Medicus

Latest Episodes:

Ep76 I I Am Abel Foundation: Raising Our Next Generation of Healthcare Heroes with Dr. LaMenta Conway Dec 08, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, Rasa chats with Dr. LaMenta Conway, founder of the I Am Abel Foundation, about creating communities that allow the dream of becoming a physician a possibility for underserved youth. Trained in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Illinois, Dr. LaMenta Conway has celebrated over 22 years as a physician with most of her career teaching in top academic hospitals in the Midwest. In her current professional role, she is Deputy Chief of Medicine for the Illinois Department of Health where she and her team are responsible for the medical care of +40K offenders in custody in the Illinois State Prisons.

She is known best for her warm and exuberant personality and bedside manner as a physician and clinical educator devoted to the care of vulnerable populations. But an act of violence would inspire a powerful work of advocacy that would change her trajectory and become her life's legacy. Dr. Conway decided to formalize her lifelong legacy of mentoring young people in the art of compassionate medicine and service when one of her favorite 14-year-old cousins, full of promise and talent, was paralyzed following a gunshot wound to the spine intended for someone else. This pivotal moment followed the murder of her 15-year-old cousin on Mother’s Day just 6 months earlier.

She realized that many of the younger, misguided youth from these communities not only lacked mentors to guide and position them for success but they also did not understand how we are all as humans connected one to the other. Thus she created I AM ABEL FOUNDATION, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that she describes as a "mentoring scholarly community" whose motto is "Excellence Period. Serve Always."

The foundation is focused on community and global service with pipelines to medicine and STEM with the objective of bridging socioeconomic gaps so that all of Chicago's children would have a shot at the not so impossible dream. Through conferences, workshops and community outreach, the foundation has impacted thousands of kids already that will one day become our community's future researchers, leaders, advocates, healers and healthcare heroes.

Episode produced by: Rasa Valiauga

Episode recording date: 11/4/21

www.medicuspodcast.com | medicuspodcast@gmail.com | Donate: http://bit.ly/MedicusDonate

Twitter hashtags: @sweetiecac @IAMABEL_FND

Instagram: @sweetieconway @iamabelfoundation

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IAMABELfoundation

Website: https://www.iamabel.org

Becoming a mentor: https://www.iamabel.org/physician-medical-student-mentor

I Am Abel Foundation as featured by the Obama Foundation: https://youtu.be/H5HS7KtinHs

I Am Abel Foundation in Cuba: https://youtu.be/H5HS7KtinHs

Ep75 I A Look Into Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation: Dr. Leslie Rydberg Nov 26, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, Raj chats with Dr. Leslie Rydberg, who is a general physiatrist and associate residency director at the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab. She discusses her path to physical medicine & rehabilitation, and why medical students should consider it as a future specialty choice. Dr. Rydberg has a special interest in resident and medical student education.

Join us as we learn about the day-to-day life of a physiatrist, the variety of the field depending on sub-specialty and setting, and how to make yourself a strong applicant to PM&R.

Episode produced by: Raj Ramini

Episode recording date: 1/7/21

www.medicuspodcast.com | medicuspodcast@gmail.com | Donate: http://bit.ly/MedicusDonate

Ep74 | Authentic Relationship Building with Miriam Pierce, MSW, School Social Worker at Chicago Public Schools Nov 10, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, Brittany chats with Miriam Pierce, MSW, who is a School Social worker at Chicago Public Schools. Before becoming a licensed social worker, Miriam graduated from Loyola University Chicago with her Bachelors in Communication Studies: Advocacy and Social Change, and a minor in Education Policy. She received her Masters in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis.

Join us as we discuss Miriam’s journey to school social work, parallels she sees between the fields of social work and medicine, how we can approach relationship and trust building with students and patients, and her approach on how to show up for yourself so that you can fully show up for others.

Episode produced by: Brittany Zelch

Episode recording date: 10/7/21

www.medicuspodcast.com | medicuspodcast@gmail.com | Donate: http://bit.ly/MedicusDonate

Ep73 I Improv in Medicine: Dr. Orlov on the Art of Communication Oct 06, 2021

Show notes

Dr. Nicola Orlov is a pediatric hospitalist with an interest in improving the sleep and health of hospitalized children. She is also an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Associate Program Director for the Pediatric Residency Training Program, and Co-Clerkship Director for the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School Medicine. All of which require exceptional communication skills, do they not?

After working with medical students, Dr. Orlov noticed that their training was excellent at teaching them about the medical interview, but that it left something to be desired in terms of the sort of improvisational communication skills that would prepare them for the unexpected and allow them to be more present with their patients. Thanks to a yes from The Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence, and a collaboration with The Second City, she was able to develop an innovative curriculum that uses improvisational theatre to work on just that. Join us as we discuss this research and her new elective at The University of Chicago. Our host, Katherine, may or may not have signed up for an improv class immediately after completing this interview.

Episode produced by: Katherine Mott

Episode recording date: 9/15/21

www.medicuspodcast.com | medicuspodcast@gmail.com | Donate: http://bit.ly/MedicusDonate

Ep72 I Leading By Example On and Off the Field: From Professional Soccer Player to Medical Student Sep 22, 2021

Show notes

In this interview, we chat with Kody Wakasa, a former professional soccer player who traded in his cleats for a stethoscope and is now a medical student at Loyola Stritch School of Medicine.

Kody is a second year medical student from Burlingame, CA. He studied Biology while playing division I soccer at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. He then went on to play professionally in Arizona—two years with a second division team, Phoenix Rising FC, and two years with a third division team, FC Tucson. He is the oldest of four, enjoys the outdoors, and hanging out with family & friends.

Episode produced by: Rasa Valiauga, Jacqueline Tarsitano

Episode recording date: 9/12/2021

www.medicuspodcast.com | medicuspodcast@gmail.com | Donate: http://bit.ly/MedicusDonate

Ep71 | Under the MICROscope with Cullen M. Lilley, MS, MB(ASCP), MDxT(AAB) Sep 01, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, we chat with microbe and pathology aficionado Cullen Lilley about exciting initiatives in the world of microbiology and pathology, utilizing social media and online platforms to educate the masses.

Cullen Lilley is a third-year MD/MA student at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine studying medicine and bioethics/health policy. He is also co-founder of PathElective.com, creator of #MicroMedEd, and member of the ASCP Patient Champions Steering Committee as well as the ASCP Social Media Committee. Before medical school, he was a microbiologist and certified molecular diagnostic technologist at CDC in the Enteric Diseases Laboratory Branch contracted through IHRC, inc. Currently, he is interested in innovative means of augmenting medical education and bioethical considerations in pathology and laboratory medicine.

Episode produced by: Rasa Valiauga

Episode recording date: 7/17/21

www.medicuspodcast.com | medicuspodcast@gmail.com | Donate: http://bit.ly/MedicusDonate

Ep70 I Dr. Marchalik - The Physician Who Started a Book Club in Medical School and Can’t Seem to Put the Books Down Aug 18, 2021

Show notes

Interested in thinking more about the intersection between literature and medicine? We were - and found an expert on the topic at the Georgetown School of Medicine.

Dr. Marchalik is the creator and director of the Literature in Medicine Track at Georgetown and the associate director of the Medical Humanities Initiative. He also holds a masters degree in English literature from Georgetown and contributes a monthly column in The Lancet medical journal, where he discusses literature and how it overlaps with medicine and public health.

Join Brendan and Katherine as we talk with Dr. Marchalik about books, why you should keep reading them in medical school and beyond, and how they might even help you fight burnout in medicine. So what are you waiting for? Click on the link already, this episode is clearly a page turner.

Episode produced by: Katherine Mott, Brendan Connolly

Episode recording date: 1/15/2020

www.medicuspodcast.com | medicuspodcast@gmail.com | Donate: http://bit.ly/MedicusDonate

For more information about the Literature and Medicine track at Georgetown check out: https://www.georgetownliteratureandmedicine.com

Ep69 | Social Media in Medicine #2: Dr. Austin Chiang Aug 04, 2021

Show notes

This is the second episode in our series, "Social Media in Medicine," where the Medicus team will be speaking with medical social media influencers about their experiences utilizing these new social platforms to further their goals as professionals. For students or medical professionals who are interested in this budding sector of healthcare, this series will explore the advantages, motivations, and downfalls of social media in presenting medical information to the general public.

Our second guest, Dr. Austin Chiang, is triple board-certified, dual ivy-league educated (Harvard, Columbia) and trained gastroenterologist and advanced endoscopist. Dr. Chiang specializes in novel endoscopic weight loss treatments and complex interventional endoscopic procedures. Dr. Chiang currently practices at Jefferson Health in Philadelphia and serves as the Director of the Endoscopic Weight Loss Program and Chief Medical Social Media Officer there. Dr. Chiang is also the Founding President of the Association for Healthcare Social Media (AHSM) and has conducted extensive research in social media within medicine. In addition to his professional achievements, Dr. Chiang is a verified Tiktok influencer (460k+ followers), Youtuber (11k+ subscribers), Twitter influencer (13k+ followers), and Instagram influencer (67.5k+ followers). Please make sure to view Dr. Chiang's content at his below social media handles.

Dr. Austin Chiang Social Media Handles linked below:

Website: http://www.austinchiang.com/

Instagram: AustinChiangMD

Twitter: AustinChiangMD

Facebook: AustinChiangMD

Tiktok: AustinChiangMD

Episode produced by: Aaron Deng, Rasa Valiauga

Episode recording date: 4/24/21

www.medicuspodcast.com | medicuspodcast@gmail.com | Donate: http://bit.ly/MedicusDonate

Ep68 | Social Media in Medicine #1: Dr. Eric Burnett Jul 22, 2021

Show notes

This is the first episode in our series, "Social Media in Medicine," where the Medicus team will be speaking with medical social media influencers about their experiences utilizing these new social platforms to further their goals as professionals. For students or medical professionals who are interested in this budding sector of healthcare, this series will explore the advantages, motivations, and downfalls of social media in presenting medical information to the general public.

Our first guest, Dr. Eric Burnett, is a hospitalist at New York-Presbyterian / Columbia University Irving Medical Center who has been diligently working throughout the COVID-19 pandemic both within the hospital and online. Dr. Eric Burnett created his Tiktok account in June 2020 and has since garnered over 230k followers and 7 million likes, a viral following that he has used to spread factually medical information about the COVID-19 pandemic this past year.

Episode produced by: Aaron Deng, Rasa Valiauga

Episode recording date: April 16th, 2021

www.medicuspodcast.com | medicuspodcast@gmail.com | Donate: http://bit.ly/MedicusDonate

Dr. Eric Burnett's Social Media is linked below:

Tiktok: dr.eric.b | Instagram: @eric2687

Ep67 | Living Without a Diagnosis Jul 09, 2021

Show notes

Living without a diagnosis is hard. Being a mom of two undiagnosed children is perhaps even harder. In this episode, we interview Amanda Upton, who has two medically complex daughters who continue to live without a name for their condition. Throughout their journey, the Upton family has learned to roll with the punches and make the best out of every good day. Listen to learn what it is like to manage medical mysteries, dispel myths of living with disabilities, and what healthcare providers can do to make families like Amanda’s feel heard and supported.

Amanda Upton is a midwestern mom and a licensed teacher for children from birth to age eight in both regular and special education. After several years in the classroom, her teaching license is now being used at home to homeschool her daughters. She loves all things Disney and experimenting in the kitchen.

Episode produced by: Rasa Valiauga

Episode recording date: 2/23/21

www.medicuspodcast.com | medicuspodcast@gmail.com | Donate: http://bit.ly/MedicusDonate

Wishlist for Ronald McDonald House (purchases directly ship to RMH): https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/dl/invite/80FxSHO?ref_=wl_share

Published articles:

https://complexchild.org/articles/2019-articles/september/accessible-world/

https://complexchild.org/articles/2018-articles/july/just-go/

https://complexchild.org/articles/2017-articles/april/fixing-healthcare/

https://complexchild.org/articles/2017-articles/february/lessons-feeding-tube/

https://complexchild.org/articles/2017-articles/february/taping-gj-tube/

https://complexchild.org/articles/2017-articles/november/emergency-one-page/

https://littlelobbyists.org/blog/2020/11/5/before-the-aca-my-health-insurance-was-junk-by-amanda-upton