For the first time, we began to understand not just their bodies and illnesses but their lives as joyful parents, enthusiastic musicians, expert race car mechanics, and loving spouses.

David Deshpande reflects on the Service of Gratitude and the lessons learned from anatomy donors and their families.

The essay read in this episode was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the September 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.

We are taught to think about what needs to be done in order for our patient to go home when we are on the wards, yet there is no care meeting, discharge coordinator, or bed huddle in academic medicine.

Julia Meade reflects on the difficulty of knowing when to retire from academic medicine.

The essay read in this episode was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the August 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.

Throughout my medical training, I vow to make an effort to actively pursue each patient’s full story. To cleave only the fragments of their existence that anchor them to the hospital room leaves behind parts of our patients, invisible and abandoned.

Madeline Blatt reflects on the importance of imagining and investigating the version of the patient who lives outside of the hospital after being discharged.

The essay read in this episode was published in the Teaching and Learning Moments column in the July 2025 issue of Academic Medicine. Read the essay at academicmedicine.org.