Contributing Writer
University of Florida
Melissa went to medical school at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso. She is currently a PGY-1 at the University of Florida Pediatrics Residency Program. She is not quite sure where she will end up after residency but has thought a lot about pursuing fellowship training in infectious disease. In her spare time, Melissa enjoys going to local parks and farmer’s markets with her husband and baby. She also enjoys reading sci-fi, writing letters to her awesome pen pal (her 8-year-old nephew), and Facetiming friends and family.
In the 3rd grade I made a declaration, regarding my future occupation – I would one day be a physician, specifically, a pediatrician! Devoted to serving and caring for others, like the one who cared for me, my sister, and brothers Of course, I did not know what this would entail and never considered that I could fail. How could I have anticipated that my ambitions might just leave me deflated? Starting in college, there …
For the baby who’s been battered and bruised and for the adolescent already multiple times abused. For the children whose lives are so full of pain that they think their days are lived in vain. For parents overwhelmed with grief over a precious life that was far too brief. For the siblings who grow up too soon, as they watch how their loved ones are consumed. For the gaping hole that can never be filled, …
Still lungs. / Silent heart. / Time of death: 2:40.
Wrinkly face and wonky head; I support your wobbly neck. No matter the emotion, you respond with a cry.
It was the most joyful of times. It was the most horrific of times. A week before my first child was born,
an act of terror occurred on the other side of the world.
Hello, come in, / and welcome to peds clinic! / My attention is on you / for the next 20 minutes.
Home became a dark / place, and I miss the feeling / of warmth on my face
There was a dark, empty space. / Stillness, / Where there should have been movement.
Your mom gets tetanus (Tdap) / before you’re born, / Plus COVID and flu / are the norm.
My husband and I were pregnant with a child / Then we found out something wild. / I am a carrier of SMA / And this affects me in almost no way.
why do we live? do we struggle in vain / for the dream of a world, of a life without pain? / we suffer in spades, without cause, without gain
At the turn of every corner / I will be found out / You will see / The fraud in me
Resident Physician Contributing Writer
Hackensack Meridian Health Ocean Medical Center
Vanessa Velez is a resident physician in psychiatry at Hackensack Meridian Health Ocean Medical Center in Brick, NJ.
