Identities

While you might think that teetotaling in medical school may leave you feeling isolated, I haven’t found that it ever hampered my ability to have fun with my medical student friends. Never once have I felt left out in social activities or pressured to drink alcohol. Sure, as the default designated driver, you might find yourself driving everyone around on weekend nights, but you can still have a great night out without a lick of booze! If you fancy bars, then you’re in luck! Head on over to Pieces for a game night with games ranging from Battleship to Catan. If you’re more of an arcade gamer, Up-Down STL is the place to be! In the mood for some Salsa and Bachata? Drop in on Thursday and Saturday evenings to Club Viva for a Latin dance lesson before the floor opens for you to show off what you learned! No alcohol, no problem! As long as you keep an open mind, you’ll find that St. Louis still has a ton to offer for those who don’t drink!

I came into medical school in 2016 knowing I was disabled, afraid to say anything about it, and without formal paperwork. I didn’t need accommodations for preclinical coursework, so I let that be for the first two years, although I know people who did need such accommodations and were able to have them arranged. During my PhD, I planned ahead for clerkships: getting my formal paperwork done and disclosing to the Dean of Student Affairs (the old accommodations system) and my thesis advisors. I was connected with the Student Success Team to discuss my needs and practice skills in clinical environments to be able to go into clerkships as prepared as possible; I jokingly called this “pre-mediation” (as in the thing you do to head off potentially needing remediation later). I also took my own initiative to shadow a clinical student to better understand what I’d need to do in clerkships and therefore what accommodations I’d need; admittedly, I was a bit jealous of the Gateway students, as I think this would be accomplished better and with less hassle just through doing the Immersions of Phase One, which you, reader, will do! Especially for clinic, I strongly recommend having discussions about your needs early and often. It took a few months between my clinical accommodations discussion with Dr. Matt Sullivan (the person at Disability Resources who specializes in WashU Medical Campus students — the new accommodations system) and getting my accommodations letter. During clerkship year, I met with clerkship leadership during the ARCC week one block (two months) ahead of each rotation to make sure we were on the same page about my needs and accommodations. They’ve been really supportive and worked with me to ensure my rotations would be accessible and educational. Now, as I get close to Phase Three, I’m having discussions with Career Counseling about how to navigate disclosure in applications, I’m open enough about being disabled to be writing this piece at all, and I’m excited to see what the future holds. Good luck!

I grew up in Hawai’i and then spent college and my gap years in the San Francisco area — both of which were quite populated with Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. Moving to the Midwest was definitely not something I imagined for myself, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous to live in a place with very few Asian Americans. I was even more apprehensive about not finding Filipino or Southeast Asian communities specifically, given that even Asian American/Asian affinity spaces tend to skew East Asian.

But I’m here to say that I was not only surprised with the Asian American presence in St. Louis and at WashU, but have also managed to find pockets of home and comfort. Pan-Asia Supermarket and Jay International Foods both have a vast array of Asian ingredients from all over Asia. When perusing the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market, I found a few Asian-owned food vendors serving comfort foods like samosas and spam musubis. My Filipino friends and I even managed to find an authentic (and yummy) Filipino restaurant with the cutest, most rambunctious titos and titas. Even my apartment building hosted an apartment-wide Diwali event with local catering and good camaraderie. Admittedly, all these examples are of food. But needless to say, Asian and Asian American visibility exists — it’s just a matter of seeking it out and integrating with the local community. I hope this helps, and welcome to St. Louis!

Is it wild to move to a city without knowing much about it? Probably. I feel as though I had an idealistic vision of what my experience would be. When I thought of St. Louis, I thought of a place with an abundance of Black people where I would be able to enjoy this vibrant Black community throughout all spaces.

There is a very diverse community of Black people here with vastly different experiences and perspectives. It’s been very refreshing getting to meet them as I was coming into WashU Med. I’ve loved the opportunities provided by WashU Med and otherwise to learn about and interact with the local community. In knowing St. Louis, you come to better understand the socio-economic disparities largely affecting the Black community and much of the history that has contributed this.

This knowledge of both past and present has made me feel much more empowered as a Black individual in medicine. I’m better able to appreciate the need for Black patients in these communities to see someone who looks like them and who has the education to approach their care with full sensitivity. So much of medicine is focused on having the answers or solutions, but I’ve come to realize that we often don’t get to fully understand the questions we’re attempting to address before we begin to offer remedies. I greatly appreciate WashU Med’s intentionality in pushing us to understand our environment from multiple perspectives, including the social aspect, before attempting to provide solutions from a medical point of view. This allows us to develop a habit of truly treating the full human, and I hope I’m able to continue to serve and leave as lasting a mark here in St. Louis as it has left on me.

As a Puerto Rican born and raised on the island, coming to the mainland U.S. has been an ongoing adaptation process. I did my undergrad in Boston, which has a prominent Latinx population, so I could still find communities that made me feel at home. I was very much afraid that things wouldn’t be the same as I was preparing to move to St. Louis. However, I was surprised to find an ever-growing group of Latinx and Spanish-speaking people here. Through the Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA), I’ve been able to meet and interact with people as if I were back on the island. What can I say: Nothing can bring people together better than a Bad Bunny playlist.

When it comes to food, you might have to do a little traveling in order to find places that are more authentic. Some of the classics are Mayo Ketchup (Caribbean) and Fritanga (Nicaraguan), which are close to the Central West End. Farther out, there’s a couple of places on Cherokee Street and in Maryland Heights where you can eat some great food and shop for Latinx household classics. Yes, there’s Goya Adobo. Moreover, there are a variety of Latinx festivals and activities that provide you with a taste of many Latin American cuisines. There are also opportunities for LMSA members to volunteer at these types of activities, allowing us to serve a patient population that is similar to those at home.

As a queer South Asian who came out in college, finding a safe and affirming environment was a priority for me when choosing a medical school. While I was initially hesitant about moving to St. Louis, I’ve honestly been so pleasantly surprised by how welcome I’ve felt on campus and in the city. From small things like faculty and students wearing inclusive pride flag lanyards to hosting lunch talks for Transgender Awareness Week, WashU has made it clear that they care about their LBGTQIA+ students. Fellow students and faculty are also very approachable and willing to engage in difficult and nuanced conversations, including discussions about recent policies and their implications on the LGBTQIA+ community within and beyond WashU. The LGBTQmed student group has hosted some really fun social events and even surprised our class with cupcakes for National Coming Out Day. One of the deans also had an OUTMed networking dinner at his house and we got to connect with students across different programs, faculty, and providers over tasty food and drinks!

Outside of campus, St. Louis has a really vibrant queer culture and community. The Grove is a short commute from campus and has some really fun places to go out (I really like Rehab and Handlebar) and get some food! And while I can’t speak for everyone, many of my queer classmates and I have talked about feeling safer than we expected while expressing ourselves and our identities in ways that feel most authentic to us throughout our time here so far.

Like many other places, WashU is by no means perfect, and many members of its student body, faculty, and staff are committed to holding the institution accountable and helping it grow in its capacity to support the LGBTQIA+ community at large. I can sincerely say that regardless of the identity you hold or where you are in your coming out journey, we will welcome your authentic self with open arms here. 🙂

Anecdote: I went to Dillard’s to buy a button-down shirt for our White Coat ceremony, and a Persian employee absolutely hooked me up, sticking with me for an hour while I was poring over the various options he gave me. Speaking to the larger community, it’s small but it does exist, and there are some pretty cool spots to eat in St. Louis (check out Taste of Persia in Tower Grove).

Prior to moving to St. Louis, we were nervous about what the Indian community would be like in the Midwest. Since moving here, however, we’ve found a community of South Asians within WashU Med and beyond. We’ve gone to see a Bollywood movie in theaters with a group of other South Asian classmates; a bunch of us went to Garba at Saint Louis University (which is about a 10-minute drive from our campus and also has a huge South Asian community); and we’ve hosted a Bollywood movie night at our apartment (open to all!) with TJs mini-samosas as well. Also, WashU undergrad has a large South Asian presence and has a popular Diwali show every year. It’s not hard to find Desi friends with similar cultural experiences, which has consistently been a comfort over the past few months.