlman School of
(01:05):
Medicine in Pennsylvania, and weare absolutely delighted to
have you here to share moreabout your story.
So thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Thank you so much, dr Weiss.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Absolutely so.
I should be calling you futureDr El-Jack, of course, because
I'll let you share what theaudience with the good news is.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, I had the pleasure to recently match into
the field of ophthalmology,which has been a field I've been
looking to get into for a while, and thankfully I'll be
actually moving to sunny southFlorida, the University of Miami
, this summer.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Awesome Congratulations, thank you so
much.
That is absolutely to becommended.
So you mentioned that you hadthis dream of being an
ophthalmologist for quite sometime.
Tell me more.
I'm interested in that fieldand share a little bit with the
audience, who may not even knowwhat ophthalmologists are.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah.
So I came into medical schoolat like 2020, right in the
middle of COVID, without aspecific specialty in mind.
I just knew that I wanted topursue kind of a procedural
specialty.
But I knew that the field thatI wanted to pursue I wanted it
to have an element of being ableto do global health in that
field, including my familiesfrom Khartoum, sudan, and that's
(02:18):
like a community.
That's been a huge role in mylife.
I used to visit Sudan a lot asa child.
So when I went further on inmedical school, I found that
ophthalmologists can fairlyeasily go on global trips, be
able to do these quickprocedures, life vision changing
procedures and really impactquality of life, and that's kind
of what pushed me into thatfield.
And for those that arenecessarily familiar with the
(02:40):
work that ophthalmologists do,they're specifically eye
surgeons.
A lot of common ophthalmologyprocedures are like cataracts,
lasik, patients with glaucoma orpatients with diabetes can have
vision threatening eyeconditions as well, and there's
a lot of differentsub-specialties in ophthalmology
.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
That's amazing.
That's amazing.
I love how you talked aboutcoming in during the pandemic
and how your desire and passionfor global health is a big
reason why you choseophthalmology.
Tell me more about how you hopeto kind of impact the global
community with your work as youproceed into residency here soon
(03:20):
in July.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, I think long term.
There's two main ways ofthinking of global health.
Number one is like actuallyphysically going abroad and
working with communities abroadand of course, ideally I would
love to go to Sudan and workwith patients there.
Unfortunately, there's a lot ofcivil unrest at this time in
Sudan so it's quite difficult tophysically go, but hopefully,
(03:43):
as we think of after trainingand in the future, it would be
an honor to be able to servethat community into them.
The other avenue of doingglobal health is actually right
here at home, especially in alot of major cities like I'm in
Philadelphia currently.
We'll be in Miami.
There are communities from allaround the world in major cities
, so sometimes people thinkglobal health is just like you
(04:04):
have to get on an airplane andtreat a patient abroad.
But it really starts withtreating like immigrant
communities in your own homecity, developing networks for
them to get eye screenings ifthey need surgeries after the
screenings, or medications Likethose are always conservative,
global community and in trainingeven.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Absolutely.
I love that.
I genuinely don't think peopleunderstand how much we take care
of patients from diversebackgrounds all over the world
right here, and what the needsof specific communities are and
how they're different.
And so you know as much aswe're all very much so the same
human humanity wise.
I think it's it's important toknow that when people come from
(04:45):
different locations worldwide,it's nice to know that they have
communities and individualsthat want to make sure that
their needs are met based ontheir backgrounds.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
And so could you share a little bit more about
what the process was like.
Let's say you're a first year.
I'm actually going to go backeven further.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Let's say you're a pre-med the pre-med here.
Let's say you're a pre-med incollege and you think you may
want to be an eye surgeon oneday and ophthalmologist.
What advice would you have?
What are three tips you wouldgive to a student who may be
thinking about this as a careerchoice for them?
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Yeah, I think going.
Going back to pre-med, I thinkmy first tip is to kind of think
of things as one step at a time.
I think it's easy to be yourfreshman year of college.
You just turn like 1780 and youmove to inner city and you're
like, oh, one day I want to bean eye surgeon, and you think
about like this overwhelmingburden of, okay, now I have to
(05:45):
like skip all these steps, gothrough residency and eventually
I'm going to be an eye surgeon.
So tip one I would say is likewhat is the immediate step in
front of you?
So the immediate step in frontof you as a pre-med student is
like, okay, I have to get intomed school.
So there's a whole series ofevents that have to take place
from pre-med to med schoolbefore you can jump through like
hoops, number two and three toget to eye surgeon.
(06:07):
The second tip I would saythat's going to be helpful even
within med school would be tofind the right mentors.
So you're doing a good job bylike watching videos like this,
getting information, but to finda correct mentor for you to
kind of help guide you throughpre-med, through med school, and
then to get into, like theophthalmology residency and even
within residency, like tobecome an attending physician.
(06:29):
You need to find mentors thatare going to advocate for you
and kind of give you the thebest advice moving forward.
And then I think three.
If I am going to think aboutlike pre-med specifically, it's
going to be very important totry.
Everybody says, like protectyour grades, do the best
academically, but frankly, likeI wouldn't advise people to get
(06:52):
overwhelmed with their end goaland then kind of mess up like
the original pathway.
So without that in mind, it'sgoing to be difficult to even
like go from like the pre-medstage to the medical stage.
So like really focusing on eventhough there's a lot of
extracurriculars and everythingyou have to fit in really making
sure that you have like asstrong grades as possible, as
strong test scores as possiblefor yourself.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I love that.
I think you know, as you dotalk to a lot of pre-meds and I
do as well the tips you justgave are extremely important
because I think when you've hada lifelong dream, or even if
it's a newer goal that you knowyou develop in college, it's
really easy to almost getoverwhelmed because the path is
so great.
And so, to your point of like,keeping the main thing, the main
(07:37):
thing you know, keeping yourgrades as the priority, making
sure you're paying attention tothe steps you need to for the
immediate future.
That semester, I think, isreally critical.
And then your second tipregarding mentorship, is huge.
So can you share a little bitabout, maybe a college mentor
you had, and then even in medschool?
(07:58):
Now, if you have some mentors,like, what did you do to find
them and why has it beenofficial for you to have mentors
?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yeah, I have been very fortunate that a lot of my
mentors, especially in college,in med school, they've been more
like academic professors andpeople within my med school.
Within college, I was lucky tohave a strong network of peer
mentors, of students thatactually were just only two
years older than me, three yearsolder than me, and they
(08:26):
actually didn't even go to myundergrad.
As I mentioned, I come from aSudanese background, so I grew
up in Wisconsin and a lot ofthese mentors two of them in
particular grew up in Michigan.
So these are people I've beenchildhood friends with, but they
were a couple years older thanme and they had gone through
pre-med and, like theysuccessfully actually made it to
(08:47):
medical school.
So I depended on them greatly.
They were like people who wereluck and stuff with me as I was
going through pre-med to try tomake sure that I could get to
them next level, and I would saythat sometimes it's better to
even have.
It's not mutually exclusive.
You don't just need either peermentors or professors, but I
think having had both havingpeer mentors is a lot easier to
(09:09):
relate to them because they'rearound your age, they just went
through the exact same thing.
They're not 20, 25 yearsremoved from the process and
then kind of giving outdatedadvice or advice that like might
be difficult for you.
So if there are people in youruniversity maybe they're two
years older than you there arelike, for example, clubs like
(09:30):
MAPS or SNMA or like othercultural diversity clubs or even
just a pre-medical club at youruniversity.
Seeing people have gone throughthe exact same thing that
you're going through right now.
I think that's a good place tostart to find peer mentors.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Absolutely and to your point, you never really
stopped needing individuals tohelp you.
So, whether you're in yourstage of the journey or, like my
stage, as an early facultymember, out of my training, you
need peer mentors to, like yousaid, relate to the immediacy of
what you're going through.
But then it's good to havethose layers too.
(10:06):
Yeah, exactly I love that, Ilove that.
So you were able to have somementors kind of in proximity to
you at your university and someindividuals from your community,
and really that's what Bmed isall about.
And so I'm going to take thismoment to plug our new app
that's launching soon theBlackMed Connect app, the Bmed
app, which is a new platformwhere you will be able to
(10:30):
connect with peers andindividuals at every single
level, and so we're excited thatwe're launching this platform
in March.
That's right.
You'll be able to download theapp on Android or iOS in March,
so be on the lookout for theexact drop date.
And thank you to Cali for evenbringing up the importance of
community, because that's whatwe're all about here at Bmed
(10:51):
making sure we help you buildthat community.
With that being said, let's talka bit about the shy student,
right, the student who they knowwhat they want to do.
I call them like quiet giants.
They know exactly what theywant to do, but may not be the
vocal person, the outgoingperson.
What advice would you give to astudent who may need mentors or
(11:14):
may need peers to connect with,but they're not necessarily
familiar with how to go aboutnavigating, building those
connections?
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Yeah, I think I would say two things.
Number one you don't have to belike just because I'm here on
this podcast speaking doesn'tmean that I'm the loudest voice
in the room or something likethat.
I think you just need Oneperson who can relate to you.
You don't need a hundreddifferent mentors or a hundred
different friends to support youThrough a journey.
(11:43):
You just need a couple peoplethat really relate to you and
understand what you'reinterested in.
So I think, number one, don'tdon't be overwhelmed by the fact
that you have to have hundredsof people.
And then Two, I would say itreally is like any other thing.
It takes practice.
So you start reaching out.
You might get overburdened bythe fact that you reached out to
(12:06):
five people and no one reallyresponded to you, and sometimes
people take that very personally, but that's that's not really a
personal thing.
Oftentimes the people thatyou're reaching out to can be,
can be quite busy, especially inmedicine.
So it's really about volume.
You continue reaching out, youcontinue to try to have meetings
and even if you are shy overtime having those meetings, you
(12:26):
kind of develop a practice and alittle bit of like a thicker
skin when it comes to likehaving Opportunities that didn't
necessarily work out ormentorship relationships that
didn't work out and then overtime it becomes a much easier
practice.
But five years ago, or likebeginning of pre-med, is very
different, like I'm verydifferent now, eight years later
, in terms of reaching out topeople.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Absolutely so you speak it to the growth of just
going through the process andreally building those skills and
practicing those skills.
And so Now let's talk a bitabout your transition from From
pre being a pre-med intomedicine.
What was it like for you, themed school admissions process
and and what was your experiencelike as like a first-year med
(13:09):
student?
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Yeah, I think the medical school admission process
I think it's a difficult andlengthy process for anyone.
I specifically took a gap yearbetween undergrad and med school
.
While I was applying, I wasdoing a summer research project
actually here at the Universityof Pennsylvania.
But it's a lengthy process.
Like you submit the primary,you get a ton of secondaries.
(13:32):
You have to go throughinterviews.
At that time when I applied, itwas the last cycle of in-person
interviews, so I was liketraveling across the country
trying to do the interviews aswell.
But thankfully, ultimately, IReally wanted to attend the
medical school that that Icurrently attend, so I was very
thankful that that ended upworking out for me.
And then transitioningTransitioning was also quite
(13:55):
difficult because, I mentioned,it was during, like right during
COVID, like August of 2020.
So in the beginning it was itwas tough moving to a new city
and like not really knowing, Ididn't really know.
I Maybe knew two people in thecity of Philadelphia when I,
when I moved and but you findthat, like, a lot of my
classmates were in that exactsame position.
(14:16):
So we still were able toconnect and and over time, we
were able to develop like goodrelationships, like within our
class.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Excellent.
Do you feel like when you firstgot there in the middle of the
pandemic, I know you all werepretty much so isolated.
What did you guys do to try tobuild those connections up?
And especially as a, a traineefrom an underrepresented
background, historically like,how did you build those
connections and were you able toconnect to your community as
(14:46):
well there?
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Yeah, I got lucky.
There's a lot ofintersectionality in my
background.
I am Sudanese but I'm alsoMuslim, like of faith.
So when I actually duringOrientation we have to get COVID
testing, and when I went to theCOVID testing I met two
classmates of mine who are who,honestly, like I met them within
three days of school and fouryears later they're like still
(15:10):
my absolute best friends in medschool.
So like literally, it just sohappened that in that first week
I was able to have a connectionand in in my mind I think, like
some people in med school havelike a ton of friends they
interact with with a lot, of, alot of people.
I Thankfully already had asupport system from like back
home and undergrad, so I wasn'tlooking to make like 50 new
(15:31):
friends.
So this core community of likea handful of people like they
kind of carried me through thefour years in med school and
they're so, so great.
I.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Love that.
I love that to your point.
So many people think, oh,you've got to make friends with,
like everybody.
And obviously you want to befriendly.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, I'm good terms with everybody.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Yeah, I'm good terms with everybody, collegial.
But all you need is one or twogood.
You know people you can reallybounce ideas off of or laugh,
cry whatever you need to do,study all night.
Whatever the case may be withyeah and so what was your
experience?
like you know, during med schooland you know, for individuals
(16:11):
who may not know, it's matchseason, so Caled already knows
where he's going, but a lot ofstudents are just now getting to
the point where they're goingto Find out very, very soon
where they're matching intotheir residency programs.
So let's talk a little bitabout your kind of classroom
experiences and then jumpinginto the clinical world.
(16:31):
What were those two worlds,like for you.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yeah, I think, first and foremost, one thing that
definitely is apparent now,going after grabbing, going
through muscle, is that it goesby very, very quickly.
I like people use to tell methat I think, oh no, it's like
four years, it's really reallylong.
But no, but honestly, likemonth to month, semester to
semester is like it's justpassing very, very quickly.
(16:53):
I would say I view my schoolreally in different stages, like
you're saying, likepre-clinical versus clinical
versus like after the clinic.
All those stages are likecompletely different experiences
.
So I would say, like if we wentfrom the beginning, my school,
like the first year and a halfis spent in the classroom, but
for us it was a lot of virtualwork because of the pandemic,
but we still had to come in todo our like small group
(17:16):
problem-based learning.
That was.
That was honestly it felt likea more intense extension of
undergrad, like because it was alot of classroom based work.
You have a lot of examinationand the material comes at you
pretty quickly.
But after, I would say thefirst semester is a really big
adjustment, like adjusting tothe level of material.
But then, like when you get toa year, like one, and you're in
(17:39):
the organ systems and you have asystem of how you're studying,
then it's like, okay, this, thissomewhat becomes manageable.
And then when you transitionfrom the the books to the
clerkship, that's like a wholedifferent transition.
So the clerkships that I thinkwas probably the the most
intense period of medical schoolbecause it's it's one year long
(17:59):
.
You're going from rotation torotation.
You don't like, as soon as youbecome familiar with one thing
like you're being transitionedto another team.
At night you have to study foryour shelf exam.
That's coming at the end of therotation.
So definitely I would considerthat period probably the most
challenging but also, I wouldsay, probably one of the more
rewarding times.
(18:20):
You're directly interactingwith patients every single day.
Most of the time you're likeplaying a key role actually on
the team and in patient care.
So I think, even though thehours are longer and it's a lot
more intense, it's it's justlike a very different feeling
than than being in the classroom.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Agreed, absolutely.
Do you feel like I don't thinkpeople are ready for that
opportunity to realize, wow, I'ma part of the care team for
someone in a very stressful,tough time in their life, so
that transition is huge.
What did you do to kind of getyourself prepared to be that
student doctor on the team?
How did you begin to connect orstart to build up your clinical
(19:02):
skills when you dealt withpatients more?
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Yeah, I think the number one skill or tip I can
give for someone on theirclinical rotations is to like,
really understand, like to havevery strong like situational
awareness of what's what's goingon around you.
Because sometimes, as like amedical student, you think, oh,
like, all eyes are on me, likeeveryone's evaluating me and
(19:26):
that every like, we always haveit from the lens of me, me, me,
because that's what we're usedto.
You get an exam.
It's only about you.
Like that grade is only areflection of, of your ability
and your scores.
When you get to the clinicalrotation, yes, you're being
evaluated, yes, you're on a team, but at the end of the day,
like everything that's going onis to take care of a person.
So, over time, you develop thatlike situational awareness
(19:48):
where it's like, oh, I haveextra time, you know, maybe I
could talk more to the patient.
I could understand, like, whatare the reasons they're not able
to take these medications?
What are the reason?
Like they're here the second orthird time?
Like these are things that yourresident or your attending may
not have the time to do forevery patient, but you sometimes
, or like somebody might say,like the patient might be hungry
(20:10):
and you might think, oh, likethat, that might be beneath me
to like go do some, but it'sabsolutely not like you.
You can play or you can likechange someone's whole day just
by listening to them, gettingthem some food, sitting there
for like an extra five minutes.
Like that ability to understandthe situation, that's something
that I think develops over timebut is really, really important
(20:30):
.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
I love that you said that.
I love that you said that youcan spend five more minutes with
the patient and it can changetheir whole day.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Because you're absolutely right.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
I think as you go through each stage, your
responsibilities change and so,as the student, you have the
most opportunity to just learnfreely and contribute in a way
that you know to some extentit's very helpful for the
patient but, like for theresident or the attending, there
are required things that mustget done, and so I love that
(21:03):
insight and that advice to likehave that situational awareness
and look for the spots where you, as a med student, can be
extremely valuable.
It's funny.
I remember having theopportunity to just talk with a
patient as a med student abouttheir family and about their
upbringing and, as and mostpeople know like, your doctor
may ask you a few questionsabout your family or your
(21:24):
upbringing, but it's oftentimesbecause they need to make sure
it's well documented and makesure it's not related to why
you're there, versus justwanting to learn and understand
more about your patient.
So, that's a great great pointthat you bring up to have
situational awareness.
So if you watch the entireepisode, then we have a special
(21:45):
bonus for you.
So, Khaled, I'll let you sharewhat that bonus is with our
audience.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Yeah, Thank you, Dr Weiss.
So we're giving away ourpre-med guide that we've created
.
So this is a 24 page guidecreated by me, my classmate and
the med school bro team Specifichighlights in it.
We have a MCAT study schedulein there.
We have my own personalstatement that I applied to
medical school with.
We also have an example ofmedical school secondary that I
(22:12):
used to apply to medical schooland screenshots of my activity
section used to apply to medicalschool.
And finally, there is atemplate letter for sending out
research opportunitiesprofessors.
So if you're ever confused onhow to reach out, we've got you
covered on that.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
I love that.
I love that.
So thank you all for watchingand definitely definitely click
on that resource and I want youto comment med school bro down
below so we can make sure youget that resource.
And if you want to check us out, I got a few things I need you
to do.
If you haven't done so already,please subscribe to black med
connect.
You can listen to us on allpodcast platforms.
(22:50):
So if you're walking or ifyou're studying or needs a
motivation, you can listen to uson our podcast platforms or you
can check us out on YouTube andsubscribe there.
And if you haven't followed uson social media, check us out on
Instagram, tiktok, anywherewhere you like to kind of check
out social media where they'reas black med connect as well.
(23:11):
We hope you enjoyed this week'sepisode, part one with Khaled.
He is a fourth year student whoreally just gave us some really
, really great gems on how tonavigate through your premiere
journey and your early years inmedical school.
If you enjoyed this episode,then you'll absolutely enjoy
part two, where we also sharemore tips and strategies on how
(23:34):
to navigate the med schooljourney and his exciting
endeavor with med school bro tomake sure to build community for
those who are trying to getinto med school.
So if you're excited about thatand you enjoyed this episode,
don't forget to join us nextweek for the part two of our
episode with Khaled.
Until next time.
Always remember to dreamwithout limits.
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