Aliya Feroe recalls the flustered OB-GYN who referred her to another physician after learning she identified as queer. 

“LGBTQ physicians deserve an equal standing in the medical community and LGBTQ patients deserve the same quality of care awarded to anyone else,” said Feroe, a third-year Harvard medical student.

Increasing LGBTQ enrollment and training in LGBTQ health issues in medical schools can help achieve those goals, advocates say.

Most people call her "Lash," but LaShyra Nolen’s name is hardly the only unique thing about her. Last year, she became the first black woman ever elected as class president of Harvard Medical School (HMS).

Born in Compton, California, and educated in Los Angeles, Lash grew up with big dreams and equally daunting challenges.

Longwood Chorus members combat burnout, create community through song.

On various Tuesday evenings, the student lounge in Vanderbilt Hall transforms from a place of study to a creative sanctuary.  It fills with the harmonizing voices of students, faculty, physicians and researchers from the Longwood Medical area who carve a few hours out of their hectic schedules each week to come together and sing.

The 25-year old studied ecology and evolutionary biology as an undergraduate at Yale, then earned his master's in biochemistry from the University of Cambridge. Now he's three years into a joint PhD/MD program researching cures for infectious diseases at Harvard and MIT.

But if you ask him, he'll tell you that the biggest academic hurdle he ever had to overcome was in the fifth grade.

Three hours into the hot, muggy summer of Boston and Cambridge and Gabi is still smiling. We’ve been outside the entire time, battling humidity, some wind, sun, a little rain, and of course, tourists. Despite this exercise in patience Gabi’s disposition remains upbeat, cheerful, yet focused. In many ways, this familiar pattern is how Gabi navigated Harvard, first as an undergraduate and now as a first-year medical student at Harvard Medical School.

When he’s not studying, Harvard Medical School student Sean Fletcher counsels Boston adolescents about HIV and AIDS at Boston Children’s Hospital. He mentors minority high school students interested in health professions. And he’s a research assistant at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Lewis Hayden, dead 125 years now, would be proud.

“Est-ce qu’elle respire? (Is she breathing?)”

“Est-ce qu’elle pleure?” (Is she crying?)

My patient asked a barrage of questions as she tried to peer past the medical teams grouped around her newborn daughter.

Several members of the neonatal and pediatric cardiac ICU teams surrounded her baby, who was not crying or breathing. Soon, there was a burst of activity as they all promptly began resuscitative efforts.

For Mark Yost, the answer meant he was going home. When the clock struck noon this third Friday of March, 167 Harvard Medical School (HMS) students — 163 clinical and 4 non-clinical — learned where they will spend the next three to seven years of their training, and the specialty in which they’ll work.

“I’ve been creating art since childhood. Really, I just always found it to be exciting,” said Pamela Chen.

A third-year Harvard Medical School student, Chen currently has two paintings on display in the Gordon Hall offices of HMS Dean George Q. Daley, an honor that took her completely by surprise.

“Our students are always inspiring us with their many talents and it’s beautiful to be able to showcase Pamela’s artistic side right in the office of the HMS dean,” said Ed Hundert, HMS dean for medical education and the Daniel D. Federman, M.D. Professor in Residence of...

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It may be easy to forget that Harvard Medical School, wedged between towering hospital complexes and concrete and glass research facilities, is part of a vibrant neighborhood community. 

This year, HMS first-year medical students reached out to the School’s Mission Hill neighbors by hosting a Fall Fest party for students from the Mission Hill Grammar School on nearby St. Alphonsus Street.

HMS student council members, led by new student body president Lash Nolen, hosted the event, which provided an opportunity for medical students to connect and establish...

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It can be difficult to decide on a career path in high school or even college, let alone when you are a child, but Harvard Medical School student Jon Hochstein said it was an experience he had at a young age that influenced what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

A second-year student in the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology (HST) program at HMS, Hochstein was given a second chance at life following heart transplant surgery he had when he was 4 years old. Twenty years later, he wants to share his story to help others understand the importance of organ...

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For many of them, the act of donning their white coats for the very first time could only be described as nearly indescribable. 

“It feels unreal. I mean, I never would have imagined myself here as a kid. Now, we’re about to meet a patient. It’s really a miracle,” said King Fok, an entering Class of 2023 Harvard Medical School student who was born in Hong Kong and raised in Oregon.

“It’s actually shocking to me, in hindsight, that I was able to do this.”

Those were the words of Robert L. Satcher Jr., MD ’94, PhD, and former U.S. astronaut, commenting on a photo of one of his walks in space during a mission to the International Space Station in 2009.

“I got to do a couple of space walks. It was a lot like orthopedic surgery, but on a much bigger patient,” he said, referring to the engineering and mechanical work he and another astronaut performed on the space station during the walks.