I come from a family of non-doctors. My childhood perception of a physician’s role was based on stray episodes of House. Medicine seemed akin to magic. Perhaps it was, in part, a desire to peek behind the curtain that ultimately landed me in medical school.
I am currently a third-year medical student. The hospital now feels more welcoming when I walk in each morning. Until one routine afternoon during a recent rotation, I attributed this feeling entirely to spending most of my time in the hospital.
During this afternoon, the senior resident, intern, and I sat together after rounds to finish notes and run the list. The senior resident answered his phone during a lull, whispering a few hushed words before ending the call. Seated facing away from me, he couldn’t see the smile on my face. He had answered in Tamil, telling his mom in the embarrassed tone of a middle school boy that he was busy and couldn’t speak now. It was amusing to discover that he, like I, was not off the hook from answering his mother’s phone calls in the middle of the day.
Later I asked if he spoke Tamil and learned we both grew up speaking the language with our families. He shared that the chief of our department, who we rounded with earlier that day, was also from the same part of India. I walked home glowing that day, though we had done nothing more than acknowledge our shared roots.
The two physicians I worked with that afternoon did not offer advice, opportunities, or special treatment. Their unwitting gift was simply, by virtue of existing, to make me feel like I belonged. Seeing myself and my family reflected in the words and faces of the physicians around me makes this once alien field feel comforting and familiar, closing the gap I felt between myself and medicine in childhood.
I knew the positive benefits of representation intellectually but did not understand its warmth or ability to empower until I felt it for myself. Trainees from underrepresented backgrounds may experience moments like this less often. My hope is that we can continue building toward a future where every student experiences at least one afternoon like the one I did early on in their training.
Adith Arun is a medical student.
