Career Resources for Medical Students

This "brutal and brave" (Booklist) novel transmutes the practice of medicine into a larger exploration of humanity, the meaning of care, and the nature of annihilation--physical, spiritual, or both. A young woman puts on a white coat for her first day as a student doctor. So begins this powerful debut, which follows our unnamed narrator through cadaver dissection, surgical rotation, difficult births, sudden deaths, and a budding relationship with a seminarian.   In the troubled world of the hospital, where the language of blood tests and organ systems so often hides the heart of the matter, she works her way from one bed to another, from a man dying of substance use and tuberculosis, to a child in pain crisis, to a young woman, fading from confusion to aphasia to death. The long hours and heartrending work begin to blur the lines between her new life as a physician and the lifelong traumas she has fled.    In brilliant, wry, and biting prose, A History of Present Illness is a boldly honest meditation on the body, the hope of healing in the face of total loss, and what it means to be alive. 2023 Rosenthal Family Foundation Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters * A Lit Hub Most Anticipated Book of 2022 * A Publishers Weekly "Writer to Watch" "A revelation." -The New York Times

Named a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times Book Review and The Washington Post What is it like to be a brain surgeon? How does it feel to hold someone's life in your hands, to cut into the stuff that creates thought, feeling and reason? How do you live with the consequences of performing a potentially lifesaving operation when it all goes wrong? With astonishing compassion and candor, leading neurosurgeon Henry Marsh reveals the fierce joy of operating, the profoundly moving triumphs, the harrowing disasters, the haunting regrets and the moments of black humor that characterize a brain surgeon's life. Do No Harm provides unforgettable insight into the countless human dramas that take place in a busy modern hospital. Above all, it is a lesson in the need for hope when faced with life's most difficult decisions.

Although we rely on physicians, calling on them at birth and death and every medical event in between, rarely do we consider the personal challenges faced by doctors-to-be. In 2005 author Jacqueline Marino and photojournalist Tim Harrison had the unprecedented opportunity to chronicle the experiences of three students as they learned to become doctors at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. In White Coats, Marino and Harrison bring readers into the classrooms, anatomy labs, and hospitals where the students take their first pulses, dissect their first cadavers, and deliver their first babies.Marleny Franco, who moved from the Dominican Republic to Bostons Dominican projects when she was nine, must first overcome social and cultural barriersand those she constructs herself. Michael Norton, a devout Mormon, juggles the pressures of medical school along with family responsibilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Millie Gentry, a fashion model, tries to balance the demands of medical school with finding time to go out with friends and volunteer at the local free clinic.These are personal stories, yet they reflect significant issues in medical education. Franco, Norton, and Gentry try to master an ever-increasing load of medical science, confront problems of professionalism, and learn the importance of empathy. Each must make personal sacrifices, including taking on crushing debt, pursuing round-the-clock work, and neglecting family, friends, and health.White Coats focuses on the human side of the transformation from student to doctor and will appeal to anyone interested in health care, medical education, and the hopes, struggles, and joys of aspiring doctors.

A scorchingly frank look at how doctors are made, bringing readers into the critical care unit to see one burgeoning physician's journey from ineptitude to competence. In medical school, Matt McCarthy dreamed of being a different kind of doctor-the sort of mythical, unflappable physician who could reach unreachable patients. But whena new admissionto the critical care unit almost died his first night on call, he found himself scrambling. Visions of mastery quickly gave way to hopes of simply surviving hospital life, where confidence was hard to come by and no amount of med school training could dispel the terror of facing actual patients. This funny, candid memoir of McCarthy's intern year at a New York hospital provides a scorchingly frank look at how doctors are made, taking readers into patients' rooms and doctors' conferences to witness a physician's journey from ineptitude to competence. McCarthy's one stroke of luck paired him with a brilliant second-year adviser he called "Baio" (owing to his resemblance to the Charles in Charge star), who proved to be a remarkable teacher with a wicked sense of humor. McCarthy would learn even more from the people he cared for, including a man named Benny, who was living in the hospital for months at a time awaiting a heart transplant. But no teacher could help McCarthy when an accident put his own health at risk, and showed him all too painfully the thin line between doctor and patient. The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly offers a window on to hospital life that dispenses with sanctimony and self-seriousness while emphasizing the black-comic paradox of becoming a doctor- How do you learn to save lives in a job where there is no practice?

Womb With A View offers a journey through medical training and practice in the life of an obstetrician and gynecologist. It singles out some of the most poignant and touching chapters that are both extraordinary and at the same time ordinary in the world of reproductive medicine.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * 20th Anniversary Edition, with a new foreword by the author * "[A] masterpiece . . . an astonishing book that will leave you questioning your own life and political views."--USA Today   "If any one person can be given credit for transforming the medical establishment's thinking about health care for the destitute, it is Paul Farmer. . . . [Mountains Beyond Mountains] inspires, discomforts, and provokes."--The New York Times (Best Books of the Year) In medical school, Paul Farmer found his life's calling: to cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. Tracy Kidder's magnificent account shows how one person can make a difference in solving global health problems through a clear-eyed understanding of the interaction of politics, wealth, social systems, and disease. Profound and powerful, Mountains Beyond Mountains takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes people's minds through his dedication to the philosophy that "the only real nation is humanity." WINNER OF THE LETTRE ULYSSES AWARD FOR THE ART OF REPORTAGE

In his award-winning debut essay collection, What Cannot Be Undone, Walter M. Robinson shares surprising stories of illness and medicine that do not sacrifice hard truth for easy dramatics. These true stories are filled with details of difficult days and nights in the world of high-tech medical care, and they show the ongoing struggle in making critical decisions with no good answer. This collection presents the raw moments where his expertise in medical ethics and pediatrics are put to the test. He is neither saint, nor hero, nor wizard. Robinson admits that on his best days he was merely ordinary. Yet in writing down the authentic stories of his patients, Robinson discovers what led him to the practice of medicine--and how his idealism was no match for the realities he faced in modern health care.