U of T Medical School, “MCAT for Black Students”, Poetry and Women’s Rights – Chika Stacy Oriuwa Atila TV 011
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Chika is a medical school student at the University of Toronto Medical School. She graduated with a Bachelor of Health Science from McMaster University.
Chika is also a poet, writer and an advocate for gender and racial diversity in medicine. She helped grow a program called the BSAP, Black Students application process. Students still have to meet the same MCAT requirement for grades and they can also write an essay explaining why they chose the BSAP program. Chika was the only student to identify as black in her first year of medical school among a class of 259 at the University of Toronto in 2016. After the BSAP was introduced, there are now 15 black students in the current first-year class.
In this episode we talk about balancing her creative passion for poetry and writing with medicine, systemic bias and discrimination in the medical industry, working hard without burning out and much more.
Full interview and video: https://atila.ca/blog/tomiwa/u-of-t-medical-school-mcat-for-black-students-poetry-and-womens-rights-chika-stacy-oriuwa-atila-tv-011
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0m74ZmCPgjvp5WGOMg3P9C
Listen on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-atila-podcast/id1440531021
Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn_Hldc4qDg
Timestamp
- “Is Affirmative action and programs like BSAP unfair?” [23:45]
- What is something you can do to increase your chance of getting into medical school? [28:05]
- Advice for getting into McMaster Health Science [10:20]
- Being a strong advocate for Women’s reproductive rights and pro choice while growing up in a pro-life Catholic uprbinging? [37:25]
- How do you find time to write poetry and pursue your creative endeavors while balancing your medical school? [43:28]
- How did you change between highschool and university? [12:27]
- How did you feel about being the only black student in medical school? [17:26]
- Experiencing failure for the first time. [14:46]
- What’s it like being both a female and black in medicine? [32:55]
Links
U of T Medical School Black Student Application Program (BSAP): http://applymd.utoronto.ca/black-student-application-program
Articles by Chika:
https://www.flare.com/how-i-made-it/chika-stacy-oriuwa/
https://www.flare.com/identity/black-physicians-in-canada/
Atila Tech’s instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atilatech/
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