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In this episode we meet Dr. Urooj Fatima, a native of Pakistan and first-year internal medicine resident at the Berkeley Medical Center in Martinsburg, West Virginia. During her first month of residency, Fatima participated in a cooking class on the Eastern Campus of the West Virginia University School of Medicine as a part of the Culinary and Lifestyle Medicine Track. Working alongside medical students and family medicine residents, she helped prepare meals appropriate for patients undergoing bariatric surgery. The cooking was facilitated by a chef and paired with lectures from diabetes experts and bariatric surgeons in a day of hands-on learning at the Erma Byrd Health Professions Education Center. 

While she was cooking, hosts Renée K. Nicholson and Ryan McCarthy spoke with Fatima about a dish at the heart of Pakistani cuisine. 

“Biryani is important to us in Pakistan and we have it on every special occasion. ​​You marinate meat in yogurt and cut up onions and tomatoes–lots of tomatoes! And you then cook the onions and tomatoes together while you boil the rice. Then, you create layers, one of meat, one of rice, over and over again. Then, it goes in the oven on a slow temperature, creating a meat and rice layered cake. It’s spicy.”

Fatima also shared how her love of food helps shape her medical practice. “You have to be culturally relevant, understanding patients, their needs, their home. When we speak to patients, we need to understand where they are coming from.” She also shared, “I really like mysteries, stories, novels–these are my things. In medicine, I love puzzle solving,” which prompted Nicholson to respond, “With you and your patient, it's a co-constructed mystery. ”

Healthcare is Human is created by Ryan McCarthy and is a signature program of the Berkeley Medical Center Internal Medicine Residency in Martinsburg, WV, https://medicine.wvu.edu/internal-medicine-eastern-division/residency/

This podcast is engineered by Kym Mattioli.
 
Visit Healthcare is Human on Facebook and Instagram to see incredible photography by Molly Humphreys, native of Shepherdstown, WV. Find more of her world-class portfolio on Piccadilly Posh Photography https://www.instagram.com/piccadillyposh?igsh=Nm02YXlmdG1vZTJx

Learn more about Renée K. Nicholson, her poetry, prose, and other projects by visiting http://www.reneenicholson.com/

Healthcare is Human is supported by the West Virginia Humanities Council, WVU Medicine, WVU Foundation, Freedom’s Run Foundation, and generous donors in our community.
 
 Isaac McCarthy (PhD candidate, Ohio State University) plays the banjo to open and close the show. https://music.osu.edu/people/mccarthy.851

Healthcare is Human is featured on TED.com; KevinMD; Synapsis; The Gold Foundation; Narrative Mindworks; West Virginia Public Broadcasting; 100 Days in Appalachia; American Public Health Association; and Academy for Professionalism in Health Care, amongst others. 
 
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