Academic Medicine Podcast

Discussing the unique role of the nocturnist, or the night shift clinician, in academic medicine, are Jessica Chambers, MD, MPH, Alex Rittenberg, MD, and John George, MD. They offer opportunities for pursuing scholarship related to night medicine and challenges to doing so as a nocturnist. And they emphasize the importance of collaborative, inclusive, and flexible professional development for building a successful academic career. Read the article discussed and access the episode transcript at academicmedicineblog.org.

We do not always rage against the dying of the light. Sometimes, we allow the light to fade gently, with grace, in the presence of love. Nezienwa Ezenwa reflects on a patient who demonstrated that medicine is not just about defying death. It is about honoring life. This essay placed first in the 2025 Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest and was published in the December 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.

Something shifted after that conversation. It wasn't a dramatic overnight change, but it was there—the slightest flicker of fight in him again. He started pushing himself a little more, engaging in physical therapy instead of just going through the motions. He cracked a joke with the nurses. Roz Agheli reflects on a patient who was kept alive by medicine but kept fighting because of hope. This essay placed first in the 2025 Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest and was published in the December 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.

Discussing Academic Medicine's and MedEdPORTAL's new policy guiding the use of AI tools in the peer review process are editors-in-chief Laura Roberts, MD, MA, and Lauren Maggio, PhD, MS(LIS), Academic Medicine associate editor Krisztina Fischer, MD, PhD, MMSc, and AAMC director of journals Mary Beth DeVilbiss. They provide an overview of the journals' new policy and use a series of common peer review scenarios to explore what's appropriate, what's not, and what you should think about before using AI as a reviewer. Check out the resources discussed, including the journals' AI policies for reviewers and authors, and access the episode transcript at academicmedicineblog.org.

Mrs. Jones didn't need a cure. She needed a witness to her grief—someone to sit with her in the silence, to validate the love she had for her husband and the life they built. She needed to be heard. Christine Dianne Nepomuceno reflects on a patient who taught her that healing is not always about medicine. Sometimes it is about holding space for someone in their most vulnerable moments. This essay placed second in the 2025 Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest and was published in the November 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.

Dora taught me that care is not just found in grand gestures or lifesaving procedures. It is in the quiet moments when someone chooses to listen, to sit beside another in their suffering, and to act when no one else will. Maria Jose Gomez reflects on a patient who taught her that compassion does not require a title, a degree, or authority.  This essay placed second in the 2025 Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest and was published in the November 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.

In the fast-paced world of health care, it's easy to focus on numbers, treatments, and protocols. But humanism requires us to pause, to listen, to acknowledge the fears, hopes, and humanity of our patients. Vonnie Cesar reflects on learning that listening is not just a skill—it is a form of healing. This essay placed third in the 2025 Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest and was published in the October 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.

Discussing new research into how the physical and social context of the clinical learning environment shape power dynamics and influence equity in assessment for residents are author Hannah Kakara Anderson, PhD, MBA, Research in Medical Education Committee member Binbin Zheng, PhD, MEd, and AAMC MedEdSCHOLAR Nicole Findlay, MD, MPH. Empowering clinician educators to actively address the forces of space, place, and pace, they argue, can help promote a more equitable learning and assessment environment.  Read the article discussed and access the episode transcript at academicmedicineblog.org.

Our stories make us human and shape the doctors we become. Yet, we rarely let our pasts show from beneath our white coats. Sydney Katz reflects on how little trainees and attendings know about one another outside of the hospital. The essay read in this episode was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the December 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.

Although discussions about language services like interpreters or translators, patient–provider concordance, and linguistic equity merit much greater consideration, I can offer one reflection: the human connection we all share is more important than the languages we do not. Akila V. Muthukumar reflects on building a connection with patients when using phone interpreter services to communicate. The essay read in this episode was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the November 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.

When I am in the hospital, there is at least a semblance of humanity. In a room with a patient, there is the possibility of the unexpected. Alone with my computer, there is only the ruthless pursuit of the correct, and the colorful pie chart of my inadequacy. Anna Dovre reflects on how studying for medical board exams feels like a process of denaturing. The essay read in this episode was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the November 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.

As I brought the blade to the patient, I tried to infer the right depth, weight, and speed by matching to my pictured recollection of all the other incisions I had seen—an act, perhaps, akin to Ansel Adams's technique of photographic previsualization. Benjamin A. Freeman reflects on how studying photography can be beneficial to medical education. The essay read in this episode was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the November 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.

My hope is that, by learning to recognize how physicians interface with injustice in systems early in their training, learners will be better prepared to navigate and, when necessary, defy these systems throughout their careers. Juliana E. Morris reflects on the importance of talking openly with students and involving them in decision-making while volunteering at a medical student-run asylum clinic. The essay read in this episode was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the October 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.

In the years since this experience ... I have sought to encourage trainees and students to reorient their focus from patient outcomes as a referendum on their competency and to focus instead on the process-based thinking preceding them and to try to make space for the mystery between. Benjamin W. Frush reflects on the perils of an outcome-focused culture in medicine. The essay read in this episode was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the October 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.

Discussing a new study into how medical student parents navigate their dual identities as physicians-in-training and parents are author Emily Carroll, MD, MEHP, Research in Medical Education Committee member Gary Beck Dallaghan, PhD, and AAMC MedEdSCHOLAR Kiani Gardner, PhD. They also explore how medical schools can foster an inclusive learning environment for these learners.  Read the article discussed and access the episode transcript at academicmedicineblog.org.

I never saw Andrew after that night, but I think of him often. I hope that our interaction played a small part in getting him the care he needed. Sujal Manohar reflects on the  importance of digging deeper into a patient’s social history by expanding past the typical questions. The essay read in this episode was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the September 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.

Discussing a new study that explores medical student learning during interprofessional interactions in clinical clerkships are author Kelsey Miller, MD, EdM, Research in Medical Education (RIME) Committee member Bonny Dickinson, PhD, MS-HPEd, and AAMC MedEdSCHOLAR Kelvin Pollard, MD. They explore the “lore” about working with other health professionals that medical students learn from their peers during clerkships and how interprofessional interactions shape students’ professional identity, autonomy and collaboration skills, and sense of their role on the health care team. Read the article discussed and access the episode transcript at academicmedicineblog.org.

For the first time, we began to understand not just their bodies and illnesses but their lives as joyful parents, enthusiastic musicians, expert race car mechanics, and loving spouses.  David Deshpande reflects on the Service of Gratitude and the lessons learned from anatomy donors and their families. The essay read in this episode was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the September 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.

We are taught to think about what needs to be done in order for our patient to go home when we are on the wards, yet there is no care meeting, discharge coordinator, or bed huddle in academic medicine. Julia Meade reflects on the difficulty of knowing when to retire from academic medicine. The essay read in this episode was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the August 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.

Throughout my medical training, I vow to make an effort to actively pursue each patient’s full story. To cleave only the fragments of their existence that anchor them to the hospital room leaves behind parts of our patients, invisible and abandoned. Madeline Blatt reflects on the importance of imagining and investigating the version of the patient who lives outside of the hospital after being discharged. The essay read in this episode was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the July 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.