Vitality at UB DoctHERS – A Scrabble of Medicine and Meaning
This past week, I had the privilege of returning to the University at Buffalo as an invited speaker for the DoctHERS Women’s Health series. The event brought together medical students, alumni, and healthcare professionals to reflect on what it means to thrive in medicine. My topic was Vitality—how we sustain energy, balance, and resilience across long-spanning careers.
To make the conversation engaging, I framed my talk as a kind of medical Scrabble, using terms from physiology and anatomy to illuminate lessons that extend well beyond the clinic. Each word carried both its scientific meaning and its metaphor for life in medicine.
I began with Mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell, a reminder that our careers demand energy and stamina—and that vitality starts with how we fuel ourselves. For me, this has meant joining the “4:30 AM club,” carving out time for reflection, exercise, and creativity before the day begins.
I spoke about Myelin, the protective sheath that insulates nerves and allows signals to travel faster. To me, mentors are our myelin—they protect us from unnecessary detours and accelerate our growth. I shared my gratitude for mentors across stages of my life, from high school to medical training, and the importance of becoming that support for others.
Diastole, the heart’s moment of rest, symbolized the importance of recovery. As physicians and professionals, we need our own “refilling periods”—phone-free dinners, walks through the neighborhood, or creative outlets like my artwork. Without rest, the systole of our lives loses its strength.
Other terms followed—Homeostasis and Allostasis for balance and adaptability; Synapse for building connections across disciplines; Emmetropia for leadership with clarity of vision; Angiogenesis for innovation and new pathways; Apoptosis as the reminder that sometimes we must prune old ideas to make way for growth; and Auscultation, which taught me that empathy begins with truly listening.
Each of these words became more than science—they became reminders of how we navigate both careers and lives that are constantly evolving.
What made the day extra meaningful was not only giving the talk but interacting with students and colleagues. Their energy, questions, and perspectives reminded me that vitality also comes from community—the people who walk beside you.
Standing at the podium where I was once a student, I felt a full-circle moment—proof that vitality is not something we achieve once, but something we nurture constantly. Just as our bodies maintain balance through change, so do our lives in medicine. And just like Scrabble, the right combination of letters—or in this case, habits, values, and relationships—allows us to create words, meanings, and legacies larger than ourselves.
