Welcome to the Medical Student Perspective Page!
Articles featured on this page are submitted by ACC medical student members around the globe covering topics ranging from personal experiences, patient encounters, mentorship, entrepreneurship, advocacy and more.
June 11, 2021 | Ahila Alexandria, BS
The hardest battle I’ve had to face is the one I fight with myself every day. Being in medical school is a substantial feat, and it is one that comes with its own unique challenges.
May 10, 2021 | Vivek Bhat ; Ahmad Ozair, MBBS
My 82-year-old grandmother had been complaining of tiredness for a while but had refused to visit a physician. Once her breathlessness began to wake her up in the middle of the night, she finally agreed. The general physician diagnosed her with heart failure and prescribed a medley of medications.
May 10, 2021 | Som Singh, BA
Student-run free clinics are sponsored, not-for-profit forms of community-level outpatient care. Student volunteers are involved in nearly all aspects of clinic operations while under the supervision of volunteer doctors, pharmacists and other health care professionals. In addition, literature supports the general attitude among student volunteers is that volunteering at these clinics improves their clinical skills holistically.
April 21, 2021 | Diego Chambergo-Michilot
"Students should limit themselves to studying medicine through books and only begin research once they are physicians." Students who propose research ideas often hear this response from teachers.
April 2, 2021 | Christian Faaborg-Andersen, BS
Like a kid on the first day of school, I arose from bed at around 4:45 a.m. on Monday, March 2, 2020 with butterflies in my stomach. The clerkship year had at long last arrived. I donned my surgical scrubs and brushed my teeth as the moon stood high and the crickets chirped outside my window. The world was quiet. Then came the cold sweat down my neck and my face felt hot. At that moment, I knew there was an infection blooming inside my lungs.
April 2, 2021 | Zoilo Karim Suarez Yeb, MD
There are several factors that are essential for personal development, but what are they? I am a firm believer that introspection is an important key to growth. After traveling to the U.S. from the island nation of the Dominican Republic to do a sub-internship, my interactions with residents, fellows and attendings have given me a new perspective on how medicine should ideally be practiced and has made me reflect on the issues that are silently affecting thousands of lives within my "Quisqueya La Bella" (Dominican Republic).
February 5, 2021
A field as vast as medicine can be challenging to navigate for a budding medical student. As someone who has benefitted from having an exceptional mentor, I understand the impact mentorship can have on a medical student’s future trajectory.
February 5, 2021
While shadowing at the hospital one Monday morning, I met Anna*. Anna was 17 years old. She loved swimming, cheerleading and horseback riding. Unfortunately, Anna had to put these activities on hold. She had osteosarcoma, and her health had recently taken a turn for the worse.
January 20, 2021
Eric J. Topol, MD, is the founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, professor of Molecular Medicine, and executive vice president of Scripps Research.
January 15, 2021
Eight years after my sister’s remarkable recovery from surgery that cured her rare congenital heart defect and kindled my fascination for becoming a cardiologist, I felt excitement and humility on the first day of my cardiology rotation as a third-year medical student.
December 1, 2020
It is the anatomy final in my first year of medical school; I move quickly through the lab trying to identify the semblances of human structures laying on the stainless-steel dissection tables.
November 12, 2020
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has exacerbated the already difficult problem of how to deliver health care safely and efficiently. One solution that has risen to the forefront is telemedicine.
November 6, 2020
Neil J. Weissman, MD, FACC, is the chief scientific officer for MedStar Health and president of MedStar Health Research Institute.
September 9, 2020
Being part of a research project is never an easy task, even for experienced academic physicians. Medical students often become passionate about conducting research in the fields of medicine that interest them; in my case, it is cardiology.
September 9, 2020
Diversity is important to cardiovascular disease (CVD) programs directors (PDs) and PDs are striving to increase diversity in their programs through recruitment and strategies directed toward the fellowship learning environment, according to results of the second annual Cardiovascular PDs Survey published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
August 19, 2020
There is a strange mix of freedom and anxiety I feel when walking into a room full of people that I know are more experienced, qualified and competent than myself.
July 30, 2020
Debabrata Mukherjee, MD, MS, FACC, is the chair of the department of internal medicine and chief of cardiovascular medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso.
July 16, 2020
To those who are just starting their journey in medicine – let me first say congratulations and welcome to medical school!
July 16, 2020
"I have no chest pain or shortness of breath." I stared back at the patient as she said those words, dazzled for a second on how to proceed with the encounter.
July 16, 2020
In the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, physician mental health and treatment is more important to discuss than ever.
July 14, 2020
So, what brings you to a rotation in cardiology? Are you a third-year medical student fulfilling a subspecialty requirement?
July 14, 2020
They are more than the world's oldest amphitheaters – they are symbolic architectures that, through their rich history, teach us valuable life lessons.
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