Transformational Times
Words of Hope, Character & Resilience from our Virtual Community
Friday, February 12, 2021
Director's Corner
  • Adina Kalet, MD, MPH: Valentine’s Day: I am Not (but, Thank Goodness, My Husband is) a Romantic

Perspectives/Opinions
  • Sophia Kiernan: How to Plan a Pandemic Wedding
  • Eileen Peterson: MCW Medical Student Organizations that "Went Virtual"

Poetry Corner
  • Shabi Haider: Do Not Walk Silently...

Your Turn
  • See how readers answered last week's prompt: How do you plan to treat yourself, or someone special, on Valentine's Day this year?
  • Respond to this week's prompt: What is your favorite takeout food, and what restaurant do like to order it from?
  • Respond to this week's character question: What do you love about your home town?

Announcements & Resources
  • Apply to the Kern Institute's Transformational Ideas Initiative (TI2) Seed Grant Program: Applications Extended to Feb. 19
  • Register for Kern's Upcoming Virtual Events
  • Kern National Network News & Events
This issue has been curated by the
Transformational Times Associate Editorial Team
Director's Corner
Valentine’s Day: I am Not (but, Thank Goodness, My Husband is) a Romantic


by Adina Kalet, MD, MPH

In this week’s Director’s Corner, Dr. Kalet talks about the links between love at home and high quality, world-changing science at work. She highlights the importance of strong, egalitarian partnerships in creating a life of meaning, purpose, and flourishing …

COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of having clinician investigators “on the ground” to care for both patients and populations. This group is the most likely to detect emerging disease variants, run innovative therapeutic trials, and move new discoveries to the bedside and into the community. Translational scientists save lives. We need to nurture these clinician investigators as they fulfill their vital scientific and societal roles and provide them with the resources they need to stay healthy and train the next generation of physician scientists.

Despite their importance, though, over 40% of well-trained physician scientists leave academic medicine, causing a serious shortage of physician researchers and a huge loss to the health science workforce. Given how exciting and important their work is, why do so many step off the track? 

Perspective/Opinion
How to Plan a Pandemic Wedding

by Sophia Kiernan, Medical Student, MCW

Ms. Kiernan shares her story of planning a wedding - and then having to change plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic - with lots of help from family and friends...

Step 1: Book your wedding venue 16 months in advance. You know you want to get married in Green Bay, and you know pickings are slim in the Green Bay wedding venue market. Filter by ones that will hold your and your fiancé’s massive families. Then filter by ones that serve something other than broasted chicken—if you’re not sure if they serve something other than broasted chicken, call the owners. Most will be shocked that you want something other than broasted chicken. 
 
Step 2: Book a rehearsal dinner venue, specifically the venue you have been planning to have your rehearsal dinner in since you were 12 (the only part of your wedding you’ve had planned since you were 12). 
 
Step 3: Marvel at how on top of the game you are, and don’t worry much about wedding planning for many months. Wedding planning? It’s not that hard, right? 
Perspective/Opinion
MCW Medical Student Organizations that "Went Virtual"

by Eileen Peterson, Medical Student, MCW

Ms. Peterson shares stories from MCW student groups and their journey to create meaningful connections in a virtual world this past year…

Last spring, as COVID became a reality at MCW and all in-person gatherings were put on indefinite hold, many student organizations were thrown for a loop. At MCW, student organizations are known to host lunch talks, social events, and networking opportunities. Getting involved in clubs during M1 year can be a great way to make friends and connect with other likeminded individuals through all four years of medical school. As such, the members and leaders of MCW’s student organizations and clubs had to get creative to “go virtual” both last spring and continuing into the 2020-2021 school year. Many clubs took to social media, seeking to engage students and MCW community via Instagram. Other clubs hosted social events over Zoom, such as LMSA’s Enchilada Night, White Coats 4 Black Lives’ and Physicians for the Arts’ paint nights, and Common Read’s virtual book talks, to name a few. Below are blurbs from the student leaders of two MCW student organizations, Medical Students for Choice and Chordae Harmonae, whose virtual presence was felt this fall.
This week, we share a poem by
MCW third-year medical student, Shabi Haider:



Do Not Walk Silently...
by Shabi Haider


Do not walk silently into that hallway,
Dread and fear should burn along the way,
Scream, scream against the dark hallway.

Soon the sufferer will find its way to the hallway,
If their help was not from afar they
Do not walk silently into the dark hallway.

Selfless healers, the last twilight, mourning how bright
Their selfless deeds might have kindled the hallway,
Scream, scream against the dark hallway.

Estranged healers who caught and held the candles with might,
And realized, too late, they left no candles within sight,
Do not walk silently into the dark hallway.

Consumed healers, near exhaustion, who see the twilight
In memory only do embers remain,
Scream, scream against the dark hallway.

And you, my friend, stumbling towards the darkness,
Scream, reach, me now with your despair, I hope.
Do not walk silently into the dark hallway.
Scream, scream against the dark hallway.

~In memory of my dear friend Armaan Haleem, Class of 2021


Student and Resident Behavioral Health and the Psychiatry and Mental Health Student Association encourage all MCW students, faculty, and staff to have conversations with their friends about mental health. Although having conversations about mental health can be awkward and uncomfortable, these conversations can make all the difference in someone’s life.



MCW has a number of resources available to students. Visit the Student and Resident Behavioral Health website or the Student Health and Wellness website for more information by using the links below.



When our children were young, we had a dragon stamp. If any of us imagined a difficult or scary day, our entire family stamped our underwear with the dragon. The meaning, of course, was to remind all of us that we were there for each other regardless of the outcome.

For this Valentine's Day, I mailed a dragon stamp and a permanent ink pad to each of our three adult children's young families. Thus, once the word is sent out, I for one, will wear mine thinking of the courageous soul who is embarking on a new adventure.

Carry on with love!

– Kayt Havens, MCW Faculty



I'm planning to watch The Notebook and order takeout on Valentine's Day!


– Eileen Peterson, MCW Medical Student

Respond to next week's reflection prompt:


What is your favorite takeout food, and what restaurant do like to order it from?
Call for Transformational Ideas!

How would you innovate medical education?

The Kern Institute's Transformational Ideas Initiative is a seed grant program to develop and test ideas, creating opportunities for students, staff, residents, fellows, and faculty to innovate the educational experience at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
This year, we are looking for proposals that address one of the many changes we are currently experiencing - whether with curriculum revision, inclusion and diversity initiatives, or adapting to a more virtual environment - while focusing on ensuring that the voices of those most affected (students, staff, faculty, residents, fellows) are part of the creative process.

Teams will be guided through the development of their idea with a series of summer workshops led by trained professionals from the Kern Institute's Human-Centered Design Lab. Funding and deployment of each project will span the 2021-22 academic year, and budgets for each project will be individually granted based on the needs of the project.

For more information on the program, please see our website or contact Dr. Chris Decker or Julia Schmitt.
Kern Grand Grand Rounds
Healing in the Aftermath of Hate

Please plan to join us for a unique Grand Rounds discussion with Pardeep Singh Kaleka, Executive Director of Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee, Founder of Serve2Unite, and published author of "The Gift of Our Wounds," and Arno Michaelis, author of "My Life After Hate" and co-author of "The Gift of Our Wounds."

When white supremacist Wade Michael Page murdered seven people and wounded four in a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin in 2012, Pardeep Kaleka was devastated. This tragedy followed by suicide would be one of the deadliest mass-murder hate crimes committed in US History. One of the victims that day was Pardeep’s father, Satwant Singh Kaleka. Meanwhile, Arno Michaelis, a former skinhead and founder of one of the largest racist skinhead organizations in the world, had spent years of his life committing terrible acts in the name of white power. When he heard about the attack, waves of guilt washed over him and he knew he had to take action to fight against the very crimes he used to commit.

In the aftermath of the Oak Creek shooting, Pardeep reached out to Arno for answers. What would follow this meeting was a journey of two men who breached a great divide to find brotherhood and love. In a world that seems to be tearing itself apart at the the seams, divided by identity, becoming more intolerant, xenophobic, and spiritually ill, it is essential that we remain committed to compassion. This talk will explore the role of both communal and individual trauma and healing.
February 18, 2021
Live Virtual Presentation
9:00 - 10:00 am CT
Well-Being Summit
Improving Institutional Culture to Optimize Well-Being in Academic Medicine


Everyone is welcome to attend. Please register by February 21, 2021
February 25, 2021
Live Virtual Presentation
8:00 am - 12:00 noon CT


Podcast Interview

Listen to Dr. Adina Kalet's interview on RE-IGNITED, The Intrinsic Labs Podcas‪t

MCW COVID-19 Resource Center
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