"Wonder Women of MSIH" by first year blogger Alexa Becker



Moving from the U.S. to Israel to study medicine has offered a unique learning environment that I could never have had anywhere else in the world. However, while great moves in life can inspire equally great adventures, sacrifice is, of course, an unwavering accompaniment. 
Me and my mother
Mother’s day this year was a searing reminder of that sacrifice. My mother was my first role model, my first example of a strong female leader. In a world where female leadership is still so very underrepresented, I try to always take note of the strong women around me. And so alternatively, this day has been an opportune time to reflect on the many women here at MSIH who have inspired me and helped shape my first year of medical school.


Dr. Polina Schwartzman teaching us how to suture
Let’s start with the physician mentoring program, which partners first year students with physician mentors at Soroka hospital. A classmate and I were paired with Dr. Polina Schwartzman, a gynecological surgeon. Since this was the program’s inaugural year, we had absolutely no idea what to expect from our mentor. It was such a pleasant surprise to learn that not only is Polina a bright and meticulous physician, but she is also incredibly keen on teaching. On the first day, she gave us a personal tour of the entire obstetrics ward. She then showed us a room full of surgical teaching equipment and invited us to bring our classmates along sometime for a suture tutorial. We followed suit and low and behold, by the end of the lesson, each of us were able to tie a surgical knot. Polina remembered what it was like to be a first year medical student, wasting away in the library everyday, but still eager to get her hands dirty. As first year students, we need these little reminders of what is yet to come.

One of my favorite classes this year was our global health class taught by a number of public health professors and physicians. One of our teachers really made an impression on me, perhaps because we both have backgrounds in anthropology. In any case, three hours of class per week with medical anthropologist, Dr. Anat Rosenthal, wasn’t enough, and so I also enrolled in her global health module. In each of her courses, she brought our attention to global health issues that we may actually encounter once we begin working: the increasing spread of mdr-tuberculosis and barriers to treatment, how to organize a disaster relief team, doctor shortages in the majority world, and everyone’s favorite term, cultural competency. Anat would stand in front of the class and ask us hard-hitting questions that required us to sink deep into the cobwebbed corners of our minds, flexing cerebral muscles that aren’t typically exercised in medical school. These classes were our time to take a step out of the never ending abyss of hard sciences to realign with the human aspect that draws us to this profession.

A photo from The Vagina Monologues show

No discussion about MSIH Wonder Women is complete without mentioning my female classmates. We come from numerous backgrounds, have had astoundingly different experiences, and someway or another, are now sharing this collective medical school experience. We offer unique perspectives; we don’t always agree. We aren’t always motivated by the same things, and I think our differences are what make us great. Because during this year in which we have had ample time to get to know each other, I still find myself learning new things from you everyday. Particularly, I find myself challenging my own opinions in ways that I haven’t before, and I think that is one of the best pleasures in life.

The ladies of the Class of 2021

All these Wonder Women of Soroka know that if you spend an hour on the wards in the hospital, you will quickly learn the importance and the difficulty in approaching patients through a culturally competent lens. It’s impossible to completely understand someone who is different from ourselves, but we can try our best to listen and learn from someone else’s experience. And so, I’d like to lastly mention my male classmates; it is through simple acts, like showing up to The Vagina Monologues and listening to stories about the female experience, that will make you all exceptional [superman] physicians.

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