*Pssst!*

Hey, you.

Yeah, you reading this sentence. Do you hear that?

No?

Be still and quiet, and wait a few seconds.

Now do you hear it?

Yuuup, that's the sweet, sweeeet angelic serenade of second-year fellowship life calling my name as I gracefully exit the clutches of my first year of fellowship training. 🥹

I'm actually in awe that I'm finally in the next stage of my training, moreso because it symbolizes that I've now been doing this nephrology thing in Atlanta for a year. How incredible is that?? I don't feel like I've been here THAT long, but at the same time chief year feels like a lifetime ago. I also don't feel like I know as much about nephrology as I would like to know, but I'm also giving myself grace because I still have a ways to go before I become board-certified in this subspecialty. Plus, even when I'm done with fellowship and am board-certified, I'll still be learning on-the-go as this field continues to evolve and advance thanks to all the ongoing research and clinical breakthroughs occurring on a routine basis. That being said, I've lately been surprising myself with the confidence I've developed in handling a variety of clinical situations related to nephrology. I've also been able to comfortably answer fellowship-related and clinical questions that the brand new fellows in our program have been asking me over the past week. With as much work as I've put in over this past year, it is encouraging and satisfying to see just how much I've learned and grown in such a short amount of time.

Last week, I started off second year with several clinic shifts in dialysis, transplant, and my general nephrology continuity clinic, all while helping orient the new fellows to their new lives. I had just finished my first year of training with a bang by coming off a seven-day stretch of inpatient work the previous week that included a bunch of call nights (had a call night on the 4th of July that made me miss live fireworks…but I did get to watch my own personal fireworks display from the comfort of my couch on CNN 😂) and some really rough patches throughout the week comprised of difficult clinical circumstances and encounters. Thankfully, the stretch ended decently with a relatively chill weekend, which then allowed me to better prep for the week of clinics and research activities ahead. My relatively lighter clinical load last week also allowed me some time to reflect on just how tough the year had been as a whole. The learning curve was incredibly steep, especially in the first half of the year. The inpatient wards were forever busy, and it was hard to catch a break regardless of whether I was on our inpatient service or on the consulting service (I more often than not was carrying both at once 😅). Most call nights were busy, which left me feeling drained of energy most weeks I worked inpatient, and there were quite a number of patient losses that we mourned.

On the flip side, I got the chance to meet so many amazing patients, families, members of the healthcare team from all disciplines, and people in the community I live in and serve. I've also developed wonderful relationships with the other fellows in my program and throughout the hospital, the faculty in my division, the nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, social workers, clinical nutritionists, and pharmacists that I work closely with, all of whom are critical to delivering the A1 patient care that we dedicate ourselves to. I certainly would not have been able to make it through this year without their support! It would be remiss of me not to mention how much I've grown to appreciate the city of Atlanta, the population of people who make up the city, and everything that this place has to offer. From the delicious food scene and the multicultural makeup of the city to the dynamic sports teams and all the awesome attractions sprinkled throughout the city, Atlanta has proven to be a fun and exciting place to live. Not so fun when you're stuck in mind-numbing traffic at times, but you just learn how to live with that. 🤷🏿‍♂️

Before saying sayonara to my PGY-4 year (really PGY-5 since I did a chief year, but we don't need to get into that right now 🙃), I kept myself busy in the six weeks between my last post and now engaging in a variety of activities. Outside of all the clinical work I completed, I got the opportunity to lead a division-wide journal club discussion alongside my co-fellow that was focused on clinical studies testing SGLT-2 inhibitor use in chronic kidney disease (CKD). Although I was well aware of how useful this class of medications is for diabetes management, I was much less familiar with how it could be used in the CKD population. Presenting the journal articles that we read for this discussion gave me a lot of insight into just how much potential SGLT-2 inhibitors have in helping people with CKD, while giving me additional practice in leading a journal club discussion.

With the new Arthur M. Blank Children's Hospital opening this fall, faculty, trainees, and staff workers have been given the mandatory opportunity to tour the facility. I spent the majority of a workday (after a tiring weekend on service) touring the hospital with other people in my division and all I can say is that the hospital is MASSIVE. Two million square feet is A LOT OF SPACE. The technology and amenities integrated into this nineteen-story hospital is unreal. I really don't think words can do this building justice…if we were allowed to post pictures of it on social media, I would be sharing them with you because that's really the best way to capture what we saw. But we can't really share any footage of the hospital since it technically has not been revealed to the public yet 😅. I really don't think some families are going to want to leave the hospital, it is just that nice! As with any project, there are some hiccups that still need to be ironed out that I hope get resolved before the grand opening. Overall though, seeing the building with my own eyes made me that much more excited about working there this fall! We'll see how moving everything from our current hospital to that hospital in one day goes though…🫠

Because I'll have more dedicated time outside of the clinical setting these next two years in fellowship, I plan to get more involved in opportunities and projects that interest me. One of them is a two-year track offered by Emory called the Health Equity, Advocacy, and Policy (HEAP) track, a structured learning track where I'll be able to not only take a deeper educational dive into how ingrained these subjects are in our healthcare system, but will be able to engage with like-minded learners and faculty in the program who want to make a positive impact in the communities we serve. I'll have the opportunity to come up with a capstone project related to health equity, advocacy, and/or policy that is focused on making an impact in our community. I met some of the outgoing learners in the program and got the chance to hear about all the cool projects that they were involved in. I then attended an orientation meeting with my cohort and got really excited about what we will be learning and doing throughout our time in the program. I'm looking forward to this being a highlight of my fellowship experience!

I also took some time this past month to attend a welcoming event at the Atlanta BeltLine to meet some of the new interns getting ready to start their respective residency programs at either Emory or Morehouse. Most of them were Black and all of them came from backgrounds underrepresented in medicine. It was a fun event where I got to network with other residents and fellows from various departments while also hearing about how nervous and excited the new interns were. I shared a good amount of advice and wisdom with them and wished them the best as they embarked upon their clinical training. While talking with them, it hit me like a ton of bricks that it had been five years since the start of my intern year…that's craaaaaaazy. 😯

In the midst of the flurry of activity that made up my June, I thankfully had a vacation week where I was able to kick back and relax for a bit. I spent some time with my brother in Houston to celebrate his birthday, and also spent a portion of the week with my wife at a cozy Airbnb on a beach in Hilton Head to soak up some sun, swim in the ocean, and enjoy some delectable seafood. With the increase in unstructured free time available to me moving forward, I hope to be able to see family and friends more often, and to also spend even more uninterrupted time with my wife whether that be on date nights, excursions, movie nights, you name it!

In addition to more free time to scratch my social itch, I'm also looking forward to spending the majority of my time these next couple years not only getting better clinically as a pediatric nephrologist, but also engaging in the community, completing my fellowship research project, teaching med students and residents a thing or two about topics related to nephrology, participating in mentoring opportunities, engaging in passion projects, going to various conferences, becoming more involved in professional organizations, and figuring out what the hell I'm going to do after my fellowship training is over. I have a few inpatient weeks and weekend call shifts coming up this summer, but my inpatient duties should begin to cool off quite a bit in the fall once the new fellows have adjusted to their new lives and have taken their pediatrics board exams.

I intend to use this upcoming service time to push myself out of my comfort zone and take on even more of a leadership role on the inpatient wards now that I have a year of fellowship under my belt. I really want to make a concerted effort to mold myself into a better physician, educator, advocate, researcher, and leader, regardless of how uncomfortable the process may feel. I've got to make the most of the time I have remaining in training because once I'm done, I won't have that trainee safety blanket covering me anymore. I want to be the best version of myself that I know I can be once I graduate from my program, which means that I need to not only continue putting in the work I'm putting in, but also take it a step further and reject complacency by putting myself in situations that will allow me to continue growing towards excellence. I owe it to myself, my loved ones, my patients, my co-workers, my mentors, to all of those who look up to me, and to my community.

What a way to wrap up a post! Thanks for reading and for all of your love and support!

I hope you are having a fantastic summer so far! Stay safe and cool!

“Pressure is nothing more than the shadow of great opportunity.” — Michael Johnson

– Black Man, M.D.

P.S. – These Olympic trials and soccer tournaments have been fire!! I simply cannot wait for the Olympics to start! And then football season will be just around the corner, which means I'll get to enjoy another thrilling season of fantasy football! 😄