Robyn Alley-Hay, MD

The mood hung in the air like a clenched jaw, a clenched fist, and slumped shoulders. I watched a fellow patient shuffle by the nurses’ station with his little paper cup. You know, the ones that are an inch or two tall and wide with a slight lip; the kind you see strictly in hospitals. I knew it was brimmed with multiple meds the colors of the rainbow. And, of ...

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The number of women going into medical school has risen to top the number of men admitted. Harvard has its first Black woman student body president. I am seeing more and more women sharing their experiences and uplifting other women in my physician coaching groups. “It’s like, we’re not going to take this anymore,” said Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, referring to sexist comments made by a colleague in Congress. You have to admire ...

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As a medical student, I was finally starting my clinical rotations, a time of great anticipation and celebration among medical students and their families. After two years of book learning, I was going to be called "doctor" and wear my short white doctor's coat. I was thrilled! As we gathered in the lecture hall, and over the hubbub of my equally excited classmates, I notice the huge screen down in front. ...

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The COVID pandemic has revealed chasms between health care delivery system tectonic plates, revealing disparities of care and treatment of people of color and underrepresented groups. I write this from my own feminine perspective in hopes of cultural change. We have to start with us, the doctors and other health care workers. We have to see the inequities. I have one regret about my career as an obstetrician/gynecologist. I regret my ...

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Recently, I was a speaker at a conference for 200 physician moms. Most attendees were early- to mid-career. I had to laugh — I was one of the oldest doctor moms in the room. I thought to myself, where are the later-career moms? How many women are quitting medicine mid-to-late career? It is worse than I thought. According to recent research done at the University of Michigan, 40 percent of ...

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Dear colleagues, I know you have seen these questions: Do you currently have any physical or mental impairment that could limit your clinical practice? Are you currently taking any medication? Have you ever been hospitalized for any reason? Have you ever been hospitalized for, or diagnosed with, a psychiatric disorder to include substance abuse? Ugh! I hate, hate, HATE these questions! "It is none of their business," or at least that is what I told ...

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Dear friends— especially my colleagues, I recently failed a class (I have been working on a PhD in psychology) and found myself immobilized and disengaged from life, personal happiness and joy. I actually didn’t even tell my husband, who is my true confidant of my feeling and thoughts, until the following day. I found myself in that familiar place of guilt and shame. I thought I had transformed a lot of ...

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