Medical students celebrate transition from classroom to clinics at Stepping Up Celebration

The Warren Alpert Medical School's Class of MD'28 braved the cold weather on Saturday, alongside family and friends, for a warm celebration of a major milestone at the fourth annual Stepping Up Celebration in a packed Sayles Hall at Brown University. 

The tradition, first established in response to the COVID-19 pandemic—when the white coat ceremony could not be held—celebrated the conclusion of the first half of their medical school careers, before they “step up” to clinical rotations as third-year medical students. Keynote speaker Rachel Kowalsky MD'97 said the moment represented another addition to the ongoing stories of medical students, and the concept of a “story” is essential to their work in medicine.

“Up until today, the story of your education has been about you,” said Kowalsky, an associate professor of clinical emergency medicine and of pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medical College. “But medicine is an applied science. All of the knowledge you have acquired and are about to be acquired will now be applied to the patient and family sitting across from you. And they are complicated.”

Kowalsky, who delivered the Harriet W. Sheridan Lectureship, emphasized the nuances of individuals’ backgrounds and how they arrive in the care of physicians with their own life stories, values, and perspectives. It’s up to doctors to go beyond knowing treatment options, and understand “what they feel, what they hope for, and what they need,” she said.

“The more you have interacted with these stories, the more vast the catalog of values and perspectives that a human contains will condense into your shared human experience,” she said. “This is also called empathy.”

When it comes to the plot, Kowalsky—an author and essayist who has written for literary journals like Booth, JMWW, Atticus Review, and Orca—put it simply: don’t worry about it. Finding out the path forward is a major part of medical students’ next steps.

“I write a lot of prose before I think about the plot,” she said. “Don’t worry if your life’s path is not immediately clear or if things change. Don’t worry if you think you’re a surgeon but find out that you’re a radiologist, or neither, or both.”

After the ceremony, Gabriela Garcia '23 MD'28 said she is interested in pediatrics, but is unsure of what discipline in particular.

“It has been great to see everyone evolve into the kind of doctors they want to be,” she said. “There’s also a lot of personal reflection, like how I started as a first-year student, not knowing much—and still maybe not feeling like I know a lot—but having faith in myself moving into this new chapter.”

Brian Vu MD'28 said he found some comfort hearing Kowalsky and others speak candidly about not knowing what they wanted to do in medicine. Vu said he’s leaning toward internal medicine, perhaps with additional training in cardiology or gastroenterology, but knows he still has time to decide.

“It’s a relief knowing I can go into these settings not knowing what I want to do, but still learn from areas that I know I wouldn’t want to pursue,” Vu said. “It’s about making the most out of every experience I have, which is something I really want to focus on in my third year.”

Alex Joseph MD’28 said he is open to working in a surgical field, but is curious to see what his calling might be.

“For me, there’s also the anticipation of getting to figure out what I want to do with my life,” he said.