Letter to the Editor: The Experience of a Queer Pre-Health Student
Letter to the Editor: The Experience of a Queer Pre-Health Student
I love being a pre-health student. I love knowing that one day, no matter how long it takes me to get there, I will become a physician and leave the world better than I found it. And I love being queer, too—even though I’ve had to hide it ever since I first realized it about myself, even though in some spaces I still have to hide the various parts of my evolving identity. Because even though college is about evolving, growing, learning more about yourself—there is still a culture of heteronormativity. It pervades many spaces, though some less than others, and I have never not felt its presence in the pre-health community. I have yet to feel fully like I belong in pre-health spaces, like I don’t need to mask who I am to fit in; other queer pre-health students have told me that they feel like this, too. This doesn’t mean I think this kind of culture is intentional—it’s the lack of intention involved in structuring these spaces that gets to me.
I don’t know if it will be like this when I’m a doctor, too, but I do know that pre-health education isn’t doing much to change it, at least at Miami. The general sociology prerequisite for medical school fails to cover the intricacies of how marginalized identities can factor into healthcare (and life in general), and getting involved in medical humanities or DEI work is, for the most part, wholly optional. When the road to becoming a doctor—not just a career goal, but a life one—requires more resilience than one could guess, it is vital to have a support system, and this is something feelings of isolation or exclusion can harm in several ways. This is why, because I love being a pre-health student, I think we need to take a long look at the ways in which we emphasize—and fail to emphasize—equity, inclusion, and justice throughout the entirety of healthcare education.
