Articles
This is a collection of my published essays, interviews, and articles centering around stories that look closely at medical gaslighting, racism, misogyny, and other inequities within medicine.
Each piece, in its own way, carries the same intention: to make medicine more human.
I also speak and write on these topics by invitation, for audiences seeking to build a more compassionate and equitable medical culture.
It’s free to join. Each week I share one story: personal, honest, and sometimes funny. Let’s talk about the kind of medicine that gives people hope again.
Articles
Browse by Areas of Focus
Medical Gaslighting
Weight Stigma Is Bad Medicine — Physicians must work to break this cycle of bias
Medical Racism
The Sickening Reality of 'White' Beauty Standards — From hair straighteners to racial surgery, the physical and emotional harm runs deep
Think Twice Before Drug Testing Your Black Patients — It’s time for a bias check
What Tyre Nichols' Death Reminds Us About Black Suffering — Medicine’s racist history bleeds into today’s medical practices
Medical Misogyny
'My Womb Isn't My Legacy' — We must look beyond women's childbearing potential in healthcare and society in general
You Choose: Do More Work for Free or Be Labeled as a Bad Colleague — Women in health, especially women of color, are paid less and asked to do more
'Would You Like to Keep This Pregnancy?' I Asked My 13-Year-Old Patient — Having a choice can help end cycles of poverty among marginalized teen patients
Articles
Zed’s MedPage Today opinion piece on the importance of accessing abortions among underprivileged teens won Gold during the 24th Annual Digital Health Awards.
Here are some of Zed’s published pieces.
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'My Womb Isn't My Legacy'
October 23, 2024
A friend texted me out of the blue: “When are you having children?”
I answered: “I am intentionally child-free.”
“Without children, what kind of legacy do you plan to leave?” They said.
In this piece, I dissect the ways we STILL can't look beyond the uterus and its childbearing potential in society and in medicine. As childfree women are under attack again, this IS personal.
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Weight Stigma Is Bad Medicine
July 4, 2024
There was a joke during my training that "XXX was so large we had to use the elephant MRI in the zoo for their scan." Let me be clear: fat jokes have no place in medicine. And the failure to accommodate larger bodies in healthcare is not funny. Weight stigma is prevalent and harmful in healthcare. The refusal and inability to see past fat denies access to healthcare for those who live with obesity. Here is why.
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The Sickening Reality of 'White' Beauty Standards
May 29, 2024
Following the 2022 publication of the NIH's 10-year epidemiological study that found an association between hair straightening products and uterine cancer, thousands of Black women filed lawsuits alleging hair product companies sold hair relaxers containing chemicals that increased their risk of developing uterine cancer -- and failed to warn customers. Meanwhile, the FDA missed its own deadline this month to propose a ban on one of the harmful ingredients (formaldehyde) in hair relaxers.
Racist beauty standards can cause harm far beyond financial health. They can literally kill.
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You Choose: Do More Work for Free or Be Labeled as a Bad Colleague
March 26, 2024
When my boss presented me with only two options: do more work for free or be labeled a “bad colleague,” I don’t think he knew I was a writer. In honor of Women’s History Month, and on behalf of all women in healthcare and education, my friend and co-author Jacqueline Mitchell, MS, and I aim to redefine the “gender pay gap.”
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Think Twice Before Drug Testing Your Black Patients
Feb 6, 2024
The recent news about false positive drug testing by police resulting in tens of thousands of Americans wrongfully jailed reveals another hidden truth: Black Americans are disproportionally affected by this injustice. Drug tests are common in medicine, and this racial bias is just as rampant.
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What Tyre Nichols' Death Reminds Us About Black Suffering
Feb 2, 2023
On January 10, Tyre Nichols died from police brutality. On January 30, the two EMTs and their lieutenant were fired. Black pain and suffering continue to be overlooked and undertreated by medicine. Yet remarks that deny medical racism still exist. What are the facts? What can we do?
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When I doubted My Patient
July 12, 2022
Zed took care of an 85-year-old patient with dementia who developed muscle breakdown after being stuck on the ground for days. Below is a poem based on what he told Zed.
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'Would You Like to Keep This Pregnancy?' I Asked My 13-Year-Old Patient
June 30, 2022
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. On MedPage Today, Zed writes about how this decision can disproportionally impact her marginalized teen community.
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Commentary: Fearing for Your Safety When You’re ‘Just a Country Doctor’
June 13, 2022
Zed writes about the challenges her rural community faces during a time of uncertainly due to increasing gun violence in America.
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Are Any of Us Safe at Work?
June 5, 2022
On June 1, four lives were taken in Tulsa, Oklahoma by a gunman who blamed a doctor for his pain. Zed comments on workplace violence toward healthcare workers, and sheds light on what this might mean for the future of medicine.
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Stop financially handicapping non-citizen physicians
June 3, 2022
Zed’s opinion piece on loan repayment options for non-citizen physicians working in rural areas raises an important issue: for those of us who have a heart for rural medicine, and are here to stay, why should we be “punished” to a late start in life, financially?
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A Lesson in Cultural Humility
March 31, 2022
CLOSER by Johns Hopkins Medicine featured Zed’s article on an important lesson she learned while working at a community health clinic serving the migrant workers: learn about the patient, not just the symptoms.
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Dear Xenophobia: What I Saw on the Frontline
February 14, 2022
Women of Dartmouth production INSPIRE features Zed’s poem “Dear Xenophobia”.