Resident Physician Contributing Writer
UMass Medical School-Baystate
Julieta L. Rodriguez is a San Diego native that was transplanted to the east coast for medical school and residency. She is a third-year medicine-pediatrics resident at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts and wishes to specialize in infectious disease. Outside of medicine her interests include soccer, cooking, working out, and learning to ride a dirt bike.
I have finally had enough. As a health care provider, COVID-19 brought about a lot of uncertainty and many changes in preparation for what might unfold. But over the last few months, the social unrest surrounding police brutality and the disproportionate occurrence of these cases towards people of color has added to my physical exhaustion by conflating it with both emotional and mental fatigue. After 32 years of tolerating systemic racism, it is finally my turn to say something.
Recent events have highlighted a systemic problem within our world, our country, our state, and our community. People of color fight an uphill battle in every facet of life, at every socioeconomic level. The COVID-19 pandemic is no exception — as we all know by now, patients from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are disproportionately afflicted. But the spotlight has refocused on a chronic pandemic: systemic racism.
Resident Physician Contributing Writer
University of Massachusetts Medical School
David Chiang is a resident physician in Med-Peds. He is an aspiring physician-scientist in immunology and immune regulation with a clinical focus on inflammatory bowel diseases. When not in the hospital, he dabbles in mixology and takes long walks with his dog, Lobo. He is a Ravenclaw.
