Jessica Kiarashi is a neurologist and can be reached on Twitter @jkiarashimd.

My motherland is burning, but patient care can’t wait

Physician
October 13, 2022

My relationship with my cultural identity has always been a complicated one. As many children of immigrants can relate, I often felt disconnected from my parents’ country of origin in an attempt to assimilate to American life.

I was born in Manhattan, New York, and have always defined myself as a New Yorker first and an Iranian-American second. From a young age, I have watched from the periphery as Iran has …

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My motherland is burning, but patient care can’t wait

Physician advocacy in the age of COVID-19

Conditions
March 23, 2020

In “Why doctors should get political,” I focused on the need for doctors to voice their opinions in order to rally patients and inspire them to take control of their own health, but what about the responsibility we have to ourselves, our families, and our colleagues? Who will advocate for us as health care providers and especially for those on the front lines putting themselves at …

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Physician advocacy in the age of COVID-19

Why doctors should get political

Policy
March 12, 2020

I became a physician to help people. So isn’t fighting for issues that help protect my patients such as racial equality, LGBTQ rights, gender pay equity, access to health care, and education all part of patient care?

Don’t my patients want to have a doctor who is fighting for them both in the office and outside it?

When I started working as a resident physician and later went on to my attending …

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Why doctors should get political