Jacob Stagray PhD

If you think physicians are overpaid, maybe you should take the necessary course work in undergrad, take and pass the MCAT, apply for med schools, pay hundreds of thousands for tuition, learn for 4 years in a very high pressure learning environment, then pay thousands more to apply for a training job that you may or may not get, then if you do get it, you get to work 80 hours a week making $15/hour for 3 - 9 years wherein more than one day off in a row is a rarity, all the while many normal life events and processes get pushed to the side, then you FINALLY get a “real” job that’ll pay very well but you’ll realize your patients are not your customers (the insurance companies are), they are the product, and you’ll realize you have a lot to learn about the business of medicine in order to advocate for your patients and for yourself in order to be okay. Then YOU can say “no thanks I don’t deserve to make that much.” Or you can just skip all of that, realize now that the insurance and hospital system complexes are trying to hoodwink you, and appreciate the life work and care physicians commit to all of us, recognizing that while all things in medicine play a role in what we see today, physicians themselves are not the villain. They are on our side.

On this International Day of Persons with Disabilities, we reaffirm: science belongs to everyone! Our UConn Microbial Ecophysiology Lab actively works to support our own members and colleagues with disabilities. Working towards an accessible and inclusive academia!