Of Odysseys Personal and Professional

Born and raised in Colorado by a single mother, I was fortunate to spend much of my early childhood in the outdoors—where curiosity, perspective, and "groundedness" took hold. My mother’s death from breast cancer when I was 12 years old set me on the path to a medical career, albeit a long, winding one. After graduating from Rocky Mountain Hebrew Academy, I spent 1 year in Israel studying ancient and modern Judaic texts prior to matriculating at the University of Pennsylvania. There, I concentrated in philosophy and religious studies, all while completing premedical coursework. A twist of fate soon after graduation led me to classroom teaching—at the same secondary school I attended in Denver. Over the ensuing years, I traversed cities and work opportunities in America and overseas, all the while cognizant of a call to doctoring. Concurrently, an Israeli hospice doctor counseled me in an odyssey of grief and self-discovery and mentored me as a budding physician.

Commencing my medical studies—at an older age than most—at one overseas school (Technion–Israel Institute of Technology) before ultimately graduating from another (University of Medicine and Health Sciences, St. Kitts), I initially matched into a Chicago-area family medicine residency. Motivated by a desire to learn and practice psychotherapy, particularly in the end-of-life setting, I transferred as a PGY-2 to the University of Maryland Psychiatry Residency program.

In my upcoming PGY-4 year, I hope to continue projects I have created that offer knowledge, insight, and healing to patients and providers alike, including a trainee-led cancer therapy group, a medical humanities discussion group (MedArt Maryland), and a residency-level hospice and palliative care interest group. I hope to match to a hospice and palliative medicine fellowship later this year. I aspire to a career of caring—medically and psychiatrically—for the terminally ill and dying.

I find that reading, writing, and now editing content in the medical and psychiatric literature affords a kinship across geographies and time—pertaining to matters substantive and technical, humanistic and scientific, established and pioneering—that enlightens and inspires. I am honored to serve as the incoming Senior Deputy Editor under Editor-in-Chief Dr. Oliver Glass and with an outstanding editorial and administrative team. With design enhancements to our website and novel content features, look forward to immersing yourself in this year’s American Journal of Psychiatry Residents’ Journal!