Like Mother, Like Doctor
Like Mother, Like Doctor is a TalkingScience blog written by Linda Brodsky and her daughter, Dana Greenfield. For their blog, they both write about the journey of becoming a doctor and all the challenges associated with it.
Like Mother, Like Doctor »
Our friend Rosalee Washington asked, “Should I major in something that has to do with science if I want to become a doctor?” This is a really good question. Do all doctors need the same skills? The same talents? Have a certain personality?
Like Mother, Like Doctor, Science »
From the SATs to the MCAT and the Boards exams, I’ve been a career student. Tests have become a way of life, in a way. (Is that sad?) From multiple-choice to essay to true/false to oral exams, tests have been the predictable pacemakers of my career from high school through college, from college to medical school and graduate school.
Like Mother, Like Doctor »
I have only one more test left in med school!
Well, I should qualify that: it’s the last test of my pre-clinical years. (The first two years are called pre-clinical because we don’t see much of the clinical side, because we don’t really know too much.) So, for two years we sit mostly in lectures, labs, small groups, and the library, learning the basics of human biology and illness. The cycle is predictable: three weeks of cramming, test, repeat. In our last block Life Cycle (our curriculum is organized by topic or organ system), we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
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No one likes taking tests. Unless you are really well prepared and know the answers to all of the questions. And then it can be fun as an affirmation of your hard work, perseverance, and mastery of the material.
My first big, important, life-changing test occurred in the 8th grade. The DATs—tests to help you figure out what career you might be good at. Don’t remember what the “D” stood for. On this 6 part test, I scored in the 99th percentile in spatial relationships, mechanical thinking, …
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This blog, Like Mother, Like Doctor, was created in response to questions asked by Talking Science’s 2009 summer intern, Rosie Washington. Her project: to search for answers to her dreams. She contacted me after reading my blog and with help from executive producer, Ann Marie Cunningham, and the essential input of my daughter Dana Greenfield, this blog was born!
So while Dana is off with younger sister Becca exploring the beauty of Big Sur, CA, during their winter break, I will tackle the first of the many great questions …
Like Mother, Like Doctor »
School let out a week ago, but my life is still quite busy. Especially with singing in the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir. We have numerous holiday concerts in Oakland, the South Bay, even the San Francisco Jail. To keep up the momentum and energy, before every concert we ‘circle up.’ This means that the entire choir—all 50-60 of us—in our teal, purple and gold robes joins hands in a circle while our director leads us a pre-show pep-talk-like prayer. Any member who’s going through rough times—cancer, …
Like Mother, Like Doctor »
Yes, my daughter the doctor-to be, if it were only our career choices that created confusion and uncertainty! How your words (and your angst) resonated with me and my own daily struggles in caring for patients. Even after a lifetime of practice (nearly 30 years), not a day goes by that I don’t feel humbled by a problem I cannot solve or a patient I cannot heal.
Learning to deal with the confusion created by the rapidly changing science of medicine which needs to be practiced on the ever changing …
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I know in my last post I expounded following one’s own interests, without any particular roadmap. This approach definitely has its positives. But sometimes confusion and uncertainty appear, and choices can be difficult to make. Solution? Mentors as my guideposts: While I may not be sure what might lay ahead, for the immediate future, they have helped me to know that at least I was in the right place.
Times have changed. And so have the kinds of advice and guidance that young people need. …
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Does anyone remember the scene in the movie Bye, Bye, Birdie, when the MacAfee family learns that Kim is going to be on that really big show, The Ed Sullivan Show? Does anyone remember how, transported to a scene in heaven, likely cloud nine, they sang, in four part harmony, “We’re Gonna Be On Ed Sullivan!”
Not a totally unbelievable scene for a family in the 1960’s. It was exciting to have a TV, much less to be on it. Back then the media consisted of print newspapers, magazines, …
Like Mother, Like Doctor »
The first mentor ever mentioned is found in Greek mythology. When Odysseus begins his journey, his son, Telemachus, is left in the care of Mentor, for guidance and protection. The story unfolds with the goddess Athena intervening and assuming the form of Mentor in than she could encourage Telemachus to assert himself and take charge of his role in the lives of his mother Penelope and father Odysseus.
Is it an accident that the very first mentor in literature is both a mortal man and a female god? I …
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