“Medical school can be a very isolating experience. There is a real pressure to let medicine consume your life, and I’ve found it difficult to be true to my heart with all these voices telling me to ‘work harder,’ ‘choose that prestigious specialty,’ and to ‘be great.’ The Center for Women in Medicine is a place where I can receive much-needed counsel from women who will help me fight for my heart.”

Karen Rogers, M.D.

Vanderbilt University
Medical School, Class of ‘06

“Walking through residency with wise counsel and a safe place to share my fears is refreshing my soul and redefining what it means to embrace my calling as a female physician.”

Karen Bullock, M.D.

“This course [sponsored by the Center for Women in Medicine] addresses aspects of our personal growth into effective physicians that aren’t addressed anywhere else in our curriculum.”

Vanderbilt Medical Student

“Medical training can be so intense that it’s easy to forget why you went to medical school in the first place. The Center for Women in Medicine is a place of rest, a safe place to take an honest look at your life, where you are, and who you are becoming in the middle of such a rigorous training process. Not only that, but the Center provides the ability to have these conversations with someone who uniquely understands the issues specific to women in medicine. It’s so easy to lose your heart and forget about what’s really important, but spending time at the Center always helps me to refocus on my true vocation.”

Miranda Raines, M.D.

Vanderbilt Pediatrics Resident

“I think a lot of medical students (myself included) tend to forget that they’re capable of making non-intellectual decisions. So much of our lives are spent foregoing life for learning and for honing our powers of reason and deduction, that we forget that human beings need to make decisions based on things other than facts and logic. Emotions, spirituality, and values matter, even when we are trying to be most rational, and if we don’t recognize this, we are crippled both as doctors and as people. This class [sponsored by the Center for Women in Medicine] does a lot to remind people of that.”

Vanderbilt Medical Student

“Women are natural nourishers, and most enter medical school with great potential for loving their patients well. Yet, the rigorous training process often breeds competition in place of compassion. Connecting with other women in medicine has been vital to recovering and protecting my passion for loving people during these years of training.”

Kristina Lishawa, M.D.

Harvard Medical School
Class of ’04

“To be a good physician, it is imperative that you know and understand yourself first. This class [sponsored by the Center for Women in Medicine] helps you do just that. It is one of the few classes that takes the time to focus on us, the physician, as opposed to our patients.”

Vanderbilt Medical Student