Listening Beyond the Monitors: A Lesson from Joe
Academic Medicine Podcast
In the fast-paced world of health care, it’s easy to focus on numbers, treatments, and protocols. But humanism requires us to pause, to listen, to acknowledge the fears, hopes, and humanity of our patients. Vonnie Cesar reflects on learning that listening is not just a skill—it is a form of healing. This essay placed third in the 2025 Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest and was published in the October 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.
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Being Intentional: How Space, Place, and Pace Influence Equity in Workplace-Based Assessment
Academic Medicine Podcast
Discussing new research into how the physical and social context of the clinical learning environment shape power dynamics and influence equity in assessment for residents are author Hannah Kakara Anderson, PhD, MBA, Research in Medical Education Committee member Binbin Zheng, PhD, MEd, and AAMC MedEdSCHOLAR Nicole Findlay, MD, MPH. Empowering clinician educators to actively address the forces of space, place, and pace, they argue, can help promote a more equitable learning and assessment environment. Read the article discussed and access the episode transcript at .
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A Big Deal
Academic Medicine Podcast
Our stories make us human and shape the doctors we become. Yet, we rarely let our pasts show from beneath our white coats. Sydney Katz reflects on how little trainees and attendings know about one another outside of the hospital. The essay read in this episode was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the December 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.
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Presence Beyond Language: A Medical Student’s First Day in Clinic
Academic Medicine Podcast
Although discussions about language services like interpreters or translators, patient–provider concordance, and linguistic equity merit much greater consideration, I can offer one reflection: the human connection we all share is more important than the languages we do not. Akila V. Muthukumar reflects on building a connection with patients when using phone interpreter services to communicate. The essay read in this episode was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the November 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.
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Denatured
Academic Medicine Podcast
When I am in the hospital, there is at least a semblance of humanity. In a room with a patient, there is the possibility of the unexpected. Alone with my computer, there is only the ruthless pursuit of the correct, and the colorful pie chart of my inadequacy. Anna Dovre reflects on how studying for medical board exams feels like a process of denaturing. The essay read in this episode was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the November 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.
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Picturing Practice as a Medical Student
Academic Medicine Podcast
As I brought the blade to the patient, I tried to infer the right depth, weight, and speed by matching to my pictured recollection of all the other incisions I had seen—an act, perhaps, akin to Ansel Adams’s technique of photographic previsualization. Benjamin A. Freeman reflects on how studying photography can be beneficial to medical education. The essay read in this episode was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the November 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.
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Reflections After Testifying at an Asylum Hearing
Academic Medicine Podcast
My hope is that, by learning to recognize how physicians interface with injustice in systems early in their training, learners will be better prepared to navigate and, when necessary, defy these systems throughout their careers. Juliana E. Morris reflects on the importance of talking openly with students and involving them in decision-making while volunteering at a medical student-run asylum clinic. The essay read in this episode was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the October 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.
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Trust the Process
Academic Medicine Podcast
In the years since this experience ... I have sought to encourage trainees and students to reorient their focus from patient outcomes as a referendum on their competency and to focus instead on the process-based thinking preceding them and to try to make space for the mystery between. Benjamin W. Frush reflects on the perils of an outcome-focused culture in medicine. The essay read in this episode was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the October 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.
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Transitioning Identities: The Dual Identities of Medical Student Parents
Academic Medicine Podcast
Discussing a new study into how medical student parents navigate their dual identities as physicians-in-training and parents are author Emily Carroll, MD, MEHP, Research in Medical Education Committee member Gary Beck Dallaghan, PhD, and AAMC MedEdSCHOLAR Kiani Gardner, PhD. They also explore how medical schools can foster an inclusive learning environment for these learners. Read the article discussed and access the episode transcript at .
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The “Uninsured” Patient
Academic Medicine Podcast
I never saw Andrew after that night, but I think of him often. I hope that our interaction played a small part in getting him the care he needed. Sujal Manohar reflects on the importance of digging deeper into a patient’s social history by expanding past the typical questions. The essay read in this episode was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the September 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.
info_outlineSomething special happens when you work in the field. It speaks to you. It calls on the bounty of your generosity. It coaxes you to the precipice of your creativity, and it demands that you become sharper, savvier, and more self-possessed. If you listen, then in return you find it affords you the greatest gift life can offer: the privilege of having touched someone’s heart.
Medical student Noor Ahmed reflects on the special year-long connection forged with a patient during her time in the field as a health outreach worker.
This essay placed second in the 2024 Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest and was published in the November 2024 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.