My Love Letter to the Graduating Medical School Class of 2023: Protecting Yourselves Against the Occupational Hazard of Physician Suicide

The author at her medical school graduation in 2009. She is joined by her puppy Holly (2003–2016) who saw her through the entirety of medical school and post-graduate training before crossing over during her final year of fellowship.

March 20, 2023,

Dear Graduating Class of 2023,

By now, most of you have figured out where you matched. Hopefully, the celebrations are well underway. You’ve been through so much and worked so hard. As you labored towards this momentous finish line for decades, you have danced upon the dreams of your ancestors in two ways. Crossing the finish line is literally a fulfillment of the dreams of ancestors who gave and lost their lives for you. However, the suffering involved — bearing the immeasurable weight of the oppression and abuse endemic to medical training — is nothing that your ancestors would ever wish upon you.

My name is Rupi, and I am a practicing healer (medical speak: “double board-certified child and adolescent and adult psychiatrist”) who completed the same medical school experience you just did in 2009 (see photo above). To be honest, I barely made it through because I found the experience to be so annihilating of my spirit and eroding of my soul. I then endured post-graduate training for nine more years (medical speak: adult psychiatry residency, post-doctoral fellowship in global mental health, fellowship training in child and adolescent psychiatry)…