Casey P. Schukow is a pathology resident.

If you want perspective on life, then dissect a human heart

Physician
March 11, 2025

Throughout my residency, I’ve had the opportunity to perform autopsies on many different people from different walks of life. One case in particular stood out to me. The decedent was not in the greatest state of health at the time of death and subsequent postmortem examination. After I removed his heart from the pericardial sac and began dissecting each coronary artery in sequential tangential sections back to their origins on …

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If you want perspective on life, then dissect a human heart

Traditional academia is not dying. It’s evolving.

Physician
July 4, 2024

“Tradition” comes from the Latin word tradere, meaning to “transmit” or “hand over.” In contrast, the word “academia” is derived from the Latin phrase acadēmīa (Greek: Ἀκαδημία or Akadēmía), which refers to Plato’s “Academy” – a school residing by olive trees where teachers and learners gathered to educate each other and share knowledge through undefined curricula of readings, lectures, debates, and discussions. “Traditional academia,” then, etymologically describes the passing …

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Traditional academia is not dying. It’s evolving.

Modernize medical education or face failure

Education
May 29, 2024

In 1950, newly trained physicians may have gone the entire lengths of their careers without experiencing a doubling in medical knowledge. In 2011, Densen predicted that medical knowledge would have a doubling time of approximately 73 days – or 0.2 years – by 2020. “What was learned in the first three years of medical school,” according to Densen, “will be just 6 percent of what is known …

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Modernize medical education or face failure

I was trolled by another physician on social media. I am happy I did not respond.

Social media
May 21, 2024

I enjoy using social media (SoMe). These social communications-based, user-generated platforms part of Web 2.0 can be a great way to eat up time while scrolling mindlessly through funny posts, “how-to” cooking videos, or find breaking news updates (while being mindful of source reputation, of course). In medicine, SoMe can be an exceptional tool to combat medical misinformation, evolve …

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I was trolled by another physician on social media. I am happy I did not respond.

What I learned about medicine in the House of Pain

Physician
November 22, 2021

Recently, I finished reading a book about Dr. D.S. “Doc” Ping titled The Legend of Doc Ping. Doc, a former United States Marine and Vietnam veteran, mentored me for a near-decade from my adolescence through early adulthood. As I was reading this book, I could not help but reflect on my time training with him, and the lessons I learned from “Ping’s Dojo,” especially as they pertain …

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What I learned about medicine in the House of Pain

How I accepted hair loss at 19

Conditions
July 4, 2021

I will never forget the first time my thinning hairline hit me in the face with an openhanded, five-finger slap.

It was in February of 2014, the spring semester of my freshman year in (undergraduate) college. I was only 19 at the time. A then-football teammate of mine and I had placed a bet on the upcoming Super Bowl XLVIII. I had all of my marbles placed on the Denver Broncos, …

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How I accepted hair loss at 19

Please don’t ask about my test scores, Mom

Education
June 22, 2021

Being a medical student in a family that does not have any doctors, honestly, has many perks. Although I may not have all the experience a tenured physician has in diagnostics and clinical management, I recognize the importance my current exposures in medicine give me in addressing the concerns of my family members. While answers may not always come to me immediately when I’m asked things like, …

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Please don’t ask about my test scores, Mom

In crisis, danger and opportunity are present

Education
June 14, 2021

“I am the one who knocks … I am not in danger, I am the danger … Play in a rage …”

While the first two quotes may be better attributed to the former high-school-chemistry-teacher-turned-drug-dealer Walter White in AMC’s hit show Breaking Bad, that final quote is reminiscent of my former collegiate defensive line coach, one of my greatest mentors and inspirations as I set my closing sights on becoming a …

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In crisis, danger and opportunity are present