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The Journey Back to AMEC
118 Plays1 month ago
The journey back to AMEC continues here on SNMA Presents: The Lounge Podcast!
Join our RTL hosts as they reflect on previous AMEC experiences along with crucial tips to survive and thrive during the eventful weekend. Also, stay tuned for the discussion of other trending current events such as the Match 2026, the Tourette’s incident at the SAG-AFTRA awards, Women’s History Month, and more!
We look forward to seeing everyone very soon in Pittsburgh for AMEC 2026!
To share your thoughts on our discussion or if you have any questions to ask our hosts, email podcast@snma.org for a chance to be featured on the show!
Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed on our podcast do not reflect the official stance of the Student National Medical Association.
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Transcript
Introduction and Event Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
The views expressed on this podcast represent only those of the hosts and do not represent the views of the Student National Medical Association. AMEC 2026 will be held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center from April 1st to April 5th, 2026. This year, the conference is entitled Bridging Generations with Hope, Illuminating the Voices and Vision of the Future of Medicine.
00:00:23
Speaker
AMIC 2026 will bring together over 3,000 pre-medical students, physicians, alumni, and healthcare professionals from across the country for a vibrant and empowering experience.
00:00:33
Speaker
Join us this year in Pittsburgh as we build bridges that inspire hope, strengthen bonds, and empower the bold visionaries who will transform healthcare care for generations to come. To register, please click on the link in the description box below because those tickets are going fast.
00:00:48
Speaker
And be sure to join the lounge for all of our fun-filled events that we'll have in store for both new and old supporters of the podcast. We can't wait to see you there. Now, let's start the show.
Match Season Insights
00:01:19
Speaker
Welcome to SNMA Presents The Lounge. Whether you're in the student lounge, doctor's lounge, or lounging around at home, get ready to join SNMA for meaningful conversations on topics affecting minorities in medicine and groups that often sit at the margins of healthcare.
00:01:33
Speaker
I'm Dr. Isabella, and match season is officially upon us, guys, which means soon-to-be medical graduates are going to be learning about where the next steps of their medical journeys as full-fledged doctors are going to be. Now, as many of us on the podcast know, this can be a time of mixed emotions, but hopefully mostly a time of excitement. So I want to ask you guys, what's really your advice for folks this match season? Maybe just speaking about your match season memories, I can start. um So I remember, you know, match was for me was at this point about a year ago.
00:02:04
Speaker
um Thankfully, it worked out for me. um i do remember it just being of course like an overall time of just like mixed things like oh wow like this is where i'm going um this is like the next step and then other people around you who also like had all these plans maybe you wanted to end up in these places um some of them were happy some of them weren't as happy you have to kind of figure out how to help support them through those times or people who didn't even match into their specialty or didn't match at all right so there's so many like things going on in that time period where You don't really know how to react or how to kind of be there for both yourself and for other people. And so I would say, like, overall, I would like advise anyone who's listening who might be going through the match soon or maybe know somebody going be going through the match and wants to know to support that person. You know, just take it all in stride and
00:02:50
Speaker
everything really does happen for a reason. And so I would say try and kind of lean into the aspects that more so honor the time it took for you or that person that you know to get there and letting them know that, hey, despite whatever results you may see, like you are meant to do X, Y, Z, and this is a part of the plan, you know, that God has in store for you that you kind of have in store for you and you just need to trust that process. But I would say don't let it get you down if if it's not a happy time for you for whatever reason. and And just try to kind of lean into like the effort that it took for you to even get to this place to kind of help, you know, whatever emotions may come the day of match. So that, that would be my advice overall.
00:03:30
Speaker
What about you guys? What's good is Dr. Aldwin Samari and um' I'm, I'm elated to hear what Isabella has spoken about, um, It's been quite a challenge for me during the match season. I've been through the whole process of match, from matching to my 10th choice, to going through the soap, and then ah last year getting into my residency program of of interest. And so for me, it's been quite a whirlwind of experiences. You know, i remember when I first matched a couple years back, And I was devastated. I was crying. I was shocked. I feel like i really feel like I had like PTSD, to be honest. And to this day, I still can't watch the recording ah that my mom had recorded of me on a match day ah in 2022. So it brings up a lot of emotions. And even going through the soap process the next time around, realizing that I wasn't going to be in a psychiatry residency was also devastating because I put everything I could went to conferences, tapped in with mentors, chairs of residency programs. I felt like I had as much support as I could have ever prayed for or wished for. And it still didn't work out in my favor.
00:04:34
Speaker
But actually did work out in my favor in a way because I was able to Establish a foundation of practice, going to family medicine and establishing connections with people in Nashville, Tennessee, and being in ah in ah in a wonderful program and feeling a sense of confidence because I developed my my clinical skills prior to getting into psychiatry. So with that being said, I heard my story already, but like the match season does not disqualify you from being the doctor that you dream of. If you have a certain aspiration to be in a particular space or place, continue to have those aspirations and you will you will get there. Even if you don't match where you desire to go to, there's a reason for everything happening. And I know in the short term, acute setting, it may feel like it's the end of the world, but it's actually the beginning of a wonderful journey for you. And yeah, certainly if you have any questions, tap in with me. I'm here to support you in any shape or form.
00:05:29
Speaker
And I'm proud of y'all. Regardless, y'all going to be doctors. That's number one. Y'all going be representing. Y'all going to be doing great things for your community and keep that first and foremost and then build from there at the end of the day. You know I mean Very nice. Very nice.
00:05:43
Speaker
How you doing, everybody? It's your boy, aspiring student, Dr. Jared Jeffrey. And while I may have very, very little personal perspective on the match, I can say that it's a great thing being a part of the SNMA because I've seen match story after match story after match story. I just want to, you know, give you you your flowers, Aldwin. I actually draw a lot of personal inspiration from your own match story. I have a lot of people around the organization, you know, match day comes to S and a post that got in. And, you know, a couple of days, they're going to post all the matches of where you're going and what programs. And you see all kinds of amazing stories, right? There are people, people are able to like, what is it like the couples match? and people are able to, you know, game school or stay at the same program or get their top choice and stuff like that.
00:06:28
Speaker
Just remember, Instagram is a highlight reel. Facts. or The thing I like about that, the thing I like about things like AMEC is when you are in person, when you are in real life, when you are off of social media, you get to see the real people that are now in residency that simply didn't match their first time around. You know what I'm saying? They did whatever they needed to do. I don't know what that is exactly at the moment.
00:06:52
Speaker
And they come back again stronger and they matched after one, maybe two times. They soap, they did whatever they needed to. is is the SNMA is a constant reminder that it's never to end the road and that ah favor, fortune favors the bold. So keep putting your next foot forward if you've already put your best foot forward and match day.
00:07:16
Speaker
Take this from somebody just trying to get into medical school. process of applying to the match is an honor. Trust me. Right. Trust me. Right. You did you did a lot to even qualify to to to to to get to the match. You know i'm saying? That might not be what you want to hear at the moment, but just, you know, give yourself some grace no matter what the outcome may be. You know what mean?
00:07:38
Speaker
Yes, yes, yes. And that agree that's for my seat. That's a fact. Well, thank you guys for sharing that. Now y'all know what time it is. it Time to run the list for our preclinical students. Running the list on awards allows the team to address present matters of the day.
00:07:56
Speaker
In this segment of the show, we'll discuss some recent events in medicine and beyond affecting our communities and the population we serve.
Controversial Awards Ceremony Incident
00:08:05
Speaker
The first topic of today has been and unfortunate situation.
00:08:09
Speaker
turn of events, which happened several about a week or two ago with the bath, the blunder with Delroy Lindo and Michael B. Jordan. Michael B. Jordan won outstanding performance by a male actor at the after actor awards for his role in the Sinners.
00:08:24
Speaker
He won against nominees like le Leonardo DiCaprio, Timothy Chalamet, Ethan Hawke and many others. And during this award ceremony, ah Michael B. Jordan and Del Rolindo were on stage presenting when the N-word was shouted from across this auditorium by a person who was a Tourette's advocate and also a filmmaker named John Davidson.
00:08:47
Speaker
And it's interesting enough to say that there was a two-hour delay on this BBC broadcast, yet they failed to edit out. And the other thing is, during this same broadcast, they edited out...
00:09:01
Speaker
support for Palestine. Someone had yelled out, we support Palestine. But they were unable to edit out this N-word, which shows the hypocrisy, which shows the distaste that many of us have for the BBC in allowing this to happen. No matter how you feel, Tourette's is a very complicated syndrome.
00:09:19
Speaker
No matter how you feel about that, people deserve to be respected and deserve to be ah protected at the same time as well. And the fact that they allow this to usher into their broadcast says a lot about BBC and how do they feel, in my opinion, about Black people.
00:09:34
Speaker
But before we go on, I also want to mention talking about Tourette's.
Understanding Tourette's
00:09:38
Speaker
Tourette's is a neurodevelopmental disorder which causes individuals to have motor and voc vocal tics. And there variety of different motor and tic disorders. Ticks primarily start during childhood around like five to seven years old.
00:09:53
Speaker
And typically they wax and wane and they include ah they could be vocal ticks that could be a sudden abruptly. It could be random words. It could be insensitive words. It could be inappropriate words. It could be words that someone has perseverated on, which means that they focus on and they constantly say that word over and over at random times.
00:10:12
Speaker
They could also have motor tics, grunting. They could have movements, their shoulders, their bodies at specific time and moments. But also, again, it could be at random moments as well. And it could also be exacerbated in particular by stress.
00:10:25
Speaker
Now, I'm not trying to say nothing about John Davidson. You know i'm saying? Like, At the end of the day, you got Tourette's, you know what mean? And I appreciate the advocacy that he's done. But I did feel a type of worry about how he did not initially apologize to the black community and the use of the N-word and kind of just push it off.
00:10:44
Speaker
Like, oh, yeah, it's no let's normalize. I have Tourette's. It's right. You know what mean? yeah but No, it's it's not. i And it's not normal. And that's why the world is the way it is right now with all the chaos that's happened. That's why there is, you know, racial and systemic racism that is perpetuated in all aspects of our lives, from health, education, politics in our communities and across the world. And we have to do what we need to do to dismantle that thought and process. And he had that opportunity to do that.
00:11:14
Speaker
He had the opportunity to address that in a manner that is in support of the black communities and the communities that are affected by it. But with that being said, I wanted to hear what are your perspectives on what happened during this award ceremony?
00:11:27
Speaker
You know, i remember um seeing clips. Like, I actually didn't, of course, watch the whole awards ceremony, but I definitely, like, watched the video um clips that were circulating on social media regarding the incidents. I saw Michael B. Jordan and Delroy on stage and heard that moment happen and kind of, like, a little bit of the silence that ensued and the awkwardness that ensued. And I was just very confused as to...
00:11:57
Speaker
why we are so comfortable in our society of embarrassing Black people who have done so much and have reached such a level in their career where they're deserved a bit more respect.
00:12:11
Speaker
And the fact that the award ceremony didn't think that these two accomplished actors deserved that like deserved that respect and just that um you know consideration of how it's going to look to allow something like a racial slur being said vehemently in front of them when they're receiving such an honor, um it didn't make any sense to me. And I think at the time it was that they were presenting an award, right? It wasn't that they were getting an award at the time, so they were actively presenting something.
00:12:47
Speaker
Delroy Lindo the middle of presenting Michael B. Jordan with his award. With his award. Okay, so you have two things going on. You have his co-actor, like, introducing his other co-actor who's going to receive this great honor, which he's beating out. we We just listed the names of the people he just beat out for that award who are very accomplished actors.
00:13:05
Speaker
that have done also great things in their career. So the fact that Michael B. Jordan is even getting this award is such a huge deal. So not only did you steal that moment, but you stole another human being's moment to honor his friend and coworker who's getting such a big, you know, ah remembrance and and honor. um So I think it was just overall poor taste and it really kind of,
00:13:27
Speaker
I would say in a way it it diminished the... and it kind of diminished the quality and the... um I guess I would say more the totality of like how big of a deal this was because now you have this...
00:13:40
Speaker
terrible thing that just happened that kind of put a bad taste in everybody's mouth and there was no accountability at all from psych afters and as far as i'm concerned they made some statement but they never actually addressed and apologized for the fact that like they failed to do this thing and i feel like that was also another failing on their part so just a lot of things a lot of things happened where i just felt like they were trying to save face, but they didn't actually care about what this looks like and what this actually meant when the situation occurred or else they would have done more about it. And in fact, I feel like the Tourette's, I believe the Tourette's is, i don't know if the Tourette's society or whoever also made a statement, but I know that they did meant, I think it was, I think there actually was a statement that I saw that Tourette's either society or kind of the association that um helps to kind of advocate people with Tourette's also say that, Oh, this is a very real condition. And,
00:14:30
Speaker
you know, like, we understand how this looks like, but it doesn't take away the fact that people with this disease process, you know, go through XYZ. Listen, we're we're all medical professionals here. We understand the the severity of Tourette's and what that looks like, but racial slur, really, when there's Black people on stage, like, I need you guys to really use your thinking caps and understand, like, this is bigger than just Tourette's, in my opinion, because it's like, this is this this is a very specific word that's used with very specific people that, to me, goes beyond just the disease process we're talking about, you know? And I think to ignore that is a really big failure on SAG-AFTRA's part. So that's my thoughts about it.
00:15:10
Speaker
um A big failure. They need to better. SAG-AFTRA, the people who... who are the hosts of this award. This this is the SAVIC-AFTRA Awards. So the people who kind of facilitated yeah the awards ceremony, I feel like that was a big failure on their part because it's like it was their responsibility to protect the people who were at this awards ceremony, getting these awards, presenting the awards, whatever the case may be. And they should have thought a little bit more about whether or not leaving that kind of statement was appropriate and how it would make not only them look, but also the people who were affected look. And I think they fumbled the ball on both on both ends. Yeah. That's my thoughts. I'm i'm going to um um assume here that
00:15:54
Speaker
It was intentional that it was left in. i It was intentional because we're talking about it right now, right? I think this was a means of trying to make the award show a little bit bigger than it than it was. Moment per se, hit some headlines, garner some attention.
00:16:14
Speaker
um I'm not going to... to say too much on the gentleman ah John Davidson's part because I do think that it was a true outburst. I do think that you know oh that that the Tourette's led him to make the outburst but I think Alden you did present an interesting point where despite the fact that he had the outburst and despite the fact that you know it should have been caught by the media. It should have been caught by a BBC. It should have been edited out.
00:16:45
Speaker
e when it wasn't edited out, that did create a moment for him to, you know, kind of, ah I'll say, stand up as an ally to both against racism and for Tourette's, you know? Like, it's like it's definitely possible in that moment to tackle both and figure to do so.
00:17:07
Speaker
Definitely tough. I really want to...
00:17:15
Speaker
So I've worked in media just a little bit, you know, um I took a couple of courses in in undergrad and I've been around TV, media and film. I see exactly the way productions work. Everything that makes it through the production is intentional. You know what I'm saying? Especially because it wasn't live broadcast. like I want to put that that out there. Like if if we haven't said yet, this wasn't a live broadcast. Yep.
00:17:37
Speaker
Edited down for television. This was a three-hour award awards show that had to fit a two-hour slot. So this was not like when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock. That was live television.
00:17:48
Speaker
Yep. This was edited down. They had the opportunity to take it out and said, no thank you. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. No, I agree. I think that's appalling.
00:17:59
Speaker
I think it's appalling. I think it's overt racism. I think it's it's um a a lowbrow opportunity at trying to to to garner a little spotlight.
00:18:11
Speaker
And I really hope that there's some kind of um FCC, something kind of regulatory body that that that checks them on it because that is absolutely out of the question.
00:18:27
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I'm also curious, Alden, like from that, you know, Tourette's syndrome standpoint, like you, of course, being in psychiatry and understanding the processes of it, like, what are your thoughts about the actual diagnosis of Tourette's and kind of its relation to what happened here and kind of maybe the validity of it? Or if you feel like there could have been more that went on in the situation?
00:18:48
Speaker
um You know, like, I'll be honest and say that Tourette's is oftentimes involuntary and it's it's easy for people to want to vilify John Davidson in this moment in terms of his outburst without the proper appropriate understanding of what Tourette's is.
00:19:09
Speaker
um which I understand. But at the same time, this is a very complicated disease, just like any you know physical disease, high blood pressure, diabetes. This is a disease of the brain. This is a disease of nerve cells.
00:19:22
Speaker
And it is uniquely an uncontrollable urge that no matter how much an individual may want to stop or may want to, may want a behavior to dissipate, they are unable to do so based on how their brain is curated and created.
00:19:41
Speaker
And so, uh, with that being said, in my my opinions about this, I do feel a type of way about, you know, how, like Jared mentioned, um, the, the, um, the awards and the BBC broadcast had disseminated this, um, this, uh, recording, but at the same time, you know, i do extend grace because it's also a time for us to educate ourselves about Tourette's and bring awareness. We could turn this to a positive light, despite the negativity that's happening. And I recall seeing a video of a black woman with Tourette's who even during her, uh, education, uh, you know, a seminar on this was,
00:20:17
Speaker
uh, uh, projecting her, her, her, uh, disease process while, while actually talking, you know what saying? And that was a beautiful reminder to me that this is a very, uniquely dynamic disease that we need to talk more about, advocate on a behalf of people that are suffering from it and turn this into a positive light at the end of the day, you know, and um I'm no longer going to be watching, nor did I ever watch the SAG after. what um but they can kick rocks, you see And I'm going to continue to not watch the SAG after this incident. So right I totally agree. um i mean, this was good. This was a good conversation. I think, you know, thinking about Black people in
00:20:57
Speaker
and you know, in the public facing eye and being in these types of award shows and kind of being scrutinized in many different ways, I think, you know, it's a good way for us to think about that what we're going to now look to as Black medical professionals and attending this conference where we are too going to be extending um education, you know, hosting and doing activities at AMEC as Black people, ah black professionals um in more of a, I would say, not really, I guess, public facing in a way, because there's going to be a very large crowd at AMEC, as we've said in our advertisement, um of more than 3000 people combined from all stages in medicine, which I think is super exciting.
AMEC Conference Experiences
00:21:36
Speaker
um Of course, this is our time to really talk about AMEC. And to um just reflect on the experiences that we enjoyed in all these. At this point, we've gone to how many AMECs? I mean, this is going be, what, my sixth AMEC now. Yeah.
00:21:50
Speaker
yeah And Alden, I'm sure, is even more than that because Alden's been going since before me. um And on top of that, like, our sixth AMEC as hosts, right, and getting to, like, host events. and And maybe we'll decide to attend some events.
00:22:07
Speaker
discussions and panels and um activities that are happening at the conference as well, even though now I'm no longer a medical student, Aldo's no longer a medical student, but they do have things, I believe, for people who are like no longer medical students, so it could still be applicable to us. um So now to just get into, I mean, i definitely want to about our experience and also just talk about maybe things that have been helpful for us going to all these Amex and what we think would be helpful for our listeners. So experiences wise, um I would say the best experiences have been of course, the connection with all people across medicine, um particularly people who were in the same stages as me. So now it's going really nice to connect with other fellow residents and kind of see what they're up to things that they feel like have been helpful for them as residents, because I'm now in residency and I understand it in a much more intimate way. And I think hearing it now in this space is going to be very beneficial to me. um i will say in general, the best parts of AMEC has been, of course, the connection. And then, of course, the events we've hosted has been really fun. i think it allows us to kind of be more a part of what's actually going on outside of just like attending. Like when you actually are getting to also facilitate stuff and not just attend, you feel more integrated into like what's actually going on from a conference standpoint. And so that just getting to be a part of the lounge and us getting to like share what we do on a live platform has always been very exciting. And last year we had a blast with our pop the balloon event.
00:23:36
Speaker
We will not confirm nor deny that will be occurring this year, but I will say just be prepared for the unexpected. um We are leaning towards wanting Pop the Balloon to make a ah a comeback. We had a lot of positive feedback. seemed like a lot of people were interested in love and relationships. I think that is something that...
00:23:54
Speaker
a lot of black people medicine do like to talk about, do care about, and will always find entertaining because it is something that a lot of us still struggle with, right? Being in this field and trying to figure out like, how do we find our partners and stuff like that? And so AMEC is such a unique opportunity to do that because everybody's here.
00:24:11
Speaker
right? And everybody can display themselves in whatever way they want to, hopefully in a positive manner. And you have another opportunity where you can share it again, but like in a more fun, less kind of restrictive way through an event. So let's hope that we get to do something like that again this year. um And then I would just say overall, like outside of getting to host events, of course, attending, I would say that attending the um the different panels that are applicable to, say, me have been really interesting. And of course, the afternoon events to like, let me not sit there and act like I don't go out. um I actually don't really go out. But, you know, like.
00:24:48
Speaker
Who's this for right now? You're captain.
00:24:53
Speaker
I try my best to go out. You'll be out for the Thursday pregame and they'll be like, okay, guys, I'm going back to school. got a nice car. I got you work. But see, isn't it nice though, right? As a resident now, as a resident, I shouldn't be saying that at this point. I don't have an excuse. I shouldn't be popping up because like, what am I studying? I mean, step three, but I'm not, you know.
00:25:14
Speaker
the big Yeah, like step three is there. I am technically supposed to be studying for step three, but that's not to the same extent as like, you know, all the other things I was studying for as a med student when I did not have my MD just yet. Now that the MD is here, you know, I'm going to take a little bit of a break. I'm going to allow myself to enjoy, you know, so enjoy yourself.
00:25:32
Speaker
But I'll say that experiences wise, that's been my experiences. I'm interested to know what you guys have found the most enjoyable at AMEC and, you know, things you're hoping that our audience, our listeners will also find enjoyable as well.
00:25:45
Speaker
Very nice. Very nice. Um, AMEC is a blast. Um, From the perspective of a gap year medical student, AMEC, it's easy to lose your fervor for medicine. It's easy to, ah well, haven't gotten in yet. I'm making decent money at this job. Do I really want to be a doctor?
00:26:11
Speaker
you know that that ah You know, they say motivation is a muscle. And you know that ah that ah enthusiasm and all that kind of stuff, it has a battery pack. you know and It's easy.
00:26:23
Speaker
I leave AMEC with a full cup every time. Every time. And it's one of those things where community matters. the external the it's It's really about like like, you know, they say you are the the the sum of the top five people you spend the most time with.
00:26:41
Speaker
Well, you're not going to spend the most time with anybody here, but you build a very strong network and you build a, an increasingly, uh, an increasingly diverse network of medical professionals from cities you haven't been to yet.
00:26:57
Speaker
Yeah. Solutions you've never interacted with. And you would be surprised where next you're going to meet these people. Like for example, I was on a trip not too long ago and I made a new friend and she told me, Hey, yeah, I'm a resident physician. i was in the SNMA for four years. And I'm like, yo, boom, you know, we just had something to talk about instantly. You know what I'm saying? Right.
00:27:20
Speaker
For, from the pre-med perspective though, it's the perfect catalyst to get you back into it. It's the perfect upstart you want to apply, want to retake the MCAT, want to crack it. and Go dust off those MCAT books. Go, go dust them off. I know you got it.
00:27:39
Speaker
Perfect. didn't Make you want to. Yes, I will buy that that you world subscription and and start doing more questions again. You know, damn but let me go schedule that test. Damn, this admissions. got let let yeah Let me send out a couple of emails. Damn, let me let me let me go. Let me go do that. Let me go put the application together. Let me let me. go statement It's the perfect thing where if you've been lacking a little bit of motivation.
00:28:01
Speaker
to get you over the hump into medical school or if you, if you just like lacking a little something, whatever it may be, maybe it's not motivation. Maybe it's, I just don't know where to go. Maybe ah my MCAT score is low. I don't think I'm going to get it. Oh, my GPA is not the best.
00:28:15
Speaker
When I tell you AMAC has avenues and they have people that are physicians now or medical students now, we've done every next thing under the sun, MPH, MSBS. They've done postbacks. Hmm. They've got to study abroad. They go international medical schools.
00:28:32
Speaker
They have MD programs, DO programs. Yep. It teaches you that medicine is not a monolith. It teaches you that there is no one path to this this goal that we all have.
00:28:45
Speaker
And... that talking with people and hearing about, man, I heard a 30-year physician. He gave a talk one year. it was entitled delayed not Delayed, Never Denied. o Talking about how he failed at getting into medical school four times. He applied four times, failed four times.
00:29:10
Speaker
When he did get in, only one school took him. That's all needed. 35 years later, he has finished medical school. He has finished residency and he's had a thriving career.
00:29:21
Speaker
So the stumbles along the road didn't, it didn't it define him. They didn't make him. It was simply, you know, it took him a little longer. But in 10 years, does it really matter?
00:29:33
Speaker
Does it really matter after after you've been practicing for 10 years? Does it really matter? So um that's that's what I'll say from my perspective. it just It just gets you enthused to get into medical school. And it it it keeps you – it reminds you that there's, like, some really cool people in the field.
00:29:50
Speaker
Yeah. Yep. And and the party the party is pretty cool, too. Yeah. Thank you, Jared. Pastor Jared on this Sunday has... Okay. We still got to come in with tips too. So let's get the experiences and then we're going to solidify some tips. I feel like I can't even beat that. So I'm going just lay the previous experiences to the side because Jared helped me down and talked about everything. But I wanted to address the tips. You know what saying? As he should.
00:30:21
Speaker
the the The tips on how to navigate AMAC, in my opinion, it could be very overwhelming, but want to say give yourself grace, especially if it's your first one, because there's so much going on. But the first thing is when you get there, I think it's important to preview like the booklet that they give you with all like the events. Circle them, highlight them.
00:30:40
Speaker
Honestly, sometimes I was low-key studying them then putting them in my like, this is the I'm going to do This is where it's going to be located and then pull up there. Make sure you also tap into the exhibit of here.
00:30:52
Speaker
I believe that net your network is built off of your network. So being in that position to privilege yourself to meet other residency programs or other medical schools as well, if you're a pre-med, is high yield thing that you got to do, honestly. yep If there's one thing you got to go to, please, even if you're a first year med student,
00:31:12
Speaker
It doesn't matter. Like establishing rapport early on or even later on in the game could behoove you because you never know your program director or your medical school is in that room.
00:31:23
Speaker
You just got to go after and search for it at the end of the day. you know what I mean? And I'm going to do a quick sidebar. like yeah sure Especially, you know, when you're trying to be intentional about looking at institutions in this ah age post-DEI that is making the effort to come to something like this and make an appearance and meet with you, you can kind of assume that they have...
00:31:49
Speaker
DEI is one of their core values. You know what i'm saying? Whether or not they're getting money from the government for it, you can tell that diversity, equity, and inclusion is something that they they hold true to them. you know they they ah They'll take care of you once you're there. like that's That's just something so something to also hold on when you think about it.
00:32:08
Speaker
know I definitely want to emphasize to like Aldrin mentioning the exhibitor fair. I feel like that's the bulk of like where you're going to make the most meaningful networking interactions because that's where all the different medical schools come out for the medical school fair. That's where all the different residency programs come out. Like I met, you know, ah I think I met like majority of the programs that I was interested in through the AMEC exhibitor fair. I got my headshots. Those are the same headshots I used Photoshop to edit, right? Yeah.
00:32:33
Speaker
and then submitted that on my ERAS app. Okay. So like all majority of my most important resources I used when applying, when applying into residency was through AMEC. So I will say it's a gift that keeps on giving um from a business perspective with the lounge, right? We had our QR code linked to our business card and that's how we allow people to connect with us. I would say even on an individual level, if you want people to connect with you,
00:32:57
Speaker
make a qr code that is linked to there's i think they have different apps that you can use and now people have your information just by pulling out their phone which we all have our phones right so i think just like these little things to kind of make sure you stay connected and then from a more maybe personal standpoint or bougie standpoint have the fits okay don't come looking crazy look professional have your you Have your business casual fits, have your party fits, right? Because you also don't want to not have anything to wear um when it's time to wind down. Have your you're just throughout the day fits when you're not at um at an event, nor are you at conference and you just kind of want to just be in your bed. So I would say, you know, have your outfits ready for all those things.
00:33:39
Speaker
Dress for the weather, check the weather app and see like how many degrees it's likely going to be during the week. um We're in Pittsburgh, or right? I don't know much about Pittsburgh. I believe it's somewhat Midwest. So I'm assuming they're still going a little bit cold because we're still a little bit cold over on the East Coast. So maybe a little bit on the warmer side is probably the best thing. um Yeah. And then just and come ready to just have fun. Like that's kind of what I would say overall, but just try your best to Stay looped in with what's going on. I think they have like the app as well that kind of tells you the list, the schedule of events for the entire conference. So that way you know which ones you want to go to. You can like highlight and and star the ones and save the ones you want to be at so that way you don't forget. Like those things are all like helpful, helpful ways to kind of streamline what, how you want to make the most out of your AMEC experience. So hopefully after everything we've said, you know, everybody feels like this is something, Oh, and then bringing the white coat, I think is important too.
00:34:29
Speaker
Just dropped in the chat. um There's always ah a huge white coat photo. I have gone to zero of those photos recently. same here i go exactly because i've never brought my white coat not as a med student and i certainly will not be as a resident i'm not bringing my white coat we don't coats in psychology my co-hosts are too cool for school just know i'm sorry i'm gonna be in that white coat every year yeah yeah out of four times don't work that's hilarious that white coat photo goes viral every year viral does it does it's fuego um
00:35:03
Speaker
Isabella, were you doing your list? what Was I doing my my list of... Yeah, yeah. That's pretty much like the rest of... That's pretty much everything I would advise.
00:35:15
Speaker
tip are My tips are very concise.
00:35:19
Speaker
When you leave in the morning, be prepared to stay at the conference all day. That's a fact. Big on that. Have your backpack or your little tote bag that has everything in it. Yep.
00:35:29
Speaker
Back and forth to the hotel. You miss out on a lot. Yep. Like Aldwin said, when you get the booklet, look through and don't just like circle the ones that you might be interested in. Write them down somewhere else so that you can see just those.
00:35:43
Speaker
Write the room. Write the time. Write exactly. Figure out how to get there beforehand. The popular ones, the seats fill up quick. If there's somebody that you're interested in connecting with that's going to be talking at one of these, get a seat in the front.
00:35:57
Speaker
oh There's always a little powwow session after these things. You know, it's very good opportunity to make connections. And really be intentional about what you put together. So, like, kind of write down to yourself, you know, a little introspectively, what am I hoping to get out of this conference?
00:36:12
Speaker
Then find some sessions that may connect to that or social events. You know, maybe social events might be the thing that this thing to, oh, and make sure you make it to the socials. There are some happy hour mixers that happen. Yeah. i hope president programs no I'm talking to y'all.
00:36:28
Speaker
These residency programs are willing to like really, ah for lack of a better term, raise you up. Yeah. and I don't know, but I feel i feel like I'd be very honored to be raised up by a medical by a residency program. You know what saying? Things be a good time. They're a good time. They're a great place to socialize. And it's always great. You know, networking up is always good, but networking across hits just as much. 100%.
00:36:55
Speaker
yes it's Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. So we look forward to seeing you all at AMEC 2026. We look forward to seeing you all at Pittsburgh. If you see us and you listen to the pod, please come say hi. Please come ask, take a picture.
00:37:09
Speaker
I promise Isabella is not as scary in person as she sounds. Oh my You see, why am I Why am I got to stretch? It's been a minute since I've had this combination of hosts together, you know? So this is the one where we could really ah get you.
00:37:24
Speaker
yeah The originals. I see. I see. ah I got to watch my back, but it's all right. It's all right. Yes. yeah We're looking forward to AMEC 2026. We're going to have a great time.
00:37:39
Speaker
And now we're going to return to our list and transition to a little bit more of a ah more somber topic that kind of really reflects the nature of what's been going on throughout the country, the nature of mentalities throughout the country right now and something that could be a little
Impact of National Tensions on Mental Health
00:37:56
Speaker
scary. So there was a mass shooting in Austin, unfortunately.
00:37:58
Speaker
On March 1st, 2026, at a beer garden in downtown, a 53-year-old male opened fire with an assault rifle-style gun and was able to shoot and hit 19 different people. And unfortunately, three of those people have passed away.
00:38:19
Speaker
in a tumultuous time in this nation, leaves one to question, wonder, one, is the nature of the tensions that the United States is having with other nations leading people down a
00:38:43
Speaker
a more difficult path, dangerous path with regard to mental health. And Do we think that the mental health of people in general is going to be able to... We'll scrap the second question. We could just answer the first for now.
00:39:03
Speaker
Answer the first. Yeah. Mental health, which I know is Aldi's domain, but I will say that in general, I feel like everybody's mental health is in the pits now.
00:39:16
Speaker
of the underworld. And I think it has to do with just everything that's happening from a political standpoint. You know, we as SNMA, we do not, right, we're nonpartisan, we do not talk about um anything that could be polarizing to different communities. So of course, we want to make that clear when we talk about the situation, we are merely giving light to the victims who were killed here. And I don't think it necessarily matters about the background of whoever did it and and all the things that were interplaying. But I think in general, there's been a lot of violence happening across the country. And even here in in Providence, Rhode Island, right? i mean i don't know if we talked about the, I think we did talk about the Brown shootings on, um,
00:39:53
Speaker
An episode and we did. And, you know, me being at Brown for residency and of course being like a few steps away of it a literal mass casualty that affected my colleagues and affected the way that we now like move about in in the city. has been humbling to say the least. And I will say that these are things that continue to affect people's perception of safety and feeling like they are at one or in community with people that they live near, right? And people that they interact with because, i mean, these are people that could be right next door. You don't know who could be the perpetrator of these kinds of acts of violence. So I do just want to say that in general, I think it it it begs the question that we do need to be more empathetic. We need to be more understanding. We need to see each other as...
00:40:38
Speaker
as our quote unquote brother or sister's keeper. i know that can be difficult to do when a lot of us are different from each other. We have different backgrounds. We speak different languages. We look different. Of course, it feels it feels tempting to not want to connect with somebody that you don't share much in common with. But I think when you don't adopt that mentality, what happens is that we can easily kill one another and make each other feel unsafe. And we're all living in this earth together and we all have to share it together. So that's a part of our responsibility. So I would say that from a mental health health standpoint,
00:41:09
Speaker
We need to just try and be considerate of one another to help everybody out with whatever respective things they may be dealing with, either on a personal or societal level. um So that would be my kind of interpretation of things. But of course, Dr. Aldi, connoisseur of psychiatry and mental health, we want to hear what you have to say. hey man, don't put the pressure on me, man. I'm chilling, It all depends on you. We're in the last quarter. You got to... Now, thoughts on the second question I wanted to ask.
00:41:41
Speaker
Do you think that the tensions that we're experiencing right now will contribute to an increase? Well, will contribute to an increase in homegrown terrorism as a result of everything that's going on?
00:41:56
Speaker
Yeah, so um speaking to your first question with mental health, I think that trauma begets more trauma. What we are exposed to, what we see, what we smell, what we feel, our emotions are transferred from ah episodes of violence that we are connected to. And inherently, it may not be episodes of violence that were there and then present.
00:42:21
Speaker
But we witness through the news, through the conversations that people have. And so we have to take a spotlight on number one, gun violence in America. This has always been an issue.
00:42:34
Speaker
Unfortunately, ah at least on average daily, there's one mass shooting a day in 2026. And this has not changed every year. And there's something to say about, number one, accessibility. And number two, how are people also interpreting these experiences and how they feel and emotions surrounding this? And as Isabelle has mentioned, it could be very complicated and very variable based on our political um society today.
00:43:01
Speaker
But I think that people have to take time to... process and digest this information in a way that's feasible for them. Take time for yourself to heal.
00:43:12
Speaker
Sometimes you got to close a news app. Sometimes you got to turn your attention away from what's going on in the world. I hate to say that because it's right it could be disastrous to not know what's going on, but then it could be disastrous to know what's going on at the same time. So it's damn if you do, damn if you don't at the same time. But I do believe that us having these conversations are critical too at the same time in advocating for those who are surrounded by violence. And this is not unfortunately going to be the only time that this happens. I hate to say that. I wish that this would no longer happen in the history and the future of America.
00:43:46
Speaker
But we know that based on statistics. And even recently in um New York City, they detained two individuals who were ah slated to create a bomb around one of ah ah Mom Donnie's. ah He was about to do a speech. his His personal residence. Yep. Yeah. So and then um the FBI recently stated that in California that um a Iran was going to send over drones and ah and in and ah create havoc in and and hysteria and all these kind of things. So people on edge. I was on edge when I read that, you know. And so my internal turmoil is really high. My anxiety is really high. And I'm sure that people around the nation's anxiety is high. And so I want to commend everyone for still being present, still processing things in and the best way that they can. Know that there are resources available for you.
00:44:39
Speaker
Know that there is 988 as a resource. Know that you can get access through crisis support too as well. And talk to someone. If you got to present yourself to emergency department to get evaluated, Because you're highly anxious and you have access to mental health care. And that's another conversation we could talk about because I believe everybody in the United States should have mental health care for free. That should be at baseline there.
00:45:02
Speaker
But regardless, please provide safety and comfort for yourself and communicate what you're feeling. It is normal to not feel normal. It is normal to feel pain. It's normal to feel anxiety. It's normal to be depressed, especially in the environments that we're in. And I want to extend condolences the families that were affected by this. And I also want to extend grace to everyone that is, again, navigating this as successfully as they can. And please, please, please reach out to your resources.
00:45:33
Speaker
Absolutely. um Before we move on, i just wanted to illuminate a little bit more on the story. Yes. Yes. After conducting a search on the gunman's home. So the gunman ended up um inevitably taking his own life.
00:45:49
Speaker
After conducting a search on his home, they did find that he had a connection to Iran in the form of pictures and flags with Iranian leaders on them.
00:45:59
Speaker
yeah And so they're treating this as an act of homegrown terrorism. Yes. i simply mentioned that to ask how, as medical professionals, do we feel that this war is going to affect your ability to practice as well as your ability to protect your patient population from discrimination and prejudice?
00:46:24
Speaker
Mm-hmm. I feel it it's it's challenging, you know, um here in California where I'm i'm in ah Northern California and we have one of the largest Afghanistan ah refugee populations here in America. Actually, I think there's about 30 to 40,000 people. And then also Russians too. There's about 100,000 Russian people who live here as well.
00:46:47
Speaker
So it could be quite complicated and complex navigating that and you know even learning the culture, learning the systems that are here. But obviously as a psychiatry resident, I advocate for all my patients.
00:46:58
Speaker
I see them as human beings first and foremost. Not where they're from or, you know, like their particular religious affiliations, that that is not as important to me. What's important to me is treating the person as they are, as ah as ah as a, but as a, as a constellation of symptoms that need support, reinforcement and love, you know, and compassion and empathy.
00:47:21
Speaker
at the end of the day. And so um I feel it's gonna be very challenging for a specific physicians who have biases. And that's why we you know have to have these conversations. What are your biases like? And how does that affect your patients and the patient populations that you're seeing? you know If you're in an urban environment with diversity, that may be, and you come from a rural environment, that that may be politically or you know emotionally challenging for you if you have specific views about certain things. So I do foresee that health disparities will be exacerbated, to be honest.
00:47:54
Speaker
in many ways as as time goes on. And um I hope that we are able to curb a lot of these unfortunate circumstances by, again, reinforcing education, reinforcing conversation, dialogue, creating an openness, right? When we see our patients, you know, one of the first things for me is establishing a rapport and asking, how are they? How's their mood? How can I support them? Right. And making them feel safe, regardless, again, of where they're from. and i'm not trying to, you know, um talk about this on a political level, but as a human being level, as a connection, as ah as an establishment and a rapport that could provide something significant beyond what we expect or anticipate.
00:48:35
Speaker
um What's, you know, as ah as ah as as it pertains to ah the political chaos we're experiencing now. So that's kind of how I see things right now. Yeah, I think those are all like really good things for us to think about. And I'm glad that we had that conversation to really recenter ourselves back on what it means to be a fellow human being to another fellow human being and how we can show up for one another and kind of help prevent this chaotic situation.
Healthcare Access and Achievements of Black Women in Medicine
00:49:01
Speaker
environment that we've allowed to ensue because of the unsafety that a lot of people feel and maybe just the fact that we don't feel accountable for other people's actions and our own lives right or in their lives so um i will say you know in that same breath as we're talking about um honoring the people who were killed in the mass shooting in Austin. I also want to bring it back to another person who lost um their life. um That's more of a, from a public figure standpoint, um author Chimamanda Adichie, who lost her son, Nkanu Adichie Esege, through what was known to be medical negligence. It was an ongoing case that we initially talked about a couple episodes on the lounge and how it seems to be that Chimamanda was saying that the
00:49:46
Speaker
death of her, the death of her son likely occurred due to, um, denying oxygen to her son and also administering excessive sedation, the propofol that they had given him. um In that case, ah originally the hospital where this occurred, um which was UriCare in Lagos, um had denied any basically denied any um accountability as to the the harm that was ensued to her son.
00:50:13
Speaker
And now we have the most recent update, which is that the three doctors have been reprimanded for their actions and have officially been suspended. Yeah.
00:50:32
Speaker
but to our has confirmed suspensions and indicated that the physicians in question could actually permanently lose their licenses and so none of the physicians have commented thus far this is coming from bbc news um is our source um Once again, this did occur back in January 7. So a couple months ago, Chimamanda, if people do not know who she is, she is an award winning writer. She was known for writing Half of a Yellow Sun, Americana, um both books that I read and also a 2013 essay called We Should All Be Feminists. um She also, even with MusicWise, from Beyonce's track Flawless, um that little essay that was kind of set in the track actually was Chibamanda's speech, We Should All Be Feminists, and it was featured there. um So she is a very big voice around themes surrounding gender and immigration, um which has made her really a leading voice in post-colonial feminist literature. um But I will say just to kind of go back to the case um and these three doctors being suspended, um
00:51:25
Speaker
i don't know, what do you guys kind of think about first and foremost, the situation that's happened now, we've reached a point that the three doctors have been suspended. What does do you guys also feel like needs to be probably even made from a more, like I would say more a governmental level or societal level Nigeria kind of being up to date with how they are kind of conducting healthcare and maybe just health policies that are in place when it comes to medical malpractice. um So yeah, I'm curious to know what you guys' thoughts are about that.
00:51:56
Speaker
Healthcare care should be a given, it should be a right for every single human being on earth. Right. It should be a priority at the end of the day. And I feel like in countries like Nigeria and and obviously many countries across Africa in general, that is not, you know, we there's high rates of, um,
00:52:18
Speaker
you know mortality across a spectrum of many diseases, infectious diseases in specific, pneumonia, like things that we take for granted here, you know, like for instance, accessibility to antibiotics.
00:52:29
Speaker
You know, oftentimes even for my mom, she'll ah send ah medications home because people don't have the bread to just show up to the ED and get provided it for it, unfortunately. And so, again, these conversations need to be had about where are we investing our resources? Where are particular countries? oh Is it important to them?
00:52:49
Speaker
You know, is it important that people have access? Because it seems like it's not, you know. And so um I think it's, again, an unfortunate circumstance with this child. And, you know again, extend condolences. And it shows also that no matter along the lines of how rich, how powerful, how...
00:53:08
Speaker
um recognize you may be, you can still suffer from in accessibility to resources and and healthcare care in in this in this in this state of affairs that's going on in our world. And so, yeah, it's just unfortunate. And um yeah I just hope that things can change based off of what has transpired for her and for the constituents of Nigeria and Africa in general that we band together and say this is wrong. And yeah children in particular should be afforded the right to healthcare. care
00:53:41
Speaker
I agree. Yeah, I think Golden said it really well. um
00:53:48
Speaker
medical care should be a right, not a privilege. It shouldn't be something that is determined by, especially in dire circumstances, shouldn't be something that's determined by access to funds or funding or status or anything like that.
00:54:02
Speaker
If you have somebody in front of you and you have the ability, should be able to treat them. um In terms of Nigeria's infrastructure, I can tell i can't say much too much about it. I'm not too familiar.
00:54:13
Speaker
But it seems as though they have the proper judiciary bodies in place to reprimand people that have these things go on. So hopefully they can put the regulatory bodies in place to, to encourage
00:54:32
Speaker
better practices or practices that I'll say are more patient centered, more centered around taking care first and handling everything else later, you know? Yeah, I agree with that. Yeah. um Yeah, I think that, you know, definitely highlights, like, and I like what you said, Aldwin, the whole aspect of like, it it doesn't matter how much money you make, it doesn't matter how famous you are you can still be a victim to these horrible things happening to you when you are in an under-resourced nation. Even with her being to Amanda, even with people knowing who she is, they didn't,
00:55:08
Speaker
take the necessary precautions to really hone in on, hey, like we have this woman's child. We have to do best by them. you know And it may have been other things that could have gone on that maybe they didn't account for. It could just be, once again, the failings of things that are kind of slipping through the cracks because no one actually ever addressed it. And now that you have someone who's of power, who now this is affected by, because we um I can only imagine all the other people who have been affected by this who don't, no one knows anything about them and they have suffered, but no one cares because they're not someone of power.
00:55:41
Speaker
of prestige or they're not someone who's public facing. And so I think it just, it it just kind of begs the question again of like, we have to care about one another, like be accountable for our actions and and hold people to that higher standard, especially when it comes to what's happening in ah in a nation as big as Nigeria, which we call ourselves African giant and look at what we have to show. anyway, um it's something, you know, that, that definitely, we, you know, definitely, um,
00:56:10
Speaker
is something we can all learn from, i guess, that experience. And just also be grateful that we do have access to, I would say, healthcare of a higher standard where, not to say that these things clearly don't happen in America, but hopefully we have even more regulatory bodies that can kind of help to prevent these kinds of failings. So yeah, definitely something to think about. But, you know, once again, rest in peace, Chimamanda's son, Nkano Adichie Sege,
00:56:34
Speaker
Um, Chuan does a big, a big person within the literary world as a black woman. And thankfully I'm happy to highlight, um, prominent, uh, women particularly black women as it is, it was international. I believe it was international women's day that fell this month. Um, we just had our international women's day, uh, kicking it in the lounge episode where Jared and do maybe actually talks to, um, a family medicine resident physician who's a black woman. And so, you know, we're still in the theme and the spirit of, highlighting prominent black women in medicine so to kind of lead into that um black women have historically transformed medicine despite systemic barriers we can start with it's it month all march oh all march period okay so you're right it is woman's month what why am i playing as if i don't know that as a woman i'm playing It is very much Women's Month, all March. We left Black History Month in February. I was still riding on that, and I forgot that it's still my time. It's still my time to shine. Okay? So, you know, we we'll we'll get right into that. But yeah, so Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumper is one, of course, person we definitely have to highlight. She was the first Black female physician in 1864, And we still have other pioneers who came after her, such as Dr. Patricia Bath, who was the first laser cataract.
00:57:49
Speaker
um She performed the first laser cataract surgery. She was an ophthalmologist. We have other modern leaders like Dr. Kismika Corbett, who helped to establish the COVID-19 vaccine. I actually remember watching her on the news when she was talking about the vaccine developments, a very beautiful Black woman. and highly educated. And then Dr. Alice Stanford, who um was in involved in the COVID-19 health equity advancements in public health. um And then, you know, and then we have the list goes on and on. We have Dr. Marilyn Hughes-Gaston, who led a study on sickle cell disease that established national screening programs in the nineteen eighty s We have um
00:58:21
Speaker
Dr. Jocelyn Elders, who was the first African-American to serve as U.S. Surgeon General um back in 1993. um And then we have Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, the first woman president and dean of Morehouse School of Medicine, um which you may know her even more personally, Aldwin, because you were at Morehouse um for your master's and even did a little bit of your – oh, no no, just for your master's. You went to Mary for your fit your FM training. Yeah. You're very much, you've gone through all major a lot of HBCUs. I know you.
00:58:48
Speaker
Damn, Shawty trying to blame me. She said I'm an HBCU thought. that I love that. what you As someone who's HBCU alum, you don't think I love and respect that? Of course, that's something to be proud of. What are we talking about? Well-traveled.
00:59:02
Speaker
Well-traveled. We love that for you. And then, hmm? On the call. Okay. All right. Hold on now. we're all the moms What do you mean? Oh, that oh yeah oh i thought I thought you said, sorry, I didn't hear that last. right I don't know why I thought you were still throwing shade. Okay. Yeah, you're right. You're right. We were all HBC alums on this call. oh you this segment You're safe during this segment.
00:59:25
Speaker
Okay, okay. i'm a little I told you I'm a little bit on edge after the last thing that was said a couple minutes ago, so I still got my guard up a little bit. Yeah.
00:59:36
Speaker
Yeah. And then Dr. Mae Jeminson, I definitely don't want to um ah miss her. She was physician and the first Black woman to travel in space, so that's a huge deal. um So just so many amazing Black women um that we've just now highlighted um and particularly want to highlight this month. And so I just want to ask you guys, of course, as Black men, who I hope and belief support black women but you know based on what you guys have told me and shown me through all the years that i've known you because i've known these two for a while now um i do think they do support black women so you know i'll give them that ah but no but what are ways you guys think that we can continue to actually honor black women in medicine more than just in the month of march as it pertains to women's history month and in general how do you guys feel like black women physicians have played um a huge role at least within the development of the medical field
01:00:24
Speaker
Continue to celebrate them, speak about them, support them, um confide in them. I mean, many of the names on this list, like I have been empowered by Dr. Mae Jemms. I wanted to be a physician astronaut. And so when I saw that she went up into space, I was like, that's super fire. And she's still paving away now in the biomedical space now, no longer a physician. So she's a trailblazer in a subsect of science that we don't necessarily associate with science.
01:00:52
Speaker
right black woman in general. Dr. Regina Benjamin as well. She's giving talks at Morehouse School of Medicine. I've met Dr. Ayla Stanford at um at AMAC, actually. I think it was in Philly, I believe.
01:01:03
Speaker
um She's a surgeon. And then Dr. Rice I've met in person as well. So a lot of these trailblazers is just like super fire. And you know, at the end of the day, like that there's so much history that we do know about, but there's also a lot of black women in medicine that aren't celebrated or talked about. And I feel like We need to constantly, you know, reinforce the thought of them. Dr. Metta Christie was the first black woman at DO and a black woman to attend um Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in the early as well. I think it like 1921. She graduated from the med school. So um with that being said, like, I'm so appreciative of all the black women in medicine and all the advances that have been made. And I'm constantly urged to like really promote what has been done from ah a modern perspective and also from a historical perspective as a person who loves history. I think that we could need to continue to usher in ah new faces, but also identify and celebrate old faces as well, because our foundation for the future is based in the past. And so by reiterating and reinforcing this, we are only going to be able to galvanize our communities individually. and galvanize the the people that we want to um take care of and and and lead a wonderful future for.
01:02:22
Speaker
So, yeah that's how i feel about that. To answer your question, Isabella, how can we um further support them? o More Black men need to get into and complete medical school.
01:02:37
Speaker
That's a fact. Because... And, do you know, I'm sure that everybody has personal experiences that can go with this. More of us being present to support one another always yields good things.
01:02:54
Speaker
Yep. So I'm a personally hold myself to it. I'm a hold whatever mentees I have to it. Mm hmm. How can we continue to support the the bolstering number of black women that are getting into and finishing medical school? cause y'all are killing it.
01:03:13
Speaker
We get in and finish ourselves so that when it comes time to ah have someone in the room to stand up for you or give you a second voice or, you know, clarify something that may have been misunderstood. Yeah. where We're standing up for an equal, you know?
01:03:37
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. I agree with that. I love that take. That's really a unique angle, but makes a lot of sense. Happy Women's History Month. Shout out to all the amazing Black women in medicine and hopefully me as a fellow Black woman in medicine and Black woman physician. I hope that I can only...
01:03:56
Speaker
like achieve a quarter of what these women have achieved in their careers in their lives so shout out to them ah you will and you will do it i will say as uh your friend since you started medical school i think you're doing a darn good job amazing we're so proud of you happy women i love you guys thank you or history you are future thank you so much i appreciate it have you guys ever ended nism Yes.
01:04:27
Speaker
Have you ever heard of tendonism? You know I'll be throwing down on the grill. Personally, for me, I have not heard thought of it, but I'm interested to know what it means. I will say that. So, Isabella, I'm so so glad you asked. Tendonism is that fall-off-the-bone quality that some slow-cooked meat may have. You know, we was in St. Louis last year for AMEC, and we we stopped by a little bar. were Damn, man, i missed that. That might have all off the bone meat. Some meat that's been cooked so slow and so tender that you pick up the bone and it just goes. I'm screaming.
01:05:04
Speaker
I'm screaming. tendonism and that term tendonism has been coined by Walter Johnson senior an employee that worked at destination smokehouse in California so he's an open gentleman who takes to social media and he got popularity very quick by
01:05:26
Speaker
talking to the camera looking at you shaking the meat shaking the bone just a little bit just a little bit that meat fall off the seriousness in that man's face when he said that's tenderness right there I'm screaming when he tells you that you can't you can't fake no cooking like that you can't fake no no so no down south Texas cook that's Texas barbecue right there well he coined the term tenderness And now take it to the streets to ah share his tendinism with the world.
Viral Social Media Moments
01:06:03
Speaker
So he was working at Destination Smokehouse. Many people don't know. As an employee, most people assume that he was the owner of the restaurant because he was featured so prominently in all of their social media campaigns. Well, it turns out that another gentleman was actually the ah the owner.
01:06:18
Speaker
And he was not really cutting Unk in. I'm going to be calling him Unk from this point on. um has just not really cut Unk in on the proceeds from the ah enormous stream of people that were coming in following his tendinism videos.
01:06:35
Speaker
So Unk did two things. First, he quit his job at Destination Smokehouse. He cut ties with them. He put out a little video saying Yo, I won't be working here no more. I'm out of this. I'll be moving on to bigger, better, more tender things.
01:06:48
Speaker
Okay, cool. Number one, that's number one. Number two, he went and filed the patent for the phrase tendinism so that he could ah officially use it, coin it, ah make merch, distribute it, and things of that nature. And this is one of the ah more heartwarming stories that I've seen come out Black community business-wise in a little bit.
01:07:11
Speaker
As soon as Unc started to go viral for tendonism, a black attorney chose to purchase the patent for the phrase. and it he he He now owns it. He's the only one to make money off of it.
01:07:27
Speaker
a and then he didn't do a thing he simply waited for unc to come and ask him for it and he handed it over to him generously just to make sure that it stayed in the community a and i thought that was beautiful love that i think that's great yep and maybe we can go yeah i think that's that's great i mean i think it's great way for us to highlight like the importance of people making sure to own the credit of what they have made and making sure that, you know, all the patents, trademarks, whatever you need to do, if whatever you've created, you establish that, especially as a business owner. So I think that is something.
01:08:10
Speaker
um Yeah. And so that's a story from the ah brighter side of social media and business. And on the sillier side, McDonald's also released a ah ah social media promotion.
01:08:26
Speaker
I think they're having a new burger and they decided to put their CEO in front of cameras in a very well lit room where he was given the opportunity to indulge in the burger.
01:08:38
Speaker
By chance, have you guys seen it?
01:08:42
Speaker
I ain't gonna lie. I didn't, but I'm gonna let you, I don let you promote it. You know what I'm saying? Let me paint it in my mind. Good man. I'll paint you a word. Thank you, sir. The CEO sits down.
01:08:55
Speaker
He looks ever so awkward. He opens the box and gives it a good look. He takes the burger, has one single bite,
01:09:06
Speaker
He a whole bunch of stuff about the crispy onions and how he doesn't, oh, I don't even know where to bite. It all looks so good. takes little bite.
01:09:15
Speaker
Tiny bite. Like, you can see, like, like it's so social media immediately honed in on this, and they, like, you know started zooming in on the teeth marks, and they were like, yo, like, it's okay, bro. Like, it's it's your company. You can have some more. Like, it's it's it's cool, you know?
01:09:28
Speaker
and I'm not going to say he looked like he was in pain. He just looked like everything about that bite was completely novel experience to him. He looked like he don't he ain't never taste the burger. He don't eat McDonald's at all.
01:09:43
Speaker
And he is simply... You know, he just got on camera just trying to, you know, promote. And it completely backfired. It completely backfired. It backfired so much that when he's in Burger King, CEOs actually hopped on camera and made parodies where they're like, oh, yeah, oh, yeah. You see... you know, like Burger King got the Whopper. They're like, oh yeah, this flame grilled Whopper.
01:10:02
Speaker
Yeah, I can, you know, take a good bite because it's it's fresh, never frozen meat and stuff like that. But um no, that McDonald's CEO, he he needed to take a lesson from Unk in terms of ah social media marketing because that was not it. That was not it.
01:10:17
Speaker
um But yeah, man, I think it's just a ah a nasty little reflection and reminder that like, These CEOs will peddle this food day in, day out.
01:10:29
Speaker
They won't, you know, make any major changes to the to the r to the formula recipe or like the the ingredients that are being used to make it more, not even palatable because it's already extremely palatable.
01:10:44
Speaker
They won't make it more...
01:10:48
Speaker
Unique? Tastier? Not even unique. Just, I can't say healthier. They won't make it just better. They won't make it more real. uped it yes they won They won't optimize it for large consumption of Americans. You know what I'm saying?
01:11:04
Speaker
And I think that it's it was, it his face to me said, it's difficult for me to indulging this deeply knowing the kinds of things that I put in it, you know?
01:11:15
Speaker
oh Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So just, just on that, this is more of a jokier topic for sure, but what what do you guys think?
01:11:25
Speaker
I mean, I don't have anything in particular really like to say. I think it it's it's an interesting topic and I'm glad that you kind of broke it down for us. And honestly, I now know Mr. Tenenism and I will continue to know him, um even if it I initially didn't think I would ever know him. um And I think, you know, the business, especially the what business would I call this? The restaurant business. It's more interesting than I thought.
01:11:48
Speaker
And I think I'll leave it. I'll leave it at that. Yeah, honestly, ah it's a reminder. i would be interested to see like with the CEO, like how often does he eat burgers like his own burgers from McDonald's? Because oftentimes many of these places, many of these people, they CEOs, they have these extravagant dinners. They're not even eating a product that they're promoting.
01:12:09
Speaker
And in my opinion, it's poisonous, you know, to our bodies, poisonous to our mental state. as we'll talk about shortly. But at then the end of the day, you know, hey, y'all getting y'all bread. So I guess kudos to y'all, but no kudos for our communities because it seems like they they're going to make some more bread off of and capitalize it off of our pain. I just love when a Twitter can make a mockery of somebody with that kind of position. It was it was very entertaining very entertaining. Please take a look if you get the chance.
01:12:45
Speaker
I'm going get back to you, brother. speaking of diet, you know, is it's interesting enough. we we spoke about McDonald's, but this month is National Nutrition Month, and that there's National Nutrition Day.
01:13:02
Speaker
So, y'all got to be mindful. You are what you eat. And National Nutrition Month is an annual March campaign established by the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in 1973. And the theme this year is Discover the Power of Nutrition, which is focused on building sustainable wellness habits.
01:13:23
Speaker
And um we have a new food pyramid, thanks to RFK Jr. It's a flip our of our old pyramid. And the new recommendations move grains to the base and elevate protein, dairy, and healthy fats to the largest section at this present time.
01:13:39
Speaker
Now, the added suggestion is there's no safe amount of added sugar, seed oils are criminal. And the new pyramid is very keen on full fat dairy.
01:13:51
Speaker
Pediatricians are weighing in and Connecticut Children, actually hospital, emphasize that healthy eating should focus on balance rather than strict new and potentially confusing rules.
01:14:04
Speaker
So with that being said, although it's National Nutrition Month, there's quite a bit of controversy based off of this new pyramid scheme. And I think it's very interesting. um I wanted to bring some topics as it pertains to mental wellness. You know, nutritional psychiatry is a thing. And so large population studies have shown that people eat diets rich in whole foods, vegetables, fruits, fish, and whole grains actually have low rates of depression and anxiety.
01:14:33
Speaker
It's compared those with highly processed diets. And we know the gut-brain access rate. So 90% of serotonin, which is implicated depression, is connected to your gut microbe. So there's bacteria in the food that you eat. And depending on where you are around the world, you'll have different bacteria, microbiota as well. But also that microbiota responds to stress.
01:14:56
Speaker
It responds to a variety of other things that can change your levels of serotonin. So right make your mutt gut microbiota happy by eating probiotic foods, by eating foods that are low in acidity, that allow them to flourish, thrive and feel like they could do the job they need to do at the end of the day.
01:15:17
Speaker
And it also is very important for us to have increased amounts of absorption of omega-3 fatty acids, which you could get in salmon. And omega-3 fatty acids are a basis for our brains and nerve cells, vitamin B, B12, and folate in specific. Magnesium, which is very hard to acquire nowadays. And a lot of people have magnesium deficiencies because apparently we don't till the soil enough. And so the magnesium is not allowed to be embedded in the soil. And, you know, when we're getting our nutrients, we're lacking the magnesium iron and zinc as well, which could also contribute to mood disorders and cognitive deficits as well. So that's kind of like the basics of nutritional psychiatry and nutrition. Remember, you are what you eat.
01:16:03
Speaker
So eat right. And you can feel right.
01:16:09
Speaker
Of course, our daily motivational... closeout from Dr. Alden Sumare, resident psychiatrist and now resident nutritionalist. You know what? I love this new title for you. i think you should keep it on ah for that appreciate you for the rest of your career. With that being said, thank you guys for tuning in That is our show. Thank you so much. I love you guys, man. Thank you for hanging in on this episode, baby, of the lounge.
01:16:37
Speaker
Let us know your thoughts about the discussions we had today or ask us a question for a chance to be featured on the show by emailing us at podcast at snma.org. Be sure to follow the SNMA on all of our social media platforms to stay up to date on upcoming events and be sure to catch us at AMEC 2026 in both Pittsburgh, you guys. Bye. Peace.