As a second year med student, Maggie talks about the stresses of non stop studying and ongoing debt and shares her views on the new healthcare bill, the importance of insuring everyone and equalizing doctor’s salaries. Although she is a firm believer in healthy lifestyles, her busy schedule does not always allow her to follow her own advice, but she did find a way to relieve stress that works for her: stress baking before exams and drinking after.

Age: 25

Places where you live/have lived? Buffalo, NY; Somerville, MA; South Hadley, MA; Fairport, NY (outside of Rochester, NY); Lowville, NY (including smaller towns as well)

Places where you want to live? Move back to Boston, MA; Providence, RI; Chicago, IL; Baltimore, MD; Portland, OR; Anchorage, AK; London, England; anywhere in New Zealand

What do you do? 2nd Year Medical Student at SUNY Buffalo

What type of medicine would you like to practice?

Right now, I’m leaning towards something within the primary care field. I wanted to go into medicine so I could have long-term relationships with patients and spend more time talking with them than performing procedures. I’m thinking about the possibility of pursuing a fellowship in adolescent medicine. Kids between the ages of 12 and 18 are a separate subset of patients whose needs are not necessarily met by a typical pediatrician or an adult internist. I think it’s important that they have doctors that are better equipped to deal with issues of identity and sexuality that are specific to them.

What do you think of the new healthcare bill?  Were you concerned that it might negatively affect doctor’s salaries?

I feel very strongly that everyone should be able to afford health insurance; the disparity in access to care between those who have private insurance and those who don’t is shocking. While I have no issue with taking a salary cut in the future, my only concern is that without more primary care physicians, the influx of newly insured patients will have difficulty finding someone to treat them. Rather than focusing on solely on creating more residency positions I think the focus should be on equalizing salaries among specialties. One of the major reasons so many graduates go into specialty fields upon graduation is the huge amount of debt we accrue as students. With more incentive to enter primary care fields, there may be a corresponding increase in applicants.

There has been a lot of talk about the dangers of having tired over worked medical residents in the hospital. There have also been claims that the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, the organization responsible for accrediting American medical residency programs has not been enforcing the rules with respect to the number of hours a resident should be required to work. Is this something that concerns you? What do you think you will do in a situation where a doctor needs you to stay longer on shift but you feel you are too exhausted to function?

I think that overworked residents are something that should concern everyone. Exhausted doctors are much more likely to make errors and while their attendings are there as safeguards against any serious mistakes in patient care, tired people have slower reaction times and have more difficulty making decisions.

It’s hard to predict how I’ll react in those situations. I’d like to think that I’d ask an attending to take me off a case if I wasn’t able to perform the tasks that were required of me. At the same time, I know many people in situations like who think that they can continue- if other people are still going they will too; it’s not so bad, etc. There is a feeling of toughening up and getting oneself used to the demanding hours as a right of passage.

How much do you worry about loans?

That’s my sole source of income at this point. I had to take out extra loans to be able to take a summer class on medical history in London.

Applying to schools, what did you think they looked at the most when considering applications? Did that help or hurt you?

Test scores and GPA are huge. My MCAT score was low, so it automatically threw me out of the running for some larger, big name programs. At Buffalo, they make a point to read everything you send them, so my recommendations helped me a lot.

Do you think med school leads to a sedentary lifestyle with all the studying and sitting in class? Being in the health profession, how important is it for you to exercise and remain healthy and how feasible is it in reality?

Absolutely. We spend a lot of time just sitting with books, not to mention having little time to eat properly. I try to exercise 2-3 times a week. It can be a little bit more on weeks without exams, and a little less when I’m in the library more. As a medical student, I promote healthy living but I tend not to exercise as much as I should during exams. I drink too much after an exam is finally over. It’s something I need to work on. If I’m asking patients to do something, I need to be able to do it myself.

Entering the medical field, do you feel that male doctors have better opportunities than their female colleagues? Do your supervisors, patients and their families treat you as they would your male counter part?

I think it depends on the person. Some older patients and families think I’m a nursing student or aide when I go in to talk to them, and there can still be some condescension when I try to explain that I’m a medical student. Supervising doctors I’ve worked with have treated me (more…)

After being diagnosed with lung cancer in 2007, Dr. Sarwat Malik was first told she had six months to a year to live. Fortunately, years later, she stands dedicated to the cause of raising awareness of the challenges Muslim women face. After deciding to retire from her internal medicine practice, Dr. Malik became the co-founder and vice-chair of the Muslim Women’s Fund, the first organization solely focused on the empowerment of Muslim women throughout the world. Recently selected as one of Women’s eNews 21 Leaders for the 21st Century, Sarwat discusses the work of her foundation and shares with us her experience as a female Pakistani-American doctor in the US, her views on Islam, Muslim women and Muslim feminism and her hopes for the future of relationships between Muslims and the West.

You have been practicing internal medicine for 35 years in Rochester, NY and in 2008 you retired from medicine to found The Muslim Women’s Fund. Can you explain what sparked the transition?

I co-founded the Muslim Women’s Fund (MWF) with five other women, after attending the Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality in Islam (WISE) conference in New York City, in November 2006. We were five women who did not know each other and began a weekly conference call to see what we could do as a team, to respond to the collective plea from the conference attendees.

At the 2006 NYC conference, there were 175 Muslim women from across the globe who were invited to showcase their work. There were NGOs, women activists, lawyers and doctors raising awareness of the plight of Muslim women, while promoting female emancipation and empowerment in their communities. When the conference organizers asked them what was the single most important thing they needed, their resounding cry was: “We need money! We need funds to carry out our programs.” They further stated, “We know what challenges our women face and we know what the most effective solutions are. We need money to scale up the projects we are doing. We don’t want outsiders to come and tell us how to do it.”

In May 2007, I was diagnosed with stage four metastatic lung cancer and was given a very poor prognosis. Faced with this challenge, I had to make the painful decision to retire from my practice. However, I decided to continue my lifelong passion to not only create an awareness of the challenges that Muslim women face but also focus on something that can be done to counter those challenges. My diagnosis gave urgency to my mission.

As a Muslim woman and an activist on behalf of other Muslim women, do you think the presumption in the West in general that women from Muslim countries are oppressed and submissive is accurate?

As we all know that perception is reality, in the West we chose to see Muslim women wearing the hijab as docile and constrained. Until last year I had the same image of Saudi women. When I had a chance to personally interact with a few Saudi and Arab women last year in Kuala Lumpur, and this year in Doha, Qatar and Dubai, my image was totally shattered by their knowledge, wisdom, progressive views, and social activism for more rights. The climate in Saudi Arabia is rapidly changing under the wise leadership of the present King. Queen Rania of Jordan, Princess Haya and Sheikha Mozahar are progressive thinkers in the Arab world who are working tirelessly to promote education for girls and basic human rights for women.

Can you give us examples of the kind of work that the Fund supports?

Right now, we are in the process of building capital and institutionalizing the fund to begin offering grants. I want to see the initial impact of our efforts on the lives of women both in the United States and in the countries where we are planning to give grants for the fund’s three pilot projects, hopefully during my lifetime. The first project is focused on scaling up a progressive curriculum for madrasas teachers in the remote villages of Pakistan. It includes a focus on secular education, history, math, science, with a special focus on human rights and gender equality in Islam. The second project focuses on teaching women to set up their own business with the use of visual aids; this is aimed at women who have limited language skills, who are disenfranchised due to domestic violence or other unfortunate reasons. Finally, the third focuses on giving grants to eliminate the practice of female genital mutilation in Africa. There is not a single global organization or philanthropic entity that is solely focused on the education, economic development, human rights, civil liberties and increased civic engagement of 600 million Muslim women. The Muslim Women’s Fund fills that void.

We also realized that even though there are1.6 billion Muslims in the world -1/4th of humanity- Muslims produce less than 8.5 percent of global GDP. A large majority of the 600 million Muslim women in the world are marginalized – illiterate, hungry and unemployed. They face enormous challenges but also have extraordinary opportunities to change their societies. While these challenges might seem daunting, the opportunities are exciting.

How did you become a doctor and interested in the advancement of Muslim women?

I grew up in Pakistan in the fifties and early sixties, an era when we did not have access to Internet or TV. Books, Radio or occasional newspapers were the only source of information. I graduated from high school at the age of 15 and from medical school at the age of 22, the age at which most American students are getting ready to enter Medical School. I had spent 22 years focused on becoming a doctor and did not pay any attention to anything else. I learned English as a subject but did not study in an English-language school. However, I was required to study medicine in English, which was very difficult.

When I was growing up women were mostly housewives and teachers while a very few were doctors. I had not met any woman leader or role model until I went to medical school; I had accepted this as the norm. I learned from my mother how important it was for girls to be educated. She encouraged my sister and me to go to medical school. My father also supported education for both boys and girls. Because I did not personally experience any discrimination in my parents’ household, I was not sensitive to it until I started looking at cultural and religious norms, and understanding differences between different faiths. Learning that it was not Islam but its cultural practices that were the problem created an interest and desire to learn about my faith, as well as other religions. This new knowledge put me on the path to work for the advancement of women and girls.

How supportive is your husband of your views?

An article that my husband wrote was an eye opener, for me. Using comparative studies on the three monotheistic faiths, he showed that Muslim women were given rights 1400 years ago at the advent of Islam. This is something that I personally took for granted, but I realized that many millions of Muslim women were denied such rights. This stems from a patriarchal interpretation of faith and medieval cultures, which prevent women from accessing their God-given human rights as free citizens of the world. Women in western societies did not receive the same rights which Islam gave to Muslim women, such as the right to own property, education, to choose who to marry and so forth. Once an awareness was created, and with my husband’s support, there was nothing stopping me from moving forward with my passion.

Did you encounter gender inequalities here in the US in the practice of medicine?

Yes, in 1973, I fought for equal pay when I discovered that I was being paid $2000 less per year when compared to my male colleagues who finished their medical training at the same time and in the same institution. Incidentally, my white American female colleagues who refused to challenge this discrimination benefited from me taking the stand. Subsequently, I worked with The American Medical Women’s Association, where again I found a number of role models and learned social activism. In 1983, I was the founding president for the Medical Women’s Association of Rochester, NY and learned firsthand how my senior women colleagues dealt with discrimination. According to one such colleague, “We put blinders on, or we developed a ‘tunnel vision’ and saved ourselves from experiencing it by not acknowledging it.” These were some well-respected and senior white American women physicians.

In your experience, does living in the US improve the lives of women who come from Muslim countries? If so, how?

I have met Muslim women in countries like Pakistan, England, Saudi Arabia and a few others who are much better off in their homeland, as long as their choice is not restricted by the prevailing or patriarchal customs in the areas in which they live. Economic and educational empowerment are the two most liberating tools women enjoy anywhere in the world. I personally have found the United States to be the best country in the world to live in and my experience in this ‘land of the free’ has opened up for me vistas to which many women in other countries can only aspire. I have found the freedom to speak-up for my rights and the rights of others without any fear or repercussions.

What do the terms “Muslim Feminism” mean to you? Working as you do on behalf of women, do you consider yourself a feminist?

Feminist in my vocabulary means “one who advocates for the rights of women justly and judiciously.” These are the rights, which have been denied to women in every culture, religion and time. Women’s education in America is a recent phenomenon. Women worked as secretaries, flight attendants and waitresses and very few were physicians or teachers when I was doing my internal medicine training in this country. In my lifetime, I have seen a major shift in the acceptance of women in institutions of higher learning. My own daughter at the age of seven growing up in the United States used to tell her friends, “Even though my mother says that she is a doctor, I think she is really a nurse as women can’t be doctors,” in her innocent child language. She drew pictures for school with her father going out with briefcase in hand and her mother standing by the stove.

If Muslim feminism means standing up for the rights of Muslim women, I am guilty as charged.

After 9/11, and given the constant threat of terrorist attacks on the US by Muslim extremist groups, what are the challenges facing American Muslims? Is it easier for those American Muslims such as yourself, who come from an upper-middle class background?

Most Muslims have faced challenges especially at our airports; targeted screening is dehumanizing. More effective ways of screening need to be incorporated which don’t single out Muslims, just because of their faith or ethnicity. But I would like to add that I feel safe here in the United States, in spite of the extra screening at airports. Having recently traveled to Qatar and Dubai, I was struck by the lax standards at the airports unless you are heading back to the USA.

I feel privileged to live in Rochester, NY, where the Muslim community has been engaged with other faith communities in very healthy interfaith dialogues for years. Next week Nazareth College, in my hometown of Pittsford, is hosting a national interfaith conference.

What do you think should be done to change the ignorance and fear about Islam and Muslims in the US and the West in general? In your view, what is the single most successful way to improve the lives of Muslim women?

First, education, education, education – at all levels. I believe that the media needs to shoulder its responsibility and end the relentless negative coverage of Muslims and Islam. Fear and ignorance about the ‘other’ is a toxic combination. There is also a need for female-focused scholarship as well as for scholarly discussions addressing the misogynistic interpretations of the faith, which have done a disservice to Muslim women. Finally, we must find opportunities to network and learn about the ‘other’ and ways to break the stereotypes of Muslims and Islam. Interfaith dialogues provide opportunities to improve understanding. Having traveled extensively, I have come to realize more than ever that people from everywhere in the world have similar aspirations, hopes, desires and dreams. They all want to live in peace and harmony.

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Taking TheDailyFemme to  the streets, coffee shops, libraries, art galleries, sports games, and even the subway, every week we ask women all over the country (and sometimes the world) one simple question. What we get in return is a lot of insight, advice, some nervous confusion and even a hug or two.

Question: With the recent passing of health-care legislation, we asked how women feel about the bill and what would they have liked to see in the bill that’s not there?

Answer: While the answers vary in terms of support, it seems that most women have some suggestions as to how the legislation could be improved.

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Alyssa Nastro–Long Island, N.Y.

To be honest, I was surprised that the health care bill passed and I have mixed feelings about this new reformation. On one hand, I completely agree that our current health care system is an absolute mess. I think it is terrible that many individuals in the United States simply cannot afford to get sick. Insurance companies have bankrupted American families with their steep expenses and a huge fraction of Americans remain uninsured. However, although I believe that something needs to be done, I am unsure if the passage of this current bill is the best method to provide Americans with quality care that is affordable. I fear that with an increasing demand for health care, quality will be compromised. Moreover, I do not believe that health care should be rationed out. I am not an economist, but I am skeptical as to how insuring 32 million people will drive costs down. Also, as a future medical professional I feel I have more at stake with the passage of this health care bill. I am attending medical school this upcoming fall and the amount of loans I need to take out for tuition, lab fees, and books is astronomical. Many of my peers, including myself, are apprehensive that the time and money we put into our medical education will not pay off (literally). However despite all of this, I remain optimistic towards the bill. I walk into this situation hoping for the best and I plan to become a competent and caring physician no matter what the cost.

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Nichole—Philadelphia, PA

I am very upset about the healthcare bill for many reasons but simply, I think that the American people should have been able to read the bill before congress was allowed to vote. Our government should be interested in correcting and stabilizing our economy not spending more money that we don’t have only to tax the people to make up the difference. The government has never run any organization responsibly or fiscally therefore government run healthcare is destined to fail. Show me an example of a country with government run healthcare where the system works. There just aren’t any.

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Arielle Sobov–Warren, NJ

Personally I’m a big fan of the health-care reform. If everyone has health insurance, our world will be a much better place. It may seem like a lot of money right now, but in the end it will be absolutely worth it. Being a college student, I am very happy about the benefits I will be receiving. In this economy, getting a job after graduation is not very promising, so staying under my parent’s health insurance for a couple more years is extremely beneficial.

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Maggie–Buffalo, New York

I think that the bill passing is totally a step in the right direction–the separation of those with insurance and without is a really shocking dichotomy. Having to rely on free clinics and emergency rooms is not the best care that people can receive (a lot of these places don’t have the follow up that is necessary to so many long term conditions like diabetes and hypertension). And having to use the ER when there’s a crisis is much more expensive for the patient (and country) than being able to have follow up with a primary care physician. As a med student, my main concern about all of these new patients with coverage is that (more…)

Starting her workday at 8pm as a nurse in the ICU, Rachael discusses how she prepares herself for a rush that involves life or death decisions. In this interview, we find out how a person’s life is impacted when your work schedule runs contrary to that of everyone else and involves people dying in front of you.

Age? 26

Places you have lived? Cleveland, Columbus, New York

Places you want to live? New York and I have to say somewhere in New Jersey but I don’t know where yet.

Where do you work? Nurse in the cardiothoracic unit at Lenox Hill Hospital

There are so many stereotypical ideas out there of what a nurse is supposed to be and do, can you tell us what it is really to be a nurse?

Well, I work twelve-hour shifts and my day starts at 8 o’clock at night. I usually get a patient who is fresh out of open- heart surgery, relatively unstable, with an IV drip and on a lot of medication. As a nurse, I have to trouble shoot all the problems such as if the patient is bleeding internally or if his or her heart is not effectively pumping. It’s not just passing them a pill and telling them they will feel better, it is like you are treating a machine that is the body; it is all business, all the time. It is a lot different than you would think and if you could be a fly on the wall, I would love it because no one can really see what we do.

Do you feel respected by doctors and surgeons or do they often behave as if they are the big shots and you are only there to assist them?

It depends on the surgeon. There are some that are very good and will come ask you what you think because you are the one who has seen the patient for the past twelve hours. They have that holistic view and nine times out of ten they will listen to your clinical assessment on what the patient needs. I only work with surgeons and a lot of times I encounter very egotistical “I am God” personalities, surgeons that come in, take a one-minute look at the patient and think they know better. It is hard sometimes because you have to take what they say and do it even if you think it is wrong. But you kind of have to respect the place they are coming from because I have found situations when a surgeon who doesn’t want to listen to you is right.

Can you remember a time in the ICU that was particularly hard for you to get through?

Well, I have been there for two years now and so far, no one has ever passed away during one of my shifts.  However this past week, I had a patient who wanted the hospital to withdraw care; that was also the wish of the patient’s family. It was very hard because we could have given him certain kinds of care and gotten him to a point where he would have been ok and could have even gone home but this was not the person’s wish. I had to step back and over the twelve hours I was there I had to watch him go from a stable condition to the point where he passed. As nurses we are trained to do the opposite, and try whatever we can to keep the patient stable.  I didn’t want to be the one who let this happen, but seeing the family at peace and understanding that this is what that patient wanted helped me get through it.

What are your thoughts when patients in a dire situation prefer to be at home regardless of the risk rather than stay in the hospital and get the care they need?

I don’t think that is an easy question to answer and it depends on the person. I think if I can give an advice, it would be to have a living will in which you specify what you want before anything happens to you; because otherwise it is a legal issue for us. I do have to say this discussion is so weird for me because (more…)

It’s no secret that the real house parties are in Brooklyn. Just ask Liane, who is known for hosting some of the best shindigs in town. A throw back to the true meaning of a block party, her bashes welcome anyone and everyone, that is except for Glenn Beck but I will let her let tell you why he is off her guest list.

Age? 26

Places you have lived? Salisbury (MD), New York (NY), London (UK)

Places you want to live? Where do you go after New York?! Seattle, New Orleans, Washington DC, and when I win the lottery I guess I will retire to Brazil.

What do you do? I work for a healthcare non-profit in communications, which covers everything from newsletters, publicity, online social networking, events; the whole gambit.

Do you feel that the house party is rare in New York City and people mostly end up at bars when they want to hang out?

Well, I can see why Manhattan house parties are kind of lame because they are not very big and everyone is worried about the other two hundred people that live in their building. But in Brooklyn I think people are comfortable and there are not as many concerns about noise or people coming in and out of your apartment. I had a birthday party where the noise was so loud that you could hear it down the block. Instead of having the police knock on our doors, we just had random neighbors come by asking to join the party. I think that Brooklyn has a more democratic feeling in terms of the people that live on your block, whether they have lived there for two or twenty years. It’s like a grown up Sesame Street where people are your neighbors and want to get to know you. I find that the more time I spend in New York, the less time I spend at bars. Bars are for suckers right? Because if you want to hang out with your friends why do you have to go a bar to do that?

What is the most fun you have had in NYC?

Halloween was a blast. Halloween in New York is a very special time because it feels like it is everyone’s birthday. That said if you hate Halloween then it is not your birthday. In addition, my favorite times are when you find yourself in a room where you know everyone and you realize how lucky you are to live in such an anonymous city and yet it is so familiar and comfortable.

Do you feel there is any hostility towards the recent gentrification in your neighborhood?

I don’t think so. At the end of the day this is New York, which is ever evolving and I am not one to say that things need to stay the same. One of the great things about cities is that they are growing and it is not dead space. We don’t really own any part of the city and it is its own beast. When people get really up in arms about something that upsets their routine it is like then go live in the country and you will have a very predictable life. There are seven million nine hundred and ninety nine thousand nine hundred ninety nine people here living with you and you are not in control.

Given those numbers, where do you go when you need space?

The highest point in Prospect Park, I don’t even know if it has a name. There is a set of steps that takes you up to this overlook and you can see out to Coney Island, which is cool. I am also a huge fan of Fort Tilden Beach but that does not seem like a quiet secret place any more.

What is the best kept secret in New York?

There are so many things one would think are a secret but I feel like fifty percent of people know but I guess for the wintertime any bar with a fireplace that makes a good hot tottie.

Being single, how hard is it to meet guys?

I guess I don’t think about meeting guys any more [laughs]. In some ways adding another variable like a guy into my life is scary and I am not sure I want that complication. Of course if I met someone that I thought was special, I would totally say all of that is bullshit. It is not easy to meet guys but that is because there are so many people and perhaps that is what being in your twenties is about. You have so many options so why would you want to settle on one person? This is the time in our lives where we should be having fun and taking care of ourselves.

How selfish do you think we should be in our twenties?

I think you have to be a hundred percent selfish now but also, in a sense, still do things that are good. Selfishness is a funny word because (more…)