Nobody who becomes a doctor does it all alone. We all need mentors — people to give us advice, constructive feedback, and encouragement along the way. In this episode, we discuss how to go about finding a mentor, or multiple mentors, to help you along your path to becoming a doctor (or whatever else you choose to become). We offer advice on how to identify possible mentors, how to overcome the fear of approaching a potential mentor, and what to do if you encounter someone who discourages rather than encourages you.

Have you or a loved one ever struggled with feelings of sadness, depression, worry, anxiety, or panic? Or, do you simply want to better understand these unique (but common) challenges? Join us and guest psychiatrist Dr. Renee Garcia for an in-depth discussion of depression & anxiety.

(Trigger Warning: Discussions of suicide)

(Disclaimer: This episode is intended for general advice only. If you have questions about your particular situation, diagnosis, or treatment, please consult your healthcare or mental health provider.)

This episode is longer than most, so a topic timeline is included.

Listen to Siale Vaitohi, a second-year medical student at the University of Utah School of Medicine, share her experiences of discovering and navigating her path toward becoming a doctor. She discusses her mixed-race family, growing up as a racial minority in a small town, what inspired her to pursue a medical career, some academic and cultural challenges she faced as a premedical student at a religious university, being a student athlete, how a service mission helped her find purpose, how she chanced upon an excellent mentor, the rigorous process of applying to medical school, and rediscovering her identity in medical school. Prepare to be inspired!

Do you want to get better at taking tests? In this episode we review some of the keys to improving test-taking skills, including: deciphering key concepts, combating test anxiety, finishing tests on time, and some specific tips and tricks to help you on multiple-choice exams. As usual, we share some of our own experiences and wisdom to help you get better at acing your tests!

Have you ever felt frustrated that your test scores don’t adequately reflect your knowledge and abilities? Have you ever looked around an exam room and felt nervous because nobody else looks like you? If so, you probably experienced something called “stereotype threat”. This term was developed by psychology researchers who were trying to understand why black and Latinx students get lower grades on average in college compared to their white classmates, and why women tend to do worse in subjects like math and engineering than males. They found that students can face a lot of internal pressure to disprove negative stereotypes about their group (such as the stereotype that women are bad at math), and this internal pressure can affect how their brains function during a test, leading to lower test scores. In this episode, we review many examples of stereotype threat at work, discuss our own experiences facing it, and explore some strategies that can help you combat it. We highly recommend reading the book, Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us And What We Can Do by Claude M. Steele to learn more about this fascinating topic.

Be inspired by George Hightower, MD, PhD as he shares the story of what inspired him to become a doctor and research scientist, how he became interested in dermatology (the study of skin and skin disorders), what being a dermatologist and researcher is like, and some of the challenges he overcame to get to where he is today.

Developing good study habits is essential for getting the kinds of grades and test scores that will get you into medical school. Listen to us share some of the wisdom we’ve learned about time management, passive vs. active learning, procrastination, cramming, distractions, finding meaning in learning, and asking for help. This is a great overview to give you ideas for ways to improve your personal study habits during your next quarter/semester.

What is growth mindset and what does it have to do with becoming a doctor? Listen as we dive into this concept from psychology and learn how it can transform the way you view yourself and others. We share lots of examples from our lives and the lives of others to illustrate how it can make a difference on your path to greater success.

Get inspired through Dr. Ray Berdugo’s story of becoming a doctor. He is a family medicine doctor in San Diego, California with a passion for preventing and treating disease through nutrition and exercise. He shares about being born to teen parents, finding inspiration to pursue medicine through body building books, attending a top-notch private university, the challenges of college and medical school, the personal health struggles that made him a believer in the power of food as medicine, and how he achieves balance in his life as a family doctor.

In this episode, we explore the big picture of what it takes to become a doctor in the U.S. We discuss the difference between allopathic (MD) and osteopathic (DO) doctors, what it means to be a primary care doctor vs. a specialist, how to make the most of college while fulfilling premedical requirements, the competitiveness of applying to medical school, how long it takes to become a doctor, how much it all costs, how much you can expect to make as a doctor, and non-traditional paths to becoming a doctor. We share some of our own experiences to help you make sense of it all. If you are in college and on the road to to applying to medical school, this episode is for you!

Are you in high school and considering becoming a doctor? Learn what you need to do while in high school in order to improve your chances of success -- including what classes are required to apply to college, why good grades are important, how to incorporate extracurricular activities, what the FAFSA is, and how to understand the types of colleges and universities you can apply to. We share some of our experiences to help you make sense of it all.

As the diversity of the U.S. population increases over time, we need more doctors that understand and reflect the diversity of their patients. Studies have shown that doctors who share a racial/ethnic background with their patients establish more trust, communicate better, and help their patients have better health outcomes. We speak with guest Dr. Paola Mina-Osorio who recently published a book called “¡Un Doctor Por Favor! Why We Need More Hispanic Physicians in the U.S., And Why You Should Be One Of Them”. Listen as she talks with us about her career as a physician-scientist, what inspired her to write this book, and why diversity in medicine matters.

In this episode, Dr. Marina shares the story of her journey to becoming a doctor. She talks about many of the challenges she faced and how she overcame them, including struggling to do well in college science courses, impostor syndrome, depression, taking an extra year to complete medical school, and more.

In this episode, Dr. Zulma shares the story of her journey to becoming a doctor. She talks about many of the challenges she faced including being an immigrant, having an alcoholic father, being a first-generation college student, facing discrimination in science classes, completing a post-baccalaureate program, coping with a family member’s suicide, and much more!

Introducing The Future Minority Doctor Podcast! We invite you to get to know us — Marina and Zulma, two first-generation Latina doctors — as we introduce ourselves and our podcast. Why are we doing this podcast? What can you expect to learn? Also, a sneak peek of some of the voices of minority physicians we’ll be hearing from in future episodes.