ÈËÆÞÖгöÊÓƵ

Bushra: Hi, everybody. We are "Bundle of Hers" podcast consisting of myself, Bushra Hussein, Leen Samha, Harjit Kaur, and Margaux Miller.

Margaux: And for those of you who haven't taken cardiac anatomy or physiology, the Bundle of His is an electrical conducting system in the heart. So we've changed that to be the Bundle of Hers.

Bushra: Yep.

Harjit: Okay, so the mission of our podcast. So we really want to explore medicine through stories and narratives. We hope to hear from people and also our own thoughts about medicine and things relating to that. We hope that these stories will then be a tool for learning and growth and empowerment both of ourselves and our listeners.

Bushra: I think, basically, we're just trying to make it as less boring as possible. Because I know when I'm sitting in a lecture hall, I tend to doze off. So we're not going to do that to you guys.

Margaux: If you go to lecture.

Bushra: Good point.

Leen: Which is important, people.

Bushra: Leen is the one that always goes to the lectures. So there's that. She's a lectured truther.

Leen: Sometimes. So our goals for this podcast are we want to provide a voice for underrepresented women as well as an outlet for medical students. You know, as a medical student, especially as a first-year, I can tell you that I've reached out to all my older peers in the sense of MS2s, MS3s, and we're always asking them questions on how to do this, how to do that. So we're hoping this will be an outlet for you guys. We're also hoping this will be a resource for medical students' success as well.

Bushra: Yeah. You, basically, are going to learn from our mistakes from first-year because I know I made a couple.

Harjit: Oh, we made a lot of mistakes.

Bushra: But you know what? If you don't make those mistakes, you won't learn from them. Am I right, ladies?

Harjit: Yes.

Margaux: Medical students tend to be perfectionists, so hopefully you'll be comfortable with being uncomfortable. And that's pretty much the first lesson of medical school.

Harjit: So we're looking forward to . . .

Margaux: Sharing our experiences with you all.

Bushra: And we finish each other's sentences too. It's like a superpower.

Leen: We're just so cute.

Bushra: And not to toot our own horn or anything, but damn. You know, as hard as medicine or med school is, I think there's also a lot of fun to be had too, and kind of figuring out your people, your tribe. You know what I mean? I found my girls here, so I hope you guys can too.

Margaux: Truth.

Leen: I would never go back to chemistry.

Bushra: I don't think anybody is interested in chemistry. Yeah. Chemistry is not a . . .

Harjit: Leen is because it moves the world.

Bushra: Yeah, that's true. My bad, Leen. I didn't mean to diminish your chemistry background.

Harjit: So now a little bit more about us.

Margaux: Hey, y'all. My name is Margaux Miller. Margaux is spelled the French way with an "aux." And, by the way, I'm the tallest. I grew up here in Salt Lake City where my parents helped foster my love of the outdoors. We were always hiking and camping and biking, all of these fun things.

But my dad is a doctor here at the U, and growing up, one of my strong memories is that I went to a patient's house with him and we helped her sort a bunch of her pills into a pill box. And this mix of compassion and science is really what has attracted me into the field of medicine.

I carried this passion with me on to Colorado College where I was sure I was going to major in biology. However, my sophomore year, the 2008 recession hit and I took an intro to economics class to better understand the financial environment.

In this class, I actually learned that you can apply abstract economic theory to healthcare related topics, like HIV epidemics and addiction. I knew that biology was going to be my profession and my lifelong career, so I chose to major in economics and business.

After college, I went to Colorado State ÈËÆÞÖгöÊÓƵ to get a master's degree in biomedical science and finish my pre-med prerequisites. And then I moved down to Texas with my partner, who is also in business, and he wanted to work in tech. So we moved to Austin while I applied to medical school, and there I worked in a neuroscience research lab at the ÈËÆÞÖгöÊÓƵ of Texas.

I applied to medical school three times. So persistence is key. At first, the rejection was really hard, but I didn't let it get me down. I kept applying. And, finally, third time was the charm. I got in.

So I just wanted to let you all know that persistence is key and don't let it get you down. If you really want to go into medicine, you will make it happen.

I was also really glad for the extra time I had in applying these three years for the extra work and life experience I got. From being the only woman working in that research lab to volunteering at a community clinic for low-income people, I really realized that there's a need for a voice for underrepresented people. And that's one of my main motivations for wanting to do this podcast.

Here in medical school, I've made this great group of friends, and we have amazing conversations, not only about school but also about our own cultures, our own personal triumphs and struggles. And I wanted to share these stories with the broader community. I think there's a really important message behind them. So I hope you enjoy.

Bushra: Hi, guys. My name is Bushra. I'm definitely not the tallest, so there's that. I'm also a medical student here at the ÈËÆÞÖгöÊÓƵ of Utah School of Medicine. And just to kind of give you guys a background about myself, I grew up in Utah, but I was born in Somalia, which is a country in East Africa on the Horn of Africa. Look it up if you don't know what it looks like.

So I grew up in Rose Park, which is a little area of Salt Lake. So my family have lived in Rose Park for upwards of 14 years, and I went to school there. I went to West High with a couple of our classmates actually. And then I got to college somehow, some way. I was lucky enough to get a scholarship, a full-ride scholarship, to the ÈËÆÞÖгöÊÓƵ of Utah, which was kind of nice coming from an underprivileged background.

Just a little fun fact, I come from a family of seven siblings, so I don't know how my mom did it, but she did. So when I started college, I didn't know what I was going to do. I didn't know what career I was going to pursue. So what better chance to explore what I wanted to do for the rest of my life than to be in college? And so I just started taking a bunch of different classes.

And, you know, a little pro tip is to take classes that actually fulfill requisites for graduation that everybody needs to take. And so you get a little piece of everything.

I landed on International Studies as my major, and International Studies, I think, kind of spoke to me because it piqued different interests of mine. I got to take history classes, politics. I got to take language classes. I minored in Spanish because of that, and I got to study abroad, which is awesome. I would recommend it to all students.

I ended up coming here to the ÈËÆÞÖгöÊÓƵ of Utah School of Medicine because I got in touch with the program called the LEAP ÈËÆÞÖгöÊÓƵ Sciences program, which kind of is a guide for people who are interested in the health field, whether it be PA school, medicine, nursing, and it kind of sets you in contact with research opportunities, with volunteer opportunities, with shadowing, all those things that you need to apply to medical school.

As far as why I'm doing this podcast, apart from spending time with my friends here, I think it's important to kind of get our ideas out in the open because our ideas aren't uniform and we don't, you know, come from the same paths. And so it's kind of interesting to see our differences for what they are and talk through those things in a meaningful way. And I think this podcast will definitely give us the opportunity to do that.

Harjit: Hi, my name is Harjit Kaur. That's H-A-R-J-I-T. The I makes an E sound and Kaur like the apple "core." I was born in a small village in India, in Punjab, and I migrated to the United States when I was 3 years old. I grew up in West Valley City, Utah, and I went to Granger High School. For those of you that live in Utah, you know what that is.

So I attended the ÈËÆÞÖгöÊÓƵ of Utah to do my undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering. And the reason I chose that major is because I knew from a very young age that I was interested in medicine.

My parents worked really long hours to establish themselves in this country. So I would stay home and watch TV, and I loved the PBS channel. And there was a documentary series about a heart surgeon, and I just remember looking into that screen and seeing a heart surgeon and thinking that's the coolest thing I've ever seen in my whole life.

I also had the opportunity to translate for my parents when they would go on appointments. They both have chronic illnesses and that really, really got me interested in the field.

So back to why I did bioengineering is because I thought it was the closest major to medicine. Bioengineers create devices, pharmaceutics, and also any diagnostic tools that doctors use. So I thought it was really cool that I got the opportunity to explore those interests before going into medical school to make sure that I'm choosing the right career, as it is a long journey.

I then applied to the ÈËÆÞÖгöÊÓƵ of Utah Medical School. And the reason I chose to apply to the school is because of my background in bioengineering. I knew the research is a strong point and that's something the school represents.

Also, during my admission time, I noticed that this school really wanted to know who I was as a person, and I think that's what really struck me. I think very rarely are there people that have the time to want to know who you are and what your motivations are. Many of us are very successful and we can get good grades, we can do well on tests, but I think really understanding who a person is, is something that really spoke to me.

So the reason I am doing this podcast is actually for several reasons. First of all, I'm working with people I admire, who have really been a part of my growth this past year in medical school, and I hope to continue growing with them.

Also, I have always noticed that there are many times that people's voices are missing from the conversation, and I think this is my way of taking action for that. I think that I have important things to share. I think people around us have important things to share, but sometimes they're just not asked the questions or given the opportunity.

And when I was presented with this opportunity, I made sure I took it because, for a selfish reason, I also want to grow as well. And I hope to grow by hearing other people's stories, hearing my own thoughts as they're verbalized. And I am really excited to share this journey with you.

Leen: Hey. My name is Leen Samha. I'm a medical student here at the U. I was born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, before moving to Cedar about 17 years ago, but I'm originally from Palestine.

And so I decided to pursue a bachelor's in chemistry. Everyone said, "It's because your dad is a chemistry professor." I said, "No. There's much more to that. Why would I put myself through that suffering?" So I actually decided to do chemistry because I found it interesting to see how the world moves on such a microscopic level and then is affected on a macroscopic level. And I just thought that was fascinating. The things that we don't see are the things that affect us every day.

Some of my hobbies, I love to sing. I love to play video games. I love to play Pokémon Go. I love to talk and hang out and stay up late at night. That's just things I do.

Why I'm in medical school? So as a young kid who came from Palestine, I . . . Palestine is a country that's been under turmoil for so long, and I've seen family members and communities and familiar places come under turmoil. And I've always wondered, "Where are the leaders? And why is nobody talking?" And from what I found out, from what I could see, is it's always the physicians that bring a peace of mind, a peace of stability to a community when it's under turmoil. And I said, "You know, that's something I have to do."

The more I started experiencing healthcare in Palestine, I started also experiencing healthcare in rural Utah, and I realized how similar they were. Both communities are under immense stress when there is no healthcare available. And it was physicians who brought stability both in rural areas and in Palestine.

So from a young age, I decided I had to be a doctor, and I started collecting stickers, because that's what doctors do when you're a pediatrician. They give you stickers. So I collected all sorts of stickers and tattoos thinking I would one day give them out to my patients.

And I decided to come to the ÈËÆÞÖгöÊÓƵ of Utah because being from both Cedar City and Palestine, I feel that it's my job to build a bridge here in Utah between my two communities. I feel like we need to . . . instead of standing on both ends of a bridge on two sides of a river, we need to finally cross it and come together and see how much similarities we have.

So I decided to do this podcast, in part, because wearing headphones and talking into a mic looks super professional and I love it. And I've always wanted to be a singer, so this just makes it feel more real. And also because this is a great way to get our voices heard.

Harjit: So Margaux put this mic in front of me, so I think I'm the one who's going to be closing off this podcast. I hope that you guys are excited about this podcast as much as we are and you've learned a little bit more about ourselves. We're excited to share this journey with you. We're excited to learn from you and also grow with you. And it's really important that you push the subscribe button. So please subscribe to "Bundle of Hers."

Margaux: If you don't, you'll fail med school.

Harjit: Yeah. That maybe we could promise?

Bushra: Scientific articles have been published.

Leen: EBM proves it.

Harjit: Thank you.

Bushra: I guess none of us understands it, so it may be true.