From the Trenches
The Stethoscope and the Sketchbook: How Creativity Keeps Me Whole
By Rashmeet Kaur, MPH, OMS-IV
I am a fourth-year osteopathic medical student, and I have been making art for as long as I have been interested in medicine. For a long time, I kept those two parts of myself in separate compartments—science brain over here, creative brain over there.
Medical school has a way of narrowing the aperture, slowly, until diagnoses and treatments are most of what you see. The curriculum is relentless. The emotional weight of patient encounters is real. The question of who you are outside of a white coat becomes harder to answer the longer you wear one.
Art is where I go to remember.
Unmasked: The Real-Life Heroism Behind Health Equity
In this episode of The President's Podcast by SGIM, Dr. LeRoi Hicks, new ACP Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice President, reflects on his career and his lifelong commitment to ending health inequity. Through powerful personal storytelling, he examines some of today's toughest challenges in health care and the broader academic landscape. Drawing inspiration from comic-book superheroes, he highlights how true resilience is forged through purpose and persistence and offers a clear vision for change.
Is Joy Possible When Things Are Difficult?
What does it mean to feel joy amid moments of real difficulty and even sorrow? Not in the sense of being falsely upbeat or pretending that everything's OK—but as a way to sit with and honor what's going on in our lives. This episode of Staying Human with Dr. Vivek Murthy explores how joy is very different from positivity or happiness and how it can coexist with struggle.
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Back to the July 17, 2026 issue of ACP IM Thriving