A Letter from an Editor: Katelyn Moeder
When Baffour first approached me with the idea of a blog project focused on elevating the voices of our classmates, I instantly knew this would be a project that would keep me sane. I thrive on hearing people’s ideas and stories — one of the multitude of reasons I chose medicine as my path — and creating a space devoted to exploring opinions, thoughts, and advice from fellow classmates is a way to keep me grounded during these heavily science-skewed, academic years. We are constantly inundated with clinical information, technical details, and physician experience, but until now we have lacked a forum for another key facet of our growth and learning: the mentorship of one another.
I wholeheartedly believe that we have just as much to learn from one another as we do from our lectures and clinical experiences. Most of the qualities and skills that will make us fantastic clinicians — empathy, listening, kindness — are not learned from textbooks but instead are practiced in interactions with others. This feels obvious when thinking about patient interaction and clinical experience, but I challenge you to bring the same open-minded, thoughtful approach to interactions with your peers, both in and outside of Atlas. Although being a medical student is difficult, I am certain that being a physician will be even more so, and now is the time to be intentional about actively learning how to build community and support one another through the difficulties. By isolating ourselves, harboring our stories and hiding from tough conversations, we are doing ourselves, and our future patients, a disservice.
Consider this a formal invitation to create something beautiful with us. Bring your grievances, your successes, your motivations, and your passions. I am excited to celebrate with you, mourn with you, and be challenged by your opinions and stories. More than anything, I hope this project allows you to practice presence, to always have a space where your voice can be heard, to know that you are not alone through this journey that can so often feel isolating, and to constantly remind you of your humanness.
Thank you for contributing, for reading, for honoring your voice and the voices of your classmates. It is a privilege to work alongside you in creating this space. I can’t wait to see what we build together.
Katelyn Moeder is a first year medical student at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and a co-founder of the Atlas blog. She is passionate about advocacy, women’s health, and self-care in the form of jigsaw puzzling.
