Histories

Histories is about what brings people to the medical profession–a field as challenging and complex as ever. Recent studies report that only half of physicians would choose medicine again as a career, and physician well-being has garnered attention as a national healthcare concern. The voices of medical students, who only recently committed to the profession, at times go unheard. Students at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City share their motivations for pursuing a career in medicine, together with their doubts, fears and hoped-for lives.

Sue Li graduated magna cum laude from Yale University, where she majored in English literature and completed the Writing Concentration in nonfiction. She has lived in five states and two countries, but feels most at home in a cafe, book in hand. A resident of New York City, she dreams of cheap rent, subways without rats, and making a snow angel in Central Park without being trampled. She is a medical student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where she spends her days tending to patients, practicing her suturing skills and collecting stories. Her proudest achievements include being a semifinalist in the Norman Mailer Writing Awards, finalist in the New Millennium Writings Literary Awards and winner of the 2016 Arch Street Prize. She hopes to combine her passion for medicine with her love of words.

A portion of the proceeds from this book benefits the Institute for Leadership Education, Advancement, and Development, Inc. a Pennsylvania nonprofit school with 501©3 status that has served as a force for community leadership development since 1995.