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In this episode ofProvider Pulse, Dr. Duncan Reid sits down with Dr. Ethan Hua, faculty in Interventional Radiology at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Dr. Hua shares his journey from growing up as the child of Vietnamese and Chinese immigrants in Southern California to finding his way into medicine — a path that included an unexpected pivot from marine biology, a difficult first round of medical school applications, and eventually discovering interventional radiology during a chance two-week elective in medical school.

Together, they explore:

• The genesis of the Provider Pulse podcast and why telling the “middle stories” matters
• The role of mentorship and why having a mentor can make the difference between success and failure
• The narrative arc required to succeed in medicine — and how to make it authentic
• The importance of trusting your gut in career decisions
• How Dr. Hua’s immigrant identity shapes the way he cares for patients and advocates for equity

This conversation is perfect for pre-med students, trainees, and anyone curious about the human stories behind medical careers.

Here are some links to resources which were mentioned during today's episode:

Thinking Too Much: Introspection Can Reduce the Quality of Preferences and Decisions by Wilson & Schooler (1991). Their experiments suggest that being asked to rationalize a decision can disrupt the natural evaluative process. So explaining a decision can interfere with your initial "gut" reaction.

You can download the paper here: https://bear.warrington.ufl.edu/brenner/mar7588/Papers/wilson-schooler-jpsp-1991.pdf

You can also listen to Malcom Gladwell discuss the implications of these studies as a guest on the Radiolab podcast episode from 19 August 2010: Is Free Will Really Free?

You can listen to this episode here: https://radiolab.org/podcast/91644-is-free-will-really-free

The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better by Will Storr is a fascinating read and directly applicable to understanding how to craft your narrative story for school and job interviews and beyond.

Here is a link to the Goodreads page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43183121-the-science-of-storytelling

Visit EthnoMed.org for additional resources. Follow us on YouTube and Instagram @EthnoMedUW