I wasn't expecting to see my own face on the elevator doors at SGMC Health. But there I was, white coat and stethoscope, next to the hospital's message: "Hope. Healing. Human Kindness."

A Moment of Reflection

I stood there for a second and just stared. It's a strange thing, seeing yourself used to represent something bigger than yourself. My path to this point wasn't straightforward. Medical school, residency, the early days when I second-guessed every clinical decision. And now my photo is on the elevator.

It was humbling, honestly. Not in the way people say "humbling" when they actually mean they're proud. I mean it caught me off guard and made me think about what those words, "Hope. Healing. Human Kindness," actually mean in practice. Not as a slogan, but as something you try to do every day on rounds.

What It Reminded Me Of

Seeing my image there reminded me that patients and families see us before we say a word. We walk into rooms carrying whatever they project onto a white coat: hope, fear, trust, skepticism. That's a weight. We're not just managing diagnoses. We're the person standing in front of a family during some of the hardest days of their lives.

That photo on the elevator isn't really about me. It's about every resident and attending and nurse who shows up and tries to do this work well.

Gratitude

I'm grateful for the residency program here at SGMC Health. The attendings who taught me, the colleagues who pushed me, the patients who trusted me when I was still figuring things out. This place shaped how I practice.

Seeing my photo on that elevator was a quiet reminder: the work matters, and the people around me are the reason I'm able to do it.