Peter Rezkalla is a third-year medical student at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (USA) and describes himself as a “human, Christian, son, brother, Disney fanatic, friend, medical student, and 'YouTuber'." He has a passion for the arts, more specifically the performing arts, and has always been consumed with its’ relation to science.  As Peter recounts:   "Growing up, I was always captivated by the arts and fascinated with science, but never truly felt either side accepted the other. I succeeded in my academic work with my “smart” friends and then left to choreograph theater work with my “arts” friends. (I use quotation marks because I believe both sides offer ingenuity to the other if they only allow themselves to explore.)”  

In medical school, Peter was able to channel his artistic talents into several endeavors. He has developed a highly successful Medical Improv course open to students, residents, nurses, and physicians. The course was able to educate people about the value of empathy skills in medicine. Peter had heard many in the medical education community doubt the ability to teach empathic skills, but found through Improv this was definitely not the case. He went on to become his medical school’s official videographer and created a video sharing his fellow classmates’ compelling acceptance stories, worked on AMA Video Challenges for his colleagues, and was a cameraman for a medical documentary produced by Dr. Saray Stancic titled CodeBlue. During this time Peter also chronicled medical student stories in his medical school through a Humans of NJMS Facebook page.

After USMLE Step 1, he had a “reset”, and it allowed him to begin anew in his 3rd year of medical school. This is where he decided to start his YouTube channel: Doctor Disney. Peter recounts why he started his Doctor Disney YouTube Channel:

So, I picked up a dream of mine - almost a summation of my prior activities - and started my YouTube channel - Doctor Disney! Today, I am humbled to use medicine to serve, and arts to entertain - two forms of healing humanity. I really just wanted a platform to simultaneously have a creative outlet, share stories, make people laugh, and create a positive impact on our world. Pretty simple.