Dr. Jay-Sheree shares her journey to medicine and her inspiration for launching this podcast.
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Hey! And a welcome to the millennial health podcast. I'm Dr J. Cherie Alan, a board certified family medicine position who's passionate about the health of my fellow millennials. I know we're booked and busy, but your first wealth is your health. So I'm taking some of my most important health messages and bringing them here to you on this podcast. So today I want to share a little about my journey to medicine in kind of my reasoning for creating this podcast community. In November of 2019 there was an article published by CBS News in response to a new report that was released by Blue Cross Blue Shield. And I am not exaggerating. This was the headline Millennials Declining health could sicken us economy. I read that, and I was just like, Whoa, this is crazy guys, you know, they're essentially saying that we suffer from conditions including hypertension, high cholesterol, depression at higher rates than our Gen Xers did at the same point in their lives. And that is of huge significance, you know. But at the end of their executive summary, they put together a little call to action, and it essentially said it was to policy makers and the health care community at large to address the declining health among younger Americans before the more severe consequences in their analysis that they reported on became a reality. And guys in for me was like, Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding Here we go. My mom is a nurse and seriously, this happened about 4 to 5 times that I can count. She worked at a teaching hospital and whenever she would come across, like other black residents, are doctors who she really connected with, she would put them on the phone to talk to me like, Oh, my daughter wants to be a doctor. Could you talk to her like Mom? I'm sure these before busy I've been like high school. Seriously, this is like four or five times that she did this. But you know, that was so encouraging, knowing that not only did my mom have this faith in me, but that the other people I was talking to, people had never met me and knew nothing about me genuinely spent the timeto ask me questions and learn more about my interest and even provide, you know, some feedback on what they thought I should be doing to further a potential career in medicine, you know? And so that really led me to college as a pre med. So right out the gate, I knew I wanted to go into medicine and actually started my undergraduate education at N Y U and love. Love loved it there. I completed my first year, but unfortunately my family, we were having a really hard time financially. And, um, we didn't have anyone in the family who actually had a credit score that would allow them to co sign a loan on my behalf. And so we had to kind of shift gears, and it was It wasn't tough. It was a tough period, genuinely was a tough transition. But I held onto those dreams I'd had, and I held on tow the encouragement that I'd gotten along the way. And so I went back to the drawing board. You know, I did a medical assistant course in New York. He could do those things would rather quickly, and they're rather inexpensive and started working kid, because I said, at least I can stay in the medical field while I'm figuring out my next move and so the next logical move was right. We clearly need to find another college to attend, and as a great I definitely have to go back home because one of the major parts of our financial burden was housing in New York City to go to N. Y. U. So I wanted a college that was cheap, a college that was close enough to home so that I could live at home and just commute, but also a college that still had a reputation of getting students into medical school because I still knew that was the ultimate goal, you know, and I figured four years later I'd be a little older. I could build up credit on my own, and I wouldn't eat a co signer at that time. So I was hopeful that things would work itself out in the end. And so I ended up going to the City College of New York in Harlem and, oh, that was such an amazing experience. The air. I was a Colin Powell fellow and learned so much about health policy. Um, I was able to really integrate myself with that Harlem community and learned so much great not only about food and security but housing, insecurity and men of these other socio economic factors that contributes significantly to the health of a population, you know. And so that really stirred within me the desire to attend a medical school that had a focus on those issues. And I applied broadly medical schools a very competitive process. So I wasn't playing any games there. I definitely applied all over from ended up with a few interviews and ah, think I had about three acceptances when it was all said and done, and I ended up choosing AAMA Harry Medical College. Oh, yeah, that was the best of times and the worst of times. So here I am. Ah, Jamaican girl moved to the U. S when I was 10 lived right outside New York City all those years, actually went to New Rochelle High School and really enjoyed it. There had wonderful teachers. We really pushed me in the right direction, started at N. Y. U. Then went to City College. So I just kind of been in New York this whole time, so totally like an urban metropolitan frame of mind and exposure and experiences. And here I was making the decision to go down south Load. It was good, though. You all It was good. It was good. In addition to that Mahir E, if you don't know, is a historically black college. And so there was so much culture and so much pride Associate ID with being a part of that institution. I just loved every single thing about my time at me. Harry, Um, good. Few things they'll really stand out. Definitely having, ah, good support system. So I made some amazing friends, friends who are still. I mean, I still talk to them on what's that almost daily at this point and groom me from medical school and we still work on projects at together. So having great friends and great support system is when you need to study you, sometimes you just need to be alone. Yes, and to really focus on just like crackdown. But sometimes, I mean, just having someone else sitting across from you who is also studying is just the motivation that you need. Thio get going again, you know, And so shout out to all the amazing people who got me through medical school cause they were my study buddies when I needed them. And then another thing from my time at Mahir E. I was actually Miss Mary Miss my Harry Medical College. I forgot the year a TTE this point, but that he was my 2nd 2nd or third year med school. I did that and it was awesome. So essentially I was an unofficial community ambassador or for the institution. So I go into the schools in Jews, reach out and read programs. We hosted lots of community service events. I was able to attend a lot of events on behalf of the institution, whether it was for scholarship funding or thank you dinners for donors. So it really started to expose me, uh, more than just the academic side of medicine, like there's a whole developmental world out there. There's, Ah, whole community engagement world out there, and this is all still medicine. And so that's when my horizons really started toe to broaden. And then the other major thing I took from medical school who resiliency so really learning how to bounce back from failures or missed opportunities. And I get emotional, but definitely ah, one of the major experiences I think about is, Ah, microbiology exam that we took towards the end of our first year. And after your first year of medical school, we have to leave Thio complete a summer of research, or you could do it on campus. Was most people choose to leave and study other institutions just to broaden their horizons, get some more experience elsewhere. And I mean, y'all my suitcase was packed, flights were bugs. I was ready to go because I was gonna have an awesome summer working in New York City at the Jacoby Medical Center, which I actually volunteered there while I was in college. So it's familiar with the program and the people there. But I wanted to come back as a medical student now that I had a deeper understanding of medicine working in their project brief HIV program and y'all, uh, the last day of school I found out that I fail that microbiology shelf exam hoof. I still I remember this like it was that day. Is that traumatic? It was kind of crazy, but one of the things that came out of that my microbiology professor the time shut out to Dr Fatima Lima. She had me I went to her office and I'm just like Dr Lima. I don't know what happened, and I failed the exam by, like, two points to something Still crazy was like two points and they had just raised a passing score like two years prayers. Oh, that want to hit me hard. But I went to her and I said, you know, Dr Lima, like I don't know. I don't know what to do. Like I you know, I generally I don't know what to do. And I have this research lined up. Playing to give in my apartment is you know, I said I would be moving out like everything was just falling apart, and I will never forget that she allowed me to sit there in her office. Honestly, it couldn't have been anything less than 45 minutes seriously, and allowed me to just coro eye on her shoulder. And she just told me that everything was going to be okay. You know, there's this quote, it says, you know, Well, I'm not looking at it directly, but something to the essence of you know, people don't remember like what you said or did, or something like that. But they will remember how you made them feel. And that is genuinely what I remember most in that moment. How she validated my experience, how she allowed me agree more. Honestly, it's really what it was because I fell, I let myself down. I'd let so many people down, you know, and moving all the way to nationals so far away from home it with these big dreams, these big goals. And I'm like, you know, am I capable, like, you know, genuinely. Am I enough like, am I good enough to be a doctor actor? Like I can't even pass the microbiology shelf exam. And oh, I remember how she just just being so compassionate took those feelings of inadequacy away from me. I have no idea how she did this. I'm I'm indebted to her to this day. And so with that, you don't pull it together of the policies I had to retake the course. I had to re sit the exam. And so that's what I did over the summer. And, needless to say, pass the exam with flying colors after the fact. And so another lesson just on bouncing back in rerouting Ray and building resilience. I love quotes. So throughout this entire podcasts, you always see eye drop these coats. I should probably start looking them up before I quote, though. But there's another one that I like that said, You know, um, smooth sailing doesn't make for a skilled sailor, you know, And that's true. You do have to go through some ups and some downs to be able to, like, encourage other people when they're also going through their rough patches. Right. But it also gives you another sense of appreciation and gratitude for all it has taken to get to where you are today. You know? And I mean, I'm ah, whole doctor out in the streets, and I remember that microbiology exam like it was nothing, you know, that encourage you guys on your quest. Thio. You know, my thing is medicine and delivering health in a digestible manner. But whatever your thing is, you know, don't stop like, absolutely don't stop just because of a roadblock or a stumbling block or anything to that effect, you know? And then my last big lesson coming out of medical school was Push your limits. Absolutely. Push your limits. I remember my dean, Dr Millard, Colin's got a shadow. Dr. Collins, Uh, he encouraged me to go to the Mayo Clinic to complete a rotation during my fourth year of medical school. And that's quite common doing your medical training that you'll do what we call a ways or away rotations. And so Mayo would come, I think, like a few months prior to talk to him and a few other people. And so they were trying to recruit some students, and he told me I should go. Y'all This is such a shame, You know, it was so good, but I didn't I couldn't even find Minnesota on a map for you before this experience. You know, when you grow up in New York City, there is New York. There's L A fierce Florida in Atlanta. There's Atlanta. Um, but then, yeah, then there's a whole lot of land in between. And so this was my first time venturing into the Midwest, and I literally went to the Mayo Clinic to the family medicine department for a one month rotation, and I learned so much in my time there. It was incredible, and I said to myself, If I could learn this much in just one month here. What would happen if I spent three years here completing my residency training? And I'm sure by now you all know the rest is history. I went to Mayo, completed my residency again. Ups and downs. Really good days, really bad days. The highs were very high. The lows were the deepest depths of low that I have ever come across in my life. But, well, I told you all about my Harry already. So let's skip the male stories. We'll talk about those those later. But God is good. My mentors are amazing and my family prays to no end. And so I made it out, absolutely made it out of Mayo. And my experience, though it may Oh cause males a very unique place. You know, People fly over hospitals, people flyover country, whole countries to come to the Mayo Clinic. But it's situated in such an area that you still get a true sense of rural medicine. There's some what an element of urban metropolitan but isn't even on a smaller scale and certainly academic medicine and then global health. You know, a lot of the conditions that come in. And so I felt I had a pretty decent basic, at the very least, understanding of many of those areas. With the exception of rural health, I knew nothing about rural health. In considering that I chose family medicine, I figured it was important to at least learn a little firsthand about health in this population. And so that defined where I went for my first job. I wanted that firsthand experience. I wanted to be able to contribute to a conversation right from genuinely a point of experience and exposure. You know, not just secondhand information and so took on that challenge. You environs for me, new environment for me personally and professionally. And y'all, it's been amazing, absolutely amazing. But I got hit with a real case of burn out, like these studies that come out these things that people say about doctors who were burned, that that's me. That's me they're talking about. That was M E. That was Dr J. Suri. It was rough, it was absolutely rough. And so I knew I owed it Thio my patients who I care so deeply for to my nurse, to the other staff, to my fellow physicians in the practice that I wasn't bringing my best self to the job every day. And how could I do a better job off that, you know? And I had to kind of figure out what exactly it was that was burning me out in this career that I'd worked and fought so hard for, you know? And I had a colleague. I don't know. She wouldn't say her name. And I didn't ask permission before recording this. I won't say her name, but someone I honestly, I barely knew. I just heard of her through someone. But I reached out because I think our situations were probably a little similar. And she had something to offer to the conversation, and she surely did. She was like, Have you ever gone to therapy? And I was like, No, just like you should. And so I signed up for therapy, and so I ended up going to therapy Any All I have become the unofficial ambassador for therapy. Okay, if there's a role for an official ambassador out there, please let me know because I will submit my CV. I have become such a believer. It helps you to clear the clutter in your mind. It just does Think of that closet that you swear you're gonna clean like I'm gonna clean up, cause I'm just gonna stop throwing things in the closet and I'm gonna organize a closet. And you say that over and over and over to yourself. Don't you just shut the door if you don't want to deal with what's going on in that closet, Ari and therapy to me was just like a really good friend that came over and helped you to actually clean out that closet. Just having someone to go through that process of reorganizing, reframing right, that experience helping to set boundaries and put things in their rightful place like that is what therapy did for me. And I actually recorded a segment with primary care, right, primary reviews and perspectives, which is actually a podcast targeted to physicians. Anna bans practice providers, and so that should be coming out soon, actually. So if you subscribe, please check out that segment. I really talk a lot about encouraging our patients to pursue therapy, but, you know, after therapy was like, OK, so we've clear the clutter. What necks. And so I got a business coach. I mean, athletes have coaches and people want to be successful. Have coaches like Why? Why don't Why can't we have coaches to write If you want to get somewhere and you want to get some advice and some help in you all that was the start of everything I'm doing here. Is that business coach? I actually mentioned the idea of a podcast to her, and she challenged me to start with Instagram and Facebook lives. Just, you know, podcast include getting the equipment and actually sitting, making time to record and then doing the editing. And you need a hosting. You need publishing, you know. And so she's like, you know, it's quite involved. It's quite an involved process. So how about you just start with lives? And I did my blawg as a way to organize my content for the lives and so that was amazing. And we did ah, 10 segments and were successful in that. And then that article came out in the midst of that, and I was like, Boom, it's time. Let's go. So here we are, guys, here we are. I am so excited to create this community of millennials who want to be healthy. And if you don't want to be healthy, I My goal is to convince you that definitely your first well, truly, truly, truly, truly is your health. And we have time, right? We have time on our side to really get these things right. Okay? You are not doomed to these heart attacks in these strokes. And you know other forms of disability that are being discussed. You know, when people talk about chronic diseases, you're not doomed to that life. We have time with our lifestyle interventions and with personalized advice from your physician who can give you advice based on a your specific health condition. We can turn this around, y'all. All right, So thank you all so much for joining me today. I hope this information was beneficial to you. Please subscribe and share with your friends. If you have questions or Commons, feel free to reach out on Instagram. I'm at your favored doctor friend or Dr J Serene. I dabble on Twitter and Facebook. But to be honest, Instagrams really my platform of choice Still finally there, guys, and let's continue this conversation. All right. Next podcast is coming up soon