The OSA Insider

The Student Clinician Ceremony is a rite of passage for our medical students as they move from the classroom to clinical rotations. As a companion piece to the upcoming Student Clinician Ceremony, we are delighted to bring you the wisdom and perspectives of Aidan Wiley, MS4. He shares stories of humanism in his third year, where he received help in a moment of need, and his top advice for students at this special time in training and life.   

We're continuing our Applying to Residency series with this lovely, informative, pearl-packed conversation with Dr. Vandana Racherla, pediatrician and Program Director of the Pediatrics residency program at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Her guidance is highly relevant to future pediatricians, and it's also valuable for any medical student interested in different career paths. 

Happy new year! For our first episode of 2026, we are featuring a topic that's not flashy, but it is so important - records and registration. What are the differences among MedScope, Vida Nova, SURFS, and UMB's MyHub? What should you do if you have a hold on your record? What if your future residency program contacts the OSA to request verification of your medical education? Mr. Brian Wynder answers all these questions and more. He is the Records and Registration Coordinator for the SOM, also known as the MD Program Registrar. He helps peel back the curtain on how records and registration work so that each student can achieve success. 

Our series on applying to residency programs marches on with a deep dive into the Dermatology application process with SOM 2025 graduate, Dr. Emily Ma. She shares practical, down-to-earth advice for applying to such a competitive specialty. 

We are continuing our series on applying to residency programs, this time with a warm, wise conversation with Dr. Fernando Martinez Guasch. He graduated from the SOM in 2025 and is completing his internship year before pursuing an Ophthalmology residency. He shares so many insights about the Ophtho match and about navigating this time of life in general. 

Our series on applying to residency programs continues, this time with UMMC's General Surgery Program Director, Dr. Steve Kavic. He shares a wealth of information on what he looks for in candidates, how to approach personal statements and interview days, and how he supports his residents to achieve their career goals. 

Our special series on applying to residency continues, this time with an interview with Internal Medicine Residency Program Director Dr. Danny Baek. She shares her approach to the residency application process and match, how signaling works in her field, what she looks for in applicants, and her best advice for students navigating this unique life chapter. This episode is filled with practical info and tons of support for our students. 

We continue our series on Applying to Residency with brand new SOM grad Shirin Parsa. She's a prelim surgery intern who will complete her residency in Integrated Interventional Radiology at the University of Maryland. She shares her residency application journey, including the mentorship she received, the interviews she went on, and how she crafted her rank list. Each of these conversations has pearls for all third—and fourth-year students, regardless of specialty. Listen in, and let us know what other specialties you'd like to learn about in this series. 

We are kicking off a brand new series on Applying to Residency with recent SOM graduates who recently went through the Match. We'll get to know their individual stories, special considerations for applying to their field, and how they approached items like their personal statement, letters of recommendation, away rotations, and rank lists. You'll learn about virtual vs. in-person interviews, signaling, and so much more. In this episode, you'll get to meet SOM 2025 graduate Dr. Pharibe Pope and learn about the ENT application process. 

Imagine that you start medical school knowing exactly which field you want to go into. You line up your mentors and your research projects in that field. Whenever you shadow a physician, it's in that specialty. Eventually, you start your 3rd year of med school, and you tell everyone what you want to do. And then - you change your mind. You fall in love with a totally different field. What do you do? In this episode, we hear from two recent SOM grads, Dr. Mia Wessel and Dr. Beita Badiei, about this exact scenario. They share how they pivoted, what went into those decisions, and how to choose a specialty more broadly as an M3.   

One of the most commonly asked questions about life and medicine is: "When is the right time to start a family?" It's such a good question, and there's no single, one-size-fits-all kind of answer. In this episode, we'll get to know a student who has been juggling parenthood and medical school with great skill and grace. Olivia Torre, a 4th-year medical student who got her PhD before coming to medical school, is the mom of an adorable toddler named Emilia. In this episode, Olivia shares all about becoming a parent while in medical school: how she handles the various responsibilities, how being a parent has enhanced her experience of medical school, the most valuable help and support structures she's leaned on, and what advice she has for any student wondering if or when to start a family.   

We all know about the medical school curriculum. But what about the hidden curriculum, or how students learn about the unspoken culture of medicine through everyday, informal interactions? In this episode, Dr. Sandra Quezada and Dr. Sarah Dubbs explore the hidden curriculum with some examples, chat about whether the hidden curriculum can be positive or negative, and offer guidance on how students can best navigate the hidden curriculum and thrive within it.   References: Lawrence C, Mhlaba T, Stewart KA, et al. The Hidden Curricula of Medical Education: A Scoping Review. Acad Med. 2018 Apr;93(4):648-656. PMID: 29116981. Bandini J, Mitchell C, Epstein-Peterson ZD, et al. Student and Faculty Reflections of the Hidden Curriculum. Am J Hosp Palliat Care. 2017 Feb;34(1):57-63. Epub 2016 Jul 11. PMID: 26566929. Martimianakis MA, Michalec B, Lam J, et al. Humanism, the Hidden Curriculum, and Educational Reform: A Scoping Review and Thematic Analysis. Acad Med. 2015 Nov;90(11 Suppl):S5-S13. PMID: 26505101. Hopkins L, Saciragic L, Kim J, Posner G. The Hidden Curriculum: Exposing the Unintended Lessons of Medical Education. Cureus. 2016 Oct 25;8(10):e845. PMID: 27909633 Kalter L. Navigating the Hidden Curriculum in Medical School. AAMC News. Published July 13, 2019. Accessed December 10, 2024. Link.  Freedman D. The Hidden Curriculum. NYU Langone Health Hub. Accessed December 10, 2024. Link.   

The path to becoming a physician - and then working as one for the rest of your career - can feel like a highly regimented road, with little room for side journeys. A new book called Improvising Adulthood: What I Wish Someone Had Told Me makes a bold claim: that adult life is a lot like an improv show, where you make one choice, and then another, and then another, and you get to change direction at any time. The author of this book, Amanda Hirsch, wants us to feel empowered to shift ourselves out of auto-pilot and question the scripts we feel we must follow. Amanda is our guest for this special episode in which we explore how her book applies to medical students in particular. There are three copies of her book in our OSA, so please feel free to stop by and borrow a copy!   

We are always looking for great suggestions of people and topics to cover on this podcast. So when a few people suggested an episode on our school's Wellness Committee, we were thrilled to sit down with M4 Nicol Tugarinov and M3 Nycole Hidalgo, both of whom sit on the Wellness Committee, to learn all about what this group is and how it helps promote and support medical student wellness.   

The Student Clinician Ceremony is a rite of passage for our medical students as they finish their preclinical years and enter clinical rotations. As a companion piece to the upcoming Student Clinician Ceremony, we are delighted to bring you the wisdom and perspectives of three wonderful MS4s: Indira Jetton, Dennis Morozov, and Gurbani Singh. They share stories of humanism in their third year, when they received help in a moment of need, and their top advice for students at this special time in training and life.

Many medical students pursue passions and hobbies alongside their medical studies. Kerrigan Dougherty, MS3, was featured in The Baltimore Banner for their work with the Skylight Boutique in Baltimore. In today's episode, they share some of their life story, their nonstandard path to medicine, their joy in working with the Skylight Boutique, and some tips and tricks for superb time management when balancing med school with the rest of life.  Reference: Scharper, J. "One of the country's few gender-affirming thrift stores is in Baltimore." The Baltimore Banner. November 4, 2024. Link.   

No matter which field of medicine we go into, counseling patients can be an enormous part of our daily practice. Motivational interviewing, a patient-centered technique, allows us to better address our patients' readiness for change and support them as best we can. Dr. Frayha got to interview SOM alum Dr. Michael Baca-Atlas from the class of 2015 on how to become an expert motivational interviewer. He is an Associate Professor of Family Medicine at UNC, fellowship-trained in Addiction Medicine, who wears lots of different leadership and medical education hats. He is an expert on this topic, and we are so glad to bring his wisdom to the SOM community. This conversation originally aired on Hippo Education's Primary Care Reviews and Perspectives podcast.   

It is that time of year again: 4th year scheduling season is here for our MS3s. Dr. Beth Lamos clarifies, demystifies, and reassures us about Advance Phase Scheduling - essentially everything that comes after Step 1, with a focus on the individual experiences that come after clerkships. She shares clear, practical information and concrete strategies to make the best of 4th year.  Resources: Advanced Clinical Phase Scheduling Process. UMSOM OSA Academic Handbook. Link.  Clinical Scheduling and Sites. UMSOM OSA Handbook. Link.   

During the course of our medical careers, we see a lot of hard things. We're in the room when patients die. We see the effects of enormous physical, emotional, and psychological trauma. We watch our peers and colleagues go through really hard times. We often compartmentalize this pain in the moment because we have to move forward and see the next patient. But we don't always make an effort to DE-compartmentalize afterward. What is decompartmentalization, and how can we practice it effectively to keep ourselves healthy? Dr. Marissa Flaherty from the OSA and the Department of Psychiatry is back to walk us through grief, debriefing, and decompartmentalization.  Resource: https://students-residents.aamc.org/medical-student-well-being/learning-decompartmentalize-self-care  

Situational awareness and judgment are two of the most important ingredients to success in life and definitely medical school, especially the clinical years. Even if you don't know what you're doing on day 1 of a new rotation, or even where the bathrooms are, situational awareness will allow you to clue in to the dynamics around you, avoid mistakes and gaffes, and help you shine through fluid, seamless interactions with others. Dr. John Allen from the OSA sits down with Dr. Frayha to explore situational awareness in med school: what it means and how to cultivate it, along with specific scripting and strategies for different situations. Resources: AMA resource on how clinical clerkship students can hone situational awareness  What is situational awareness in healthcare? Feller S, et al. Situational Awareness in the Context of Clinical Practice. Healthcare (Basel). 2023 Dec 4;11(23):3098. PMID: 38063666. Weller JM, et al. Teamwork matters: team situation awareness to build high-performing healthcare teams, a narrative review. Br J Anaesth. 2024 Apr;132(4):771-778. Epub 2024 Feb 2. PMID: 38310070.