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Malikiya Hinds: Little bit about what really encouraged me originally into Trinidad, but I was one on one hand. And there was limitations in terms of what I perceived as opportunities for people with disabilities or people that looked like myself to have, different opportunities to pursue dreams.
I'm just my dream, which is to become a physician. So I left Trinidad on my own in 2016. And I said I want to be a doctor if I can be here.
And at that point, I was a little bit afraid, actually, about what it meant to pursue medicine. Because again, having a disability and also not having seen many Black women physicians and more so Black women physicians that have a visible disability, that's a very unique niche really was something that made me wonder is it possible to pursue medicine?
When you see doctors in saving lives, you always show two hands and reactions, right? They never show a single hand of what it's capable of. My mission currently is like to show like, my name is future Dr. Valley, saving lives one hand at a time.
It's my inspiration to remember that, if there is a dream to do work and give back to your community, it's always possible with, a desire to pursue that dream
Stephanie Moss, MD: Welcome everyone. My name is Dr. Moss and I am interviewing Malikiya Hindes, who's a second year medical student at Harvard Medical School. She was born in the beautiful twin islands of Trinidad and Tobago and moved on her own to the United States in 2016 to pursue college. She graduated from UNC Chapel Hill in 2020 as a summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa and honors in chemistry along with a minor in Spanish and biology.
She did a two year research fellowship at the National Institute of Health, participating in sickle cell clinical trial research before starting medical school. Welcome!
Malikiya Hinds: Hi, how are you Dr. Moss? Thanks for having me.
Stephanie Moss, MD: Oh, you're welcome. I'm so glad to speak with you!
Stephanie Moss, MD: So tell me a little bit more. about your journey.
Malikiya Hinds: Yeah, so some background you mentioned, I'm originally from Trinidad and Tobago
I was born and raised there and then growing up there, I grew up in a more of, a very black, more lower income community that, Less access to medical care, and it was witnessing the disparity in terms of access to care and the delivery of health care opportunities really inspired me to pursue medicine.
I literally was in protest for wanting me to pursue medicine. And that's a little bit about what really encouraged me originally into medicine. And then I left Trinidad in 2016, basically because you could be a doctor in Trinidad, but I was one on one hand. And there was limitations in terms of what I perceived as opportunities for people with disabilities or people that looked like myself to have, different opportunities to pursue dreams.
I'm just my dream, which is to become a physician. So I left Trinidad on my own in 2016. And I said I want to be a doctor if I can be here. I'm going to be able to stabilize somewhere else. And so I moved to the United States on my own 2016. I lived in New York for a while and worked. And then after I applied and I got into University of Chapel Hill and I went there for college.
I was able to really get a experience into, research and what health care system looks like in the United States. And at that point, I was a little bit afraid, actually, about what it meant to pursue medicine.
Dr. Moss begins, providing a brief but impactful introduction to the remarkable journey of Malikiya. She highlights her academic achievements, research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and current pursuit of medical education at Harvard Medical School.
Malikiya Hinds: Because again, having a disability and also not having seen many Black women physicians and more so Black women physicians that have a visible disability, that's a very unique niche really was something that made me wonder is it possible to pursue medicine?
And interestingly, one of my mentors told me one time we met, we ended up being in the same lab. Ironically, I met her at UNC School of Medicine, and she told me, you do research you read a lot of papers, what research article that was peer reviewed just told you that one handed people can't be doctors.
That was like, you're really right. There's nobody that really verified that. So I was like I have to be the proof. And so anyways it really inspired me to really, push through with that dream and recognize that like the limitation was a limitation of my, mental thoughts of well, and I wanted to pursue this thing that I knew I was capable of and to be able to do the work that I always have dreamt of doing.
And yeah. For a couple of years now, I'm a second year medical student at Harvard. That's the kind of journey.
Navigating Medical School with a Disability [00:05:00]
Malikiya Hinds: I guess I pursue medicine and my own journey in medicine.
I'm really working on, again, the remembrance of the resilience and the grit that it took for me to get here into medicine. Also, recognizing that, like, When I look around, there's not people that look like me in any capacity in the space that I am. There are five Black women in my class of almost 200 here at Harvard.
Only 2. 8 percent of physicians in the United States are Black women are identified, and more importantly, I think of only about 3 percent or even less than that are people identified with disabilities. Again, the intersection of that is one number, the odds of theory have always been stacked against me.
And even growing up in Trinidad I could have, for example, been discouraged early on about, what the perception is like a physician. When you see doctors in saving lives, you always show two hands and reactions, right? They never show a single hand of what it's capable of. My mission currently is like to show like, my name is future Dr. Valley, saving lives one hand at a time.
I got this from Etsy. It's my inspiration to remember that, if there is a dream to do work and give back to your community, it's always possible with, a desire to pursue that dream, but also recognizing that you have to enrich yourself and Community and spaces of support. Like my mom has been incredible support my family, getting mentors like who I mentioned before, really telling me about what really the takes, and on a capability of doing something.
Malikiya's story is one of resilience and determination. Growing up in Trinidad and witnessing the disparities in healthcare access deeply influenced her desire to become a physician. She felt a responsibility to give back to her community and create opportunities for people with disabilities and those who look like her.
Malikiya Hinds: And that's why I tell people if you want to be a doctor, and you feel like you may not be capable remember you deserve to take up space in places where people might tell you that you may not. Look like the person who's representative, let's face representation matters. And if you don't see the representation that's there become that representation.
So that's what I hope to do to continue to show that limb defensive different ability status is still have the capacity to shape and change life, affect healthcare outcomes in positive ways, be able to have a good approach to medicine, in the most humanistic approach as possible.
Stephanie Moss, MD: I love that. That is So inspiring, your story. I love that phrase, Dr Heinz saving
Malikiya Hinds: lives one hand at a time.
Stephanie Moss, MD: Wait, what was it?
Malikiya Hinds: Dr. Mali saving lives one hand at a time.
Stephanie Moss, MD: Love it.
Malikiya Hinds: With my big stethoscope.
Stephanie Moss, MD: That's amazing and I think it's so important like you said to talk about those intersectionalities because it really, it just it stacks. When you talk about race, you talk about physical disabilities or being even a woman. All these different things are different challenges that can present itself.
And I love how you mentioned how having a mentor that really inspired you to keep going and get you away from our mindset. That kind of really can self limit us sometimes, like you said, that can really get us thinking like, no, I can't do it.
All these negative self talks that go around in our head. And sometimes we just need someone else to be like, hey, cut it out. Let's think logically. Have you seen a research paper?
Malikiya Hinds: Yeah, that was iconic.
Successes and Challenges in Medicine
Stephanie Moss, MD: Tell me about different challenges or successes you've had in your journey to date.
Malikiya Hinds: Yeah, so I would say a lot of the journey, just having one hand in general, it's a challenge like this is a very two handed world or a very You know, you never know how everything requires two hands, unless you don't have one.
So I guess a lot of things like opening doors, for example, that may be very heavy. But if you have one hand and you have overuse of one thumb, like that is severely limiting in terms of access.
I feel that some challenges that I had on the pursuit of medicine was maybe like just accessing maybe accommodation to some extent. Being able to have access to those accommodations to. Do things in academic institutions that I've been a part of and to be able to, do things in the clinic. But again, being born with one hand, rather than maybe having lost my limbs. So I've been able to really do well at adapting with time to be able to think outside the box.
For example, like when I started doing research when I was an undergrad I can't hold a pipette, with one hand and then, use another instrument, but I could use a stand and hide my test tube on there, and then I can pipe it after that, or utilizing gloves that are smaller or, utilizing my upper limb here to be able to hold things, etc.
And I'll do suturing, today, actually, right before this meeting, I met a physician. She's an ED doctor. She also has one hand and she intubates, she sutures everything. And I'm just like, you know what? It's just really being able to find those people in the spaces and know that it's possible and that, yeah, it's hard.
But like these challenges are challenges that Some of them, I anticipated some of them were way outside of the box of what I could have ever thought about would be a hardship in medicine or a hardship in my experience, pursuing medicine. But I would say that it's really keeping on my journey of trying to remain positive and surround myself with the community that's really uplifting.
Support, my journey of like, how do I adapt? How do I connect with more allies in the space? How do I find more women, a woman of color (POC) or people who identify with more marginalized identities so that we can be able to support each other to some spaces where medicine is predominantly like very conservative, very male, very white.
Being able to have that in those spaces has been very helpful. I would say my successes came from just having audacity to say... when I was in Trinidad. I've gone through a lot of times in life where people have just always tried to, I don't know, maybe it's from just, innate ableism or just not having the experience and knowledge of what people could do if you don't see a lot of people look like me, assume that I just can't do something.
Growing up I just remember like the first time I really had audacity was when I was younger and I wanted to rock climb and these people had told me I couldn't rock climb, and all my life I really believed I couldn't. I was like I have one hand, everybody who rock climbs has two hands, I just can't do that.
Anyways, one day I went in a hiking, there's a rock climbing activity and I told the person at the rock climbing station, I said, but I want to do it. And everybody around me was like, you can't do that. You have one hand. And I remember that day I was like I can either sit here and believe that I never could do this.
And I will give myself or remove myself the opportunity to even try.
Or I could say at least give me the opportunity to try now, because the only way I will know if I can do it is to give myself a chance. Anyways, in that rock climb, it was hard, pulling yourself up, because it was like free climbing.
When I tell you what everyone had, that was a lot. But I made it to the top of that mountain, and my success would have been like, very, that was a very significant moment in my life, because it was in that moment when I looked down from that mountain, all those naysayers who tried to convince me that I couldn't make it to the top, and they're all below there, trying to tell me I couldn't do it, and they're all clapping oh my god, I can't believe you did it, but you know what?
I believe, I had the audacity to believe in that moment that I can make it to the top and I did and I got there and anybody that ever thought that they could deny me the opportunities of my dreams all are at the bottom of that hill waiting to try to get to this day. So I would say that was an incredible success.
To be able to really force myself out of my comfort zone, even in the most. where it's easy to just give up and just be like I can't. So people just assume I can't do it.
But I left my country on my own in 2016. That took audacity.
My family's back in Trinidad and I see them sometimes, not all the time, but Just leave an entire culture and to come into American culture on my own. As a person going to the south, being able to adapt to an American educational curriculum.
When I was in college, there was no Caribbean students association of space that I felt like we would represent it. So we created it.
You don't see yourself represented, create it. I would say that's another success. I did a lot of research, working on my number 10 publication. I would say a lot of academic successes, I'm a medical student at Harvard.
I got to work at the NIH. I'm doing a research fellowship, I've been really hard working in terms of being prioritizing my studies, etc. But I would say the most important successes I've had are being able to remember that my dreams matter, my visions matter, the what impact I can have and will have in the world and in the space of patient care, it does matter and I'm committed to doing so.
And so even though I've experienced these challenges, I've experienced severe ableism, I would say, oh, so many things that maybe one day I'll talk about in some book or some op ed.
But I'm not discouraged from the journey because. I remember my why medicine and I think beyond these moments here and those hard things that have happened in life, like I see the vision and it's clear about the patients in the group and that I want to serve and, hopefully I'll know what specialty that was like,
Leaving Trinidad on her own at barely 20, Malikiya faced numerous obstacles, including homesickness and adapting to new educational systems. She also grappled with self-doubt and concerns about her competence due to her visible disability. However, her mentors and supporters continually reminded her of her capabilities, driving her to push through her fears.
When Malikiya doubted her ability to become a physician, one of her mentors offered a life-changing perspective: "What research article that was peer-reviewed just told you that one-handed people can't be doctors?" This epiphany motivated her to be the proof that people like her could indeed succeed in medicine. Her transformative journey from overcoming doubt to becoming a second-year medical student at Harvard is a testament to her resilience and courage.
Cultural Transition: Trinidad to the US
Stephanie Moss, MD: How did you navigate going into a complete culture change? I think actually a lot of people in the IMG world would probably really like to hear how you managed that [00:15:00]transition.
Malikiya Hinds: Yeah. That is a really good question. Honestly, it was quite a time because I can think back on it now fondly because I've been through it, but I'm pretty sure when I left Trinidad, I moved to New York and there's a diaspora for the Caribbean people, there, but there's like the New York energy.
So it's just okay, New York has a type of culture, but at the end, there's some level of like familiarity between the West Indian diaspora and all these other like people, in New York. But then I ended up going to North Carolina, which is I guess I consider it the South. A lot of people don't necessarily call it the South, but then I, engaging with Southern hospitality and what that very unique experience was like in that transition.
And again, being even further away from family, because I have maybe some aunts and cousins in New York, but again, I know I couldn't go home a lot of times, for example, to see my family in New York or, in Trinidad, because I just did not have the money. But A lot of times when there were break times I had to stay on campus and it was very like isolating a lot of the, moments.
And so I would say it was very difficult for that. Then also, I think, because I went to a PWI (predominately white institution), the experience of sometimes grouping blackness into a monolith.
For example, I am black. Yes, I'm black in America, but for example, as being an African American and having that nuanced experience, I can't say that I've had that because I didn't grow up here. So I think recognizing that , how do I, again, find the spaces of belonging, but also recognition of sometimes that belonging means that you can just Throw yourself into like just main groups. How do I have a sense of self and retain some aspects of my culture?
Because for example, when I moved to North Carolina, a lot of people did not understand my accent. So it was really hard to communicate. And it was really hard because then I had to start recognizing like, how do I say American words, et cetera. And then that started really affecting me mentally because the sort of feeling like I had to reject or have experienced almost like.
First hand cultural erasure and in efforts to be understood and in efforts to be normal in America. I also I'm a person with that as black, I have a disability. So like at some level, like I'm always standing [00:17:00] out in spaces that I often hide. I would say that it was very difficult.
And then the academic differences, A lot of times in the Trinidad, they would go to class and teachers will teach you and then you go home. Go to lessons, you come back. In college, they said, go home, read your book, you come with your thoughts. And that's yours, that's the knowledge. That was another transition change. And then I would say, The main thing was just homesickness, not being able to have Chuni food or be able to like, afford to do a lot of the things and leave the area was difficult. But it would even though it was hard.
I think I was very committed to making it. I'm very committed to. Crafting some level of community of support. And so it was really incredible to be able to find those spaces with time. Of course, it wasn't just an immediate thing that I was able to feel like I have people that like actually loved me and uplifted me.
I joined this group on my campus, it was called Sister Talk, where, you know, groups of black and brown women, people who are identified as women would come into the space and just talk about what they were experiencing that week. And it was a space that was led by one of my great mentors Dr. D. And it was really my introduction into sisterhood into the community and actually having that space of support and uplifting and recognizing that My experience is hard, but I'm not here by myself. And especially being away from my family having that space was incredible.
And actually, the PD, she is a woman of the illustrious organization of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated. And I just crossed into it number six on my great line. So that has very much been an impetus in terms of can maintain and community later on in my life. That's just ahead because I became a Delta later on. But that was helpful. Also talking to my mom, my siblings every day, both days on WhatsApp, being able to like, utilize that space to be able to have some semblance of connection when I didn't have that space on campus.
Recognizing that if I couldn't succeed, or I was struggling academically, where were the spaces of seeking help? I think one of the things that I had to learn or I'd learned, especially in college was asking for help. Asking for help, meaning, as a person who has, One, a different ability status. A lot of my independence in my life, I've been trying to prove to myself, at least when I was younger, and to others that I could do it.
Malikiya Hinds: So I just didn't ask for help. And I realized at some point I was like really struggling because again, being in this new space by myself in America. Even like in medical school now, being in Boston. Transitioning each time I leave, like I left the country, moved to New York, left New York, moved to North Carolina, like started over like a military child, moved from Boston, moved to D. C., left D. C. two years, come now I'm in Boston for medical school.
So it's almost like I'm upended in each time and I have to reestablish a sense of self and my community in each space. Having that consistent connection with my family back home, being able to talk to my mom on WhatsApp, being able to talk to my siblings who are also their being able to talk about what their struggle was like in medical school and, now has been really helpful.
Being able to have friends and supporters who love me, mentors who gave me opportunities. My mentors in college were the first ones to say, you should do research. This is the research that, these are opportunities that you should do. They were like, you know what? Your hand, that's not really an issue.
Let's think about how we adapt. Let's think about holding this there. It was just like, oh my God when you have people that are committed to and to like uplifting you, it's so much easier to attain your success. Even when there's spaces that are not successful. Helping you succeed or whatever.
Asking for help, at least for me, looked like, breaking down in my office with my mentor and saying, this is hard, like, how can I get resources? How can I connect to the learning center? How can I go to office hours? How can I ask my, Professors, at least in college Hi, I'm struggling. Can I get some more time on this? Being able to find those people on that space that is pouring into me so that I can be able to pour back out onto people has been incredibly beneficial in that journey and culture shock.
Stephanie Moss, MD: You said a lot of great things, like you talked about how you're getting back to your family and core even when you kept moving to all these places. It was so important to find this is me, this is what's important to me: community, family, what my dream is.
And something that really stood out to me is the learning how to ask for help. I see that as such a common thing that a lot of us who have intersectionalities, whether if that is disabilities, being a black and brown woman. A lot of us struggle to ask for help because we've worked so long to try to prove to others and prove to even ourself that we can do something, that we can be just like everyone else, or better, and especially that that pre med culture of just having to be better, having to be better.
For individuals who don't know, when I say the pre med culture, it means that Only like 1% of students of pre-meds who apply to medical school in the US actually get in. So that is really hard, that is a very small percent of individuals. So it ends up that people just develop this mindset of having to push themselves, perfectionism.
"I think I was very committed to making it. I'm very committed to. Crafting some level of community of support. And so it was really incredible to be able to find those spaces with time. Of course, it wasn't just an immediate thing that I was able to feel like I have people that like actually loved me and uplifted me." Malikiya
Moving from Trinidad to the US brought cultural shifts and a sense of isolation. Yet, Malikiya stayed committed to her goal, finding community and support through mentorship, sisterhood, and consistent connection with her family. Her ability to adapt and thrive in different environments is a testament to her resilience and unwavering determination.
Dr. Moss' Squared Experience
Stephanie Moss, MD: It's so interesting. I was actually just talking to my husband, literally today. We bought a boat during COVID. We're not sailors. We don't do anything like that, but we moved to Chicago for medical school.
Everything closed. It was a great deal. And it was like a fixer boat. So we were like, okay, we're going to remove the engine. We're going to redo the paint. That was now four years ago, and it still has never been in the water. And we went today just to look at it, and we were talking about, like, how that boat has been a really good representation for both of us of being okay with leaving things unfinished, leaving things not perfect. really disconnecting from that concept of needing to prove how awesome...
like no one was expecting us to build this boat or rebuild this. It really separated us from that like medicine competitive culture, and just try something new. So yeah not recommending that everyone just go randomly buy a boat. But it's important to learn because it's hard to ask for help.
Malikiya Hinds: exactly. Sometimes Being unfinished might mean that essay is not going to be complete by the deadline and life is okay. You will be okay. Sometimes you might get an L, you might not pass that exam, really thinking about how you advocate for yourself really matters, especially in pursuit of medicine when we'll be advocating on behalf of, your patient advocating for some time rest is so important. to undergrad there was a, the idea of you don't have to have a 4.0 or whatever to be able to pursue medicine or a 5.0. The MCAT so long ago, but, recognizing that it's okay to struggle. It's okay to ask for help.
And sometimes the most times it's okay to fail because when you fail, at least from my perspective, failing allows you to really think about it more creatively.
I'm like, okay, this is what happened. How do you think about it in a different way? How do I pursue that opportunity in a different way? Maybe I need to pursue, so I think you're so right.
This boat being a metaphor for sometimes it's okay to be unfinished, but sometimes it's okay to recognize that you can take a pause, maybe one day you'll go back to that boat, and maybe one day it will be on the water, it's not on the water now, but there's so much time for that, there's so much space, and there's so much opportunity.
Stephanie Moss, MD: Yes, oh, thank you for saying that, especially just that it's okay to struggle, it's okay to fail, if you're not failing, how can you do better. Just like there's always going to be a failure. failure, there's always going to be a success. If you have bad days, there always has to be an opposite.
There always will be one good day. , it's spectrum. I don't know if that made sense,
Malikiya Hinds: it made sense to me.
Stephanie Moss, MD: Okay, good. It was, it made sense in my brain, and then I was like, oh wait.
Patient Interactions and Empathy
Stephanie Moss, MD: I am interested in going through your own experience that you've had in your life, your lived experience with physical disabilities, how has it impacted how you connect with patients?
Malikiya Hinds: Yeah, that's a really good question. So when I came into medical school at HMS one of the things that I was wondering about my patient interaction was, should I tell my patients I have one hand, just to explain maybe they might question my competence. I'm already a medical student. I'm already, I'm having all these. things that I wondered about. And so what I ended up doing was just recognizing that I ended up not saying anything.
I just would show up in a room and just illustrate my like regular everyday personality. I clearly am a competent medical student and, knowledgeable about, at the level in which I'm needed to be, and being able to engage with patients. And I think that being able to like, just show that I'm capable of doing just the same role as people who came in with the two hands quite equivalent competent.
I might even argue even more because I just came in again with just okay I have to hold, come closer to your eyes because one eye is better, worse than the other one. Or maybe if I have to do ultrasound, I might have to hold something differently.
At the end of the day, my patients, they're very impressed. That's the extent that like, I'm a very what is the word? They always emphasize how much of a joy it is to be around me and how warm my personality is and how safe the space I really be intentional about trying to make them feel in terms of being seen, being heard, and trying to address all of the concerns that they come in with, being able to really extend that empathy and that compassion to whatever needs that they have.
I feel like that has been so tremendous in allowing me to show up as myself in the medicine space, And also acknowledge my patients, understanding that I have one hand, but they have been nothing that I have not been capable of doing within the room and the context because I can.
And so it's usually does not affect me in any negative way. It has not ever negatively had direct patient encounters that has been bad actually. It's been very empowering. With my patients I was how much of an inspiration I am to them and how they want to connect me with somebody else to like really be like, Oh, this person wants to be a doctor.
They were phrasing it was so lovely to see you be here. so I think that that's been my interaction with my patients. But in addition to that, being able to work with my patients and being able to think outside the box. How do I adapt and do things if I have to suture a person? How can I work. Medicine isn't an individual role and that's what I really love about medicine.
It's a team sport, literally, and it's incredible to be able to learn from the other practitioners and providers around me to be able to get their support in terms of interaction. Also recognizing that patients are here usually in the efforts of time to get here.
And there's something that is really incredible about the position that you are in as a future medical. Providing, I would assume as a doctor to be able to hold that space where people are coming to you to get healthcare here. I think that illustrating being able to be competent and be confident in the work that I do has been able to, work really well with my patient encounters and I hope to be able to continue that as I learn more about medicine as I learn more procedures of a, whatever specialty I end up going into.
That has been I guess the role of my disability in it. And the experience something that has been a challenge in terms of showing up, but also not a limitation in terms of denying me the opportunity to really engage with my patients and have a phenomenal interaction.
Of course, not all interactions with patients will be the best and I can't do every single thing like I said, but that's been my experience
Stephanie Moss, MD: Thank you so much for sharing that. I think that is a question that I can see coming up with individuals, whether that is teammates, classmates and instructors, like, how will patients interact?
And I'm so glad to hear that they've seen it as , you're just another provider. Happy and really receptive to your warmth and your intentionality of humanistic medicine and patient centered care. I think that is the most wonderful and empowering thing to remember that it doesn't matter what you look like.
It doesn't matter what things you can and cannot do, or society says you can and cannot do. You can still help individuals. You can still follow your dreams. You can still achieve your dreams, which is so important.
Malikiya Hinds: Exactly. Yeah.
Malikiya's lived experience with a physical disability has deeply impacted her approach to patient care. Her warmth, empathy, and intentionality have endeared her to patients, proving that competence and compassion transcend physical abilities. She embodies the essence of humanistic medicine, emphasizing patient-centered care and proving that visible disabilities do not define one's ability to excel in medicine.
Pearls of Wisdom for Aspiring Doctors
Stephanie Moss, MD: As we start to wrap up, is there any pearls of wisdom you would like to impart to other individuals in medicine who maybe have physical or invisible disabilities?
Malikiya Hinds: Yeah, so my Pearl of Wisdom being Future Dr. Mali saving lives in one hand, but no, seriously, I think for me my Pearl of Wisdom would be Take up space. I tell people that all the time. Take up space. Because they would always be somebody or some people or some faces that try to discourage you from pursuing things that you may not even, wonder if you're capable of doing it.
But you will never know if you could be doing something unless you try. Give yourself a chance to try. At least try. Be the one. Don't give yourself the no.
My mom always says, if you don't want to try something, let them tell you no. Don't deny yourself the opportunity before you go.
Give yourself the chance to try asking for help becausethis is not an individual specialty or like something that you have to do alone. Life is not Something that you'd have to do alone. There are people, and there's community and spaces to be able to support you and uplift you.
You're also more than just a medical student. at least for me, I think of myself more as just a medical student. I'm so much more of an individual outside of just my role as a future provider. I'm a dog. Mommy . I have so much more, and I have a lot to offer. And really encourage people to always remember how much you have to offer the world, how much you have to offer your patients, and to be reminded that you deserve to be here, even if you don't see yourself reflected.
And remember, representation matters, and if you don't see the representation, and you have the capacity in the brand, to do it. Be their representation, open that door and proceed. It will be hard. I'm not going to lie. I've had a hard time in medicine, having 1 hand and, being the 1st in my school at Harvard to have a single hand and pursue medicine.
But I will say that opening the door is something that is so much more powerful when you open that door for yourself, or at least widening a little bit. You have the capacity to hold the hands of people behind you to make that door wider for the future generation.
So that's the courage and that's the word of wisdom that I would leave. Take up space. You matter.
Stephanie Moss, MD: Take up space. You matter. Representation matters. I love those. Those were so wonderful and so important. I want to thank you, Malikiya, for sharing all your story and journey.
Summary of Malikiya's Journey
Stephanie Moss, MD: It is so helpful to hear from other individuals who have made it, who have been resilient, and to hear that they can do it, that they've been through stuff, and it's okay.
And I think that is so important. One of my motivations for this podcast is to really show people they're not alone in their struggle. If this is a, form of community or just encourage a community.It's helpful to hear that other people exist in the struggle. So thank you so much.
I'm going to finish off by summarizing you talked about growing up in Trinidad and moving to the United States in 2016 all on your own. You talked about the difference of being a black woman from Trinidad versus being maybe an African American woman here in the US and just growing up with those different identities
I think that is really powerful for, especially for other black individuals who come from other countries or don't grow up in the US. The American system, I think provides a lot of power to individuals to hear that they're not alone in that difference. You also talked about that transition to college and med school. How the different intersectionalities really took part, but you were able to find research mentors, community members, sisterhood, finding people that either looked like you or had similar experiences, and that really motivated you to keep going
To find that grounding that we need when we're struggling. I really liked that you talked about how You grew up with one hand, so you were used to the idea of making your own things work for you. This is a two handed society, and you always found a way to do things. Same thing when you got to medical school. You need a suture?
Okay, you'll figure it out. It's not this whole new thing. It's just that resilience and that practice of just trying to figure out how you'll do things. It's creative. You finished off by really talking about how important it is to take up space and be who you are. And it's okay if you're the only one. Representation matters.
Being in a room and having your voice heard. It is important for other people maybe that do not have the voice to be able to stand up for their needs. And I am so thankful for you really sharing all that you went through. I really think it will connect with a lot of individuals.
Stephanie Moss, MD: If individuals want to connect with you, what's the best way to do that?
Malikiya Hinds: Yeah, feel free to follow me on Instagram. My name is Malikiya. And my LinkedIn Malikiya Hinds. Feel free to message me and connect. I share a lot of my story about, my experience and my journey in medicine on there. And I'm also getting a prosthesis. Join me on the journey of what it is like to, again, have a limb difference in medicine and what that is to adapt to daily life. Those are places you can connect with me.
And yeah, thank you so much for the opportunity to be able to share some of my story and to be able to like, engage with the incredible audience to be able to remind you all that you matter, you can be a doctor if that's something that you dream of doing and to pursue your dreams.
Stephanie Moss, MD: Yes, thank you. I'll make sure to link your Instagram and your LinkedIn. And that is so exciting. I can't wait to follow you on your journey of getting a prosthesis and seeing how that new adaption goes. That sounds so exciting.
Malikiya Hinds: Yeah, we'll see,
Stephanie Moss, MD: it'll be a new experience for sure.
Malikiya Hinds: Literally.
Stephanie Moss, MD: Thank you everyone for joining in today. If you haven't already, make sure you subscribe to Life as a Patient Doctor because we have plenty more medical students, doctors, pharmacists. Caseworkers, social workers, we have a whole bunch of individuals who have been willing to share their story.
We're really trying to just humanize medicine and show that
your profession is not just who you are. There is so much more, that could be a disability that can be a health condition, that can be having kids while studying.
There's so many different aspects that have made the people that they are today and lead them to have a unique perspective when they treat and care for others.
Thank you all so much. If you haven't already, follow me on all the social media at @medpsycmoss and then I also have a website medpsycmoss.com where you can see my blog, new worksheet. I even shared my personal statement for residency. If you're getting there for residency or close, check that out.
Thank you so much everyone and I hope to see you all next time. Take care.