In this episode, Drs. Omar Young and Abhishek Sripad sit down with Dr. Lauren Siff, a double board-certified urogynecologist and Chief of Gynecology and Chief of Urogynecology at the Central Virginia VA Health Care System. She also serves as Associate Professor at the VCU School of Medicine and is affiliated with the VCU Institute of Engineering.

Dr. Siff shares her journey into medical training and education, reflecting on how her early experiences shaped her passion for simulation-based learning. The conversation explores the evolving role of technology in medical education, including an overview of augmented reality (AR) and how it enhances learner engagement and skill development.

The discussion dives into the purpose and advantages of simulators in medical training, highlighting the key principles that make simulation effective—from psychological safety to deliberate practice and structured feedback. Dr. Siff also discusses how stakeholder input and logistical considerations reshaped the initial simulation vision, offering valuable insight into implementation challenges and successes.

For educators and program leaders, this episode provides practical guidance on incorporating simulation into teaching and key considerations for program directors integrating technology-driven learning into their curricula.

Audio Notice: Several brief portions of the recording were not captured due to technical issues. This can happen with technology, especially with our doctors and guests traveling and working nationwide. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

In this episode, co-host Abhishek Sripad, MD sits down with host Dr. Omar Young for an in-depth conversation on holistic review in medical school admissions. Dr. Young shares his personal journey into medical education and what led him to focus on admissions practices and evaluation frameworks.

Together, they unpack the concept of holistic review, offering clear takeaways for listeners and explaining how it addresses long-standing flaws in standardized testing and score-based evaluations. The discussion traces the evolution of admissions frameworks, examining the advantages and shortcomings of traditional models and the challenges institutions face when adopting holistic review.

The episode also focuses on real-world implementation, from training individual interviewers to balance experiences, attributes, and metrics, to guiding program leaders in developing mission-driven value statements and program-wide evaluation strategies. This conversation provides practical insight for anyone involved in medical education, admissions, or applicant evaluation.

Timestamps:

1:50 How did you get involved in Medical Education?

6:12 What is holistic review?

8:34 Step 1 Testing Experience

11:23 Medical School Testing Flaws

12:45 Benefits of Hollistic Review

15:30 What Hollistic Review Does

18:18 Omar Young Real life Example of Hollistic Review

21:11 Advantages to the older framework

23:00 disadvantages of evaluating via scores

25:36 Alignment Check-Index

27:50 How would you instruct/guide the individual interviewer to conduct their interviews?

32:50 as a program leader, how do you move towards developing holistic review as the method of applicant evaluation for the entire program?

40:10 Med Ed Moment

Teaching Advocacy in 21st-Century Medical Education

In this powerful episode, we dive into one of the most urgent and evolving topics in medical training today: how to teach advocacy as a core clinical competency. Host Dr.Young is joined by two leading voices in Complex Family Planning—Dr. Clayton Alfonso, MD, and Dr. Amy Bryant, MD—to explore what advocacy looks like in modern medical practice and why it matters now more than ever.

Across the conversation, Dr. Alfonso and Dr. Bryant reflect on how they first stepped into advocacy work, how their clinical experiences shaped that evolution, and what today’s trainees need to understand about their power and responsibility as physician-advocates.

Listeners will hear practical guidance for residents, fellows, and educators—including how to begin building advocacy skills, where to find mentors, how to engage with legislators and communities, and how professional organizations like ACOG can support early-career physicians.

Episode Timestamps & Key Questions

2:20 — What Is Complex Family Planning? The guests unpack what Complex Family Planning involves and how advocacy naturally intersects with their clinical practice.

5:30 — “What was the moment you realized advocacy needed to be part of your career?”

11:35 — “How were you taught advocacy? How would you teach it now?” Both physicians discuss their early exposures to advocacy and the gaps they aim to fill for today’s trainees.

17:50 — “What is different now about teaching advocacy compared to 10–15 years ago?”

21:45 — “Why should I care about advocacy?” The guests respond to the question trainees most commonly ask, reframing advocacy as a skill that protects both patients and physicians.

23:51 — “How can advocacy skills support long-term careers and well-being?”

29:39 — “If a trainee asked you what the highest-priority advocacy issues in OBGYN are today, how would you answer?”

42:04 — “What is the first concrete step a resident can take tomorrow?”

48:27 — MED ED MOMENTS Each guest offers a final message—one key insight they hope listeners carry with them as they step into advocacy roles of their own.

In this episode, our guests explore what health equity truly means—why it matters, how it shows up in training environments, and what it takes to build systems where all learners and patients can thrive. We begin by defining equity from the perspectives of clinicians and educators, then shift to the realities of the clinical learning environment, highlighting how structural barriers, cultural norms, and subtle interpersonal dynamics can create exclusion.

Our panel shares candid examples of inequities that often go unnoticed, discusses how bias shows up in evaluation and feedback, and reflects on how work environments can either promote belonging or reinforce disparities.

The conversation then moves to actionable solutions: structural reforms in curriculum and policy, the power of mentorship and sponsorship, strategies for fair assessment, and the responsibilities of leaders in shaping equitable training spaces.

We close with each guest offering one key takeaway— Med Ed Moment!

3:10 What does Health Equity mean to you?

7:08 What does health equity mean in the clinical learning environment?

11:39 What are the biggest barriers you see to creating equity in the clinical learning environment?

17:56 Have you had any experience where the environment was not equitable?

24:25 When do we see inequities in clinical learning environments?

28:01 What strategies have you seen make a real difference in promoting equity and belonging

31:45 What role do mentorship and sponsorship play?

34:56 How have you changed evaluation systems or feedback culture to promote fairness?

41:59 What is the one key nugget (Med Ed Moment) you would want our listeners/viewers to take away?