Vaishali Jha is a premedical student.
“Why do you want to be a doctor?”
Ask any pre-med that question, and you’ll probably hear the same answer: “I just want to help people.”
I’ve said it, too—more times than I can count. But lately, I’ve started to question what that phrase even means. Not because I’ve lost faith in medicine, but because I’ve learned that helping is more complex, layered, and humbling than I ever imagined.
As the host of …
It started with a phone call from my aunt in India.
She wasn’t calling for advice. She just needed someone to talk to—someone who wouldn’t rush her, someone who’d sit in silence and just listen. Her voice was heavy with something I couldn’t name at the time. But now, after years of working in mental health spaces, volunteering in hospitals, and building a startup centered on accessible therapy, I recognize what …
In a clinic in India, I once watched a young mother wait for hours to be seen, clutching her child and a paper folder filled with years of handwritten notes. There was no digital health record, no streamlined triage system—just patience, resilience, and the unspoken expectation that care would eventually come.
That moment has stayed with me—not because it was unique, but because it was far too common. It reminded me …
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