29 episodes

We are Woke WOC Docs, a podcast about the lives of womxn of color in medicine/health justice, including their unique experiences, viewpoints, and struggles in education, research, and practice. We want to reveal the insights we as womxn of color uniquely have on how medicine can transform to end health injustices and be a better institution of health, well-being, and healing.

Subscribe to us on SoundCloud, iTunes, Spotify or our mailing list:
http://bit.ly/subscribewokewocdocs

Woke WOC Docs Bernadette Lim, Nicole Carvajal, & Ivie Tokunboh

    • Science
    • 5.0 • 59 Ratings

We are Woke WOC Docs, a podcast about the lives of womxn of color in medicine/health justice, including their unique experiences, viewpoints, and struggles in education, research, and practice. We want to reveal the insights we as womxn of color uniquely have on how medicine can transform to end health injustices and be a better institution of health, well-being, and healing.

Subscribe to us on SoundCloud, iTunes, Spotify or our mailing list:
http://bit.ly/subscribewokewocdocs

    On foregoing residency after medical school to lead Freedom Community Clinic: A convo w/ Bernie Lim

    On foregoing residency after medical school to lead Freedom Community Clinic: A convo w/ Bernie Lim

    It's been a minute since we published an episode!

    In this episode, we have an intimate conversation with Bernie about her decision to not go to residency after medical school to lead the Freedom Community Clinic. Facilitated by Nicole and questions from the audience, Bernie talks more about her journey of coming to that decision while in medical school, her thoughts on the limitations of the medical system and changing from within, and why we need to imagine and create new systems like the Freedom Community Clinic to provide the healing and care that our communities deserve.

    4:00 An overview of Bernie's journey to not go to residency and lead Freedom Community Clinic in Oakland

    20:00 On the emotional journey and hardship of deciding to not go to residency

    24:00 On Bernie's thoughts and pushback on being our "ancestors' wildest dreams"

    26:30 On what Bernie will use her MD for/how medical school was valuable for her life journey

    28:50 On why we deserve to lead and create our own systems when the majority of hospital CEOs don't even have MDs lol

    29:50 On why Bernie cannot be part of DEI recruitment efforts for medical school

    35:00 Conversation between Nicole and Bernie on what is healing; influential books, people, habits; and why institutions don't wanna see you rested and healed

    45:30 On building community relationships and Freedom Community Clinic while in medical school

    50:20 On patient relationships at Freedom Community Clinic vs. the hospital

    51:20 How leading Freedom Community Clinic has changed Bernie's perception of healing and community

    53:40 Nicole and Bernie's advice on pursuing creativity while in medicine

    56:30 Bernie's future plans and dreams

    1:00:32 Bernie's thoughts on self-mentorship

    1:05:00 Q&A on mentors outside of medicine, why we cannot let these institutions silence us, and tapping into our aliveness

    Recorded on Sept 30, 2021

    • 1 hr 11 min
    The Craziness That Was 2020: Reflections and Lessons Learned

    The Craziness That Was 2020: Reflections and Lessons Learned

    2020 was a hot mess. Phew. Y'all didn't need us to say it.

    Together, we talk more together about the lessons we learned from our third year of medical school/research year and our wellness strategies in the midst of this crazy year while working in the hospital daily and doing research.

    We delve deeper into what surprised us about the field of medicine, how we've been able to take care of patients through drawing on our unique life experiences/backgrounds/strengths, and how we've maintained a sense of groundedness and community in the midst of so much individual and collective trauma.

    Lots to look forward to in 2021 and we're so thankful to y'all for being on this journey with us! Stay woke y'all.

    • 1 hr
    Anti-Racism Series Ep 3: Transforming Trauma into Healing for BlPOC Communities with Chanel Durley

    Anti-Racism Series Ep 3: Transforming Trauma into Healing for BlPOC Communities with Chanel Durley

    We are so excited to interview beloved community healer and warrior Chanel Durley, founder of 33rd and RiSING, a wellness space that provides healing for Black, Indigenous, and POC communities in the Bay Area and beyond.

    In this episode, we talk about Chanel’s experiences with Crohn’s in which she experienced racism and deep injustice and inequity in multiple encounters and 11 hospitalizations in the medical system. We also converse more about the toxicity of grind mentality and its roots in trauma and how her experiences as an intuitive healer came into her founding of 33rd & RiSING.

    Takeaways we love:
    -Who told us to stop believing in the wisdom of our bodies?
    -Going into doctor’s visits as interviews and seeing yourself as deserving of building your healthcare team. “These are my goals; this is the life I want to live: Are you with me?”
    -“You don’t validate me. I validate me.”
    -How are you unwinding? How are you unplugging from the matrix?

    For more info about Chanel and 33rd & RiSING:
    https://www.33rising.com/
    https://www.instagram.com/33rdandrising/

    • 1 hr 15 min
    Anti-Racism Series Ep 2: Demanding Police Free Schools in Oakland with Black Organizing Project

    Anti-Racism Series Ep 2: Demanding Police Free Schools in Oakland with Black Organizing Project

    We are hellaaaaaa hype to talk with Black Organizing Project, the amazing Black member-led community organization working for racial, social, and economic justice through grassroots organizing and community-building in Oakland, California.

    The Black Organizing Project (BOP) led the victory for Oakland to implement police-free schools in June 2020, a resolution that calls for moving the safety program to the equity/behavioral health departments and investing more money in mental health and special education staff, plus restorative justice programs.

    Together, we talk about the mission of BOP and why policing in schools significantly affects the emotional, mental, and physical health of Black students. We hear more about their amazing nearly decade long advocacy for police-free schools in Oakland and their recent victories with The People’s Plan, Black Sanctuary Pledge, and the George Floyd Resolution. In addition, we talk more about how their visions for a police-free world is rooted in personal and collective transformation.

    We celebrate with BOP on dissolving an entire police department in Oakland public schools as an all Black organization! Support them y'all and uplift their work!!! Police do not equal safety and GRASSROOTS ORGANIZING WORKS!

    Black Organizing Project: http://blackorganizingproject.org/

    KQED News “After Abolishing School Police, Oakland Wants to Reimagine Safety in Education”: https://www.kqed.org/news/11826192/after-abolishing-school-police-oakland-wants-to-reimagine-safety-in-education

    Jasmine Williams is the Development and Communication Manager at Black Organizing Project. She hopes to use her writing to shift the negative narrative of Black people repeated in mainstream media and to ensure that Black people have a platform to uplift their voices and experiences. She is excited about reaffirming and celebrating the beauty of Blackness with BOP through storytelling, community building and organizing.

    Des Mims is a Mother, Community Activist & Member of Black Organizing Projects Communication team, who has dedicated herself to the work of abolishing school police to disrupt the school to prison pipeline and provide students and community with transformative justice.

    • 1 hr 9 min
    Anti-Racism Series Ep 1: Demanding an Anti-Racist Medicine with Noor Chadha & Aminta Kouyate

    Anti-Racism Series Ep 1: Demanding an Anti-Racist Medicine with Noor Chadha & Aminta Kouyate

    For this episode, we are hella excited to interview our beautiful friends Noor Chadha and Aminta Kouyate, medical and graduate students at the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program and founding team members of the Institute for Healing and Justice in Medicine.

    Together, we talk more with Noor and Aminta about their work demanding and advocating for an anti-racist medicine through their research and student activist efforts. We talk with Noor and Bernie about their recent public launch of their inaugural "Toward the Abolition of Biological Race in Medicine: Transforming Clinical Education, Research, and Practice" (co-authored by Noor, Bernie, Maddy Kane, and Brenly Rowland). We also talk with Aminta about leading a rally and protest through the White Coats 4 Black Lives (WC4BL) Berkeley chapter on demanding that racism be recognized as a public health issue. In addition, we learn more about their work being part of the founding team of the Institute for Healing and Justice in Medicine and their philosophy on being a student/community activist alongside the many responsibilities that come with being a student and human!

    Read the report at the Institute for Healing and Justice in Medicine website: www.instituteforhealingandjustice.org

    WC4BL Berkeley on Instagram: @wc4bl_berkeley

    Noor Chadha is a 2nd year med student at the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program who strives to integrate compassion, justice, and joy throughout her life and medical career. She is a co-author of Toward the Abolition of Biological Race in Medicine: Transforming Clinical Education, Research, and Practice. Her master's work focuses on youth civic engagement and health. Noor identifies as Sikh, as Punjabi American, as a daughter of Indian immigrants, as a sister, and as a dancer - she performed competitive Bhangra for several years, and who knows, maybe you'll see her make a comeback soon!

    Aminta Kouyate is a proud Bay native. Born in Oakland, she is dedicated to eradicating the systems of oppression that create the health disparities for marginalized communities. As a medical student in the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical program, her research is focused on building an anti-racist medical education curriculum for healthcare providers. She is a reader, a writer, a kitchen magic maker, and a deep believer in laughter and joy. Aminta is dedicated to working towards a fundamental change in the way we practice medicine. She envisions leaving behind a system that separates healing from health and cultivating a new practice learning from community wisdom to center healing, happiness, rest, and justice for all people. She is one of the founding members of the White Coats for Black Lives Chapter at UC Berkeley, a Freedom School for Intersectional Medicine and Health Justice collaborator, a student of the Program in Medical Education for the Urban Underserved (PRIME-US), and most importantly she is a daughter, a sister, a friend, and a co-conspirator to many beloved people.

    • 59 min
    S3Ep4: Integrating Ancestral, Indigenous, and Holistic Healing with the Freedom Community Clinic

    S3Ep4: Integrating Ancestral, Indigenous, and Holistic Healing with the Freedom Community Clinic

    Today, we have the pleasure of interviewing the organizing team of the Freedom Community Clinic. Founded in 2019, the Freedom Community Clinic provides community-centered, whole-person healing combining the strengths of Western medicine and ancestral and indigenous healing to the Bay Area. All services are for free and sliding scale.

    We are so excited to talk hear more about the origins of the Freedom Community Clinic and how Bernie, Tiffany, Sabrina, Krista, and Alexis have worked together as womxn of color healers to combine their professional/personal strengths, healing journeys, and work to bring community-centered, whole-person care directly to places and spaces where communities gather. Through this conversation, we will learn about how Western medicine must integrate its strengths with the wisdom of acupuncture, health education, Reiki, yoga, and herbal medicine. We are especially interested in hearing more about how their healing modalities provide a safe space for communities alongside the medical community.

    For more about the Freedom Community Clinic, visit their website at: freedomcommunityclinic.org.

    • 58 min

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5
59 Ratings

59 Ratings

kjohnson16 ,

Perspective!

Found your podcast after following and admiring the work of the Freedom Community Clinic on IG. So many good insights, validation, perspective. I listen to these interviews when I’m feeling down/confused about being a medical learner in a system that doesn’t seem to care about the people I thought we were here to serve. So glad you all are doctors.

srkaj4eva ,

Amazing!

This a refreshing take and much needed perspective for medicine! The voices of POC, especially womxn is needed now more than ever! Thank you for making a space to discuss real issues and work towards health equity and justice.

Marialgq ,

Amazing

I love this podcast! It's raw, it's invigorating, and these three ladies, are the mentors/sisters I didn't know I needed! They address crucial topics in the field of medicine, and highlight amazing female physicians of color, and the work that they do in the community. This is exactly what future female doctors need to hear.

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