In this episode of Social Rounds, Frances Mei, Tony, and Ryan Montoya tackle one of the most uncomfortable—but universal—realities in medicine: disrespect from patients.

From inappropriate comments to outright racism, they share real stories from training and practice, including moments that stayed with them for years—and how they learned to respond.

This episode covers:

1. What to do when a patient crosses the line
2. How power dynamics change from student → resident → attending
3. When to walk away vs. when to engage
4. The emotional calculus of “is this fight worth it?”
5. Racism in medicine—and how it actually shows up in real life
6. Building your personal “toolkit” before you need it

Plus, the return of Majority Minority—where the hosts unpack identity, race, and lived experience in and outside of medicine.

This is the hidden curriculum, out loud.

Hosted by:

Tony Chin-Quee: @wheyouat

Frances Mei Hardin: @francesmeimd

Ryan Montoya: @ryan_montoya_art

Produced by: The Hippocratic Collective

In this episode of Social Rounds, Tony Chin-Quee, Frances Mei Hardin, and friend-of-the-pod Ryan Montoya dive into one of the wildest stories we’ve ever heard: a month-long artist residency in a French chateau that slowly descended into chaos.

Ryan shares what it was like living with 27 artists from around the world—waking up to croissants and champagne in the French countryside while creating art all day. But what started as a dreamlike creative retreat quickly turned into something closer to a reality TV show, complete with personality clashes, generational conflicts, Instagram arguments, and a dramatic early exit.

The group unpacks what happens when big personalities, creative egos, and a little too much wine collide in a tiny town of 79 people.

Along the way, they explore bigger questions about identity, creativity, and why physicians should never abandon the parts of themselves that exist outside medicine.

Topics include:

• Life at an artist residency in rural France

• When creative retreats become interpersonal drama

• The generational divide between Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X artists

• Why creative identity matters—even for physicians

• The importance of keeping your artistic side alive

If you’ve ever wondered what happens when doctors, artists, and big personalities collide in a castle in the French countryside… this episode delivers.

Subscribe for new episodes of Social Rounds, where we give our unsolicited opinions on medicine, culture, and whatever else we find interesting.

Hosted by:

Tony Chin-Quee: @wheyouat

Frances Mei Hardin: @francesmeimd

Ryan Montoya: @ryan_montoya_art

Produced by: The Hippocratic Collective

In Part 2 of our conversation with Kate Buhrke, DO, we pick up where her story left off — inside the realities of surgical residency.

Kate shares what happened after transferring programs, the culture shock of moving from a county hospital to a private practice environment, and how speaking up about resident conditions quickly labeled her a “problem resident.” What started as advocacy for fairness — from educational funding to work hours — eventually escalated into probation, retaliation, and a system increasingly determined to push her out.

This episode dives into the hidden curriculum of medical training:

1. the politics of residency programs
2. what “not a good fit” often really means
3. how institutions protect themselves
4. and why speaking up can come at a steep personal cost.

Kate reflects on the moment her residency ended, the emotional aftermath, and how she’s now rebuilding her career in medicine in a different way — while helping other trainees navigate similar experiences.

This is a candid conversation about power, culture, and survival in medicine — and why losing your position doesn’t mean losing your purpose.

Hosted by:

Tony Chin-Quee: @wheyouat

Frances Mei Hardin: @francesmeimd

Guest: Kate Burhke, DO

Connect with Kate:

https://www.hippocratic-collective.com/members/kate-buhrke-do

Produced by: The Hippocratic Collective

In this episode of Social Rounds, Tony and Frances Mei sit down with Dr. Kate Buhrke — rock climber, former ortho gunner, and unapologetic regime-builder.

Kate shares her journey from growing up in suburban Illinois (not Chicago, according to Tony), to climbing hundreds of feet without ropes, to eating, sleeping, and breathing orthopedic surgery… and then not matching.

They talk about:

1. The identity crisis of not matching
2. What surgery demands of you — and what it takes back
3. The paradox of “putting all your eggs in one basket”
4. The culture of ortho
5. Whether ChatGPT in journal club is criminal or minimal
6. And why sometimes you just have to decide you’re not going to fall

This one is about ambition, ego, shame, calling, and what survives when your professional identity doesn’t.

Plus: apple-cracking intimidation tactics.

Hosted by:

Tony Chin-Quee: @wheyouat

Frances Mei Hardin: @francesmeimd

Guest: Kate Burhke, DO

Connect with Kate:

https://www.hippocratic-collective.com/members/kate-buhrke-do

Produced by: The Hippocratic Collective

This week on Social Rounds, Frances Mei and Tony bring back Outside Baseball with three wild medical stories you can’t make up.

First: a woman delivers her baby in the back of a Waymo robo-taxi. Is the surveillance state helping… or creeping us out? Then: doctors warn that your favorite claw clip could cause serious head injuries in a car accident. Fashion vs. safety — where do we draw the line? And finally: GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Mounjaro are linked to surprise pregnancies. From slowed gastric emptying affecting oral contraceptives to PCOS cycles restarting after weight loss, we break down what’s actually happening.

Plus, one cool thing each — from a surprisingly great narrative video game (Dispatch) to the underrated luxury of a disciplined tea ritual (with valerian root, obviously).

Modern life is weird. We’re just here to process it.

Hosted by:

Tony Chin-Quee: @wheyouat

Frances Mei Hardin: @francesmeimd

Produced by: The Hippocratic Collective

It’s that time of year again. Rank lists are due, anxiety is peaking, and medical students everywhere are trying to reverse-engineer “the algorithm.”

In this week’s Social Rounds, Tony and Frances Mei break down the residency Match—from the “big computer in the sky” to the chaos of SOAP week—and share what actually matters when you’re ranking programs.

Frances Mei opens up about not matching, the shame spiral that followed, and how trying to “game” the system can quietly shape your decisions long before you hit submit. Tony shares his own interview experience, why prestige is overrated, and what you should really be evaluating on interview day (hint: training volume, autonomy, and vibe).

They also talk about:

1. Why trying to predict how programs rank you is a trap
2. The myth of the “perfect” program
3. Leadership changes, hidden curriculum, and the unpredictability of residency
4. What happens if you don’t match—and why it’s not the end
5. The uncomfortable truth: you don’t control most of this

If you’re building your rank list right now, this one’s for you.

Hosted by:

Tony Chin-Quee: @wheyouat

Frances Mei Hardin: @francesmeimd

Produced by: The Hippocratic Collective

This week on Social Rounds, Tony Chin-Quee takes on his most unhinged role yet: hostile interviewer.

In a special Social Rounds Book Club episode, Frances Mei Hardin sits down for a deliberately uncomfortable, occasionally inappropriate, and deeply revealing mock interview ahead of the release of her debut memoir, Surgeon on the Edge. What starts as a Groundhog Day cold open quickly devolves into brutal questions about shame, failure, race, crying at work, bystander silence in medicine, and whether writing a vulnerable physician memoir is brave—or just bad PR.

What unfolds is part satire, part media training, part cultural critique, and part love letter to anyone who has ever survived medical training and lived to tell the story (even imperfectly).

If you’ve ever wondered:

1. how authors actually prepare for press,
2. why likability is still weaponized against women in medicine,
3. or how to hold your composure when an interviewer is clearly trying to break you,

this episode is for you.

Pre-order Surgeon on the Edge now, and consider this your warning: the real interviews will be easier than this one.

Hosted by:

Tony Chin-Quee: @wheyouat

Frances Mei Hardin: @francesmeimd

Produced by: The Hippocratic Collective

https://www.amazon.com/Surgeon-Edge-Frances-Mei-Hardin/dp/B0G3JWCCH4

What does medicine look like when the next generation refuses to be broken by it?

In this episode of Social Rounds, we’re joined by Shay Taylor Allen, a fourth-year medical student at Howard University, class vice president, and future anesthesiologist—whose journey took her from working as a hospital janitor to interviewing for residency in the same system she once cleaned.

Together, we talk about the growing generational divide in medical training:

Why younger doctors are pushing back on brutal hours,

Why “that’s how we did it” isn’t a solution,

And how mental health, mentorship, and purpose are reshaping what it means to become a physician.

Shay shares her perspective on Gen Z and nontraditional medical students, the reality of burnout culture, and why healthier doctors make safer patients. We also dig into communication breakdowns between trainees and attendings, whether medicine mistakes resilience for suffering, and what real change could look like inside a system that resists it.

This conversation is about more than medicine—it’s about who gets to belong, who gets heard, and how one person’s story can expose what’s broken in an entire profession.

Hosted by:

Tony Chin-Quee: @wheyouat

Frances Mei Hardin: @francesmeimd

Guest: Shay Taylor Allen

Connect with Shay: @shayy.taylor

Produced by: The Hippocratic Collective