July 29, 2026
by Dr. Plastic Picker
It’s 712AM and I’m headed into a full clinic work day. I’m a bit tired this morning, because our son came home from an epic trek with his beloved cool younger uncle and good friend through the Swiss Alps. He stayed in Europe an extra 2 weeks after we had left Copenhagen, as he is young and without responsibilities yet – and we encouraged him to make his time and the carbon spewed going to Europe worthwhile. They did the Swiss Alps the hard way (relatively), carried all their things themselves and trekked and climbed and had their adventures. They saw the melting glaciers and there is not much left. The snow on the Matterhorn is less than before. The evidence of global heating is stark up in the Alps.
Both of my kids are extremely lucky. They’ve had their father and I guide them through their college admissions process, with all the resources that wealthy families have. As much as we can, we’ve had them “work for it” and work with others and not given them unfair advantage. Their moral character and world view of fairness is important too. They are both extremely lucky, and we’ve worked extremely hard (my husband and I) our entire lives to provide them with the experiences and opportunities that they have. It’s taken me a while to realize that those two things can coexist.
I just reviewed the H3SD 2026 San Diego’s Heat and Human Health Summit program, and I’m so incredibly proud of this group effort. It belongs to everyone, the students and the physicians and all the volunteers over the last four years that have made it possible. It belongs to everyone and no one. It really belongs to San Diego.
That’s why you’ll see my children there as well. It’s not part of their professional development, but I throw my children in as well. It’s important for them to learn the real lessons we are trying to teach our trainees – that building something meaningful takes community, collaboration and sweat-equity. Somethings take hard work, but if everyone does a little part – than we can all get it done together. What I’m also trying to teach our students is how to figure things out, how to hustle. So much of the world now, falsely teaches you that others should do it for you. But really, we should all try to figure it out ourselves – especially future physicians. Even if the nurses eventually are the one who places the IVs, you should also learn how to put in a few. A physician needs to know and have the curiosity in terms of how the other parts of the healthcare team work. The premedical students working with us organizing H3SD and doing advocacy, are learning invaluable skills for free.
They are learning how conferences work, and how to build an agenda. They are learning how to run meetings and how to interact with speakers. They are learning how to collaborate with fellow students that they would not otherwise work with. They are learning team-work. They are learning how to event plan, and how to market conferences. They are learning how to organize poster sessions, and how to select abstracts. They are learning that sometimes certain team members do more than others, but how to professionally lead and speak collegially. They are learning how to moderate sessions, and how to write abstracts and papers. They are learning how to attend city council meetings and interact with policy organizers from nonprofits that have big logos and funding. They are learning the power of what it means to have an MD and have a strong reputation and community trust. They are learning to essentially be me and my senior colleagues who are doing this work together. They are learning public health and climate and health through mentorship and apprenticeship, with no other costs to them other than their time and efforts. This has been a completely transformational and voluntary endeavor for the senior leadership that works on this work.
And I hope all our students find that their admissions process through medical school has been worthwhile. I mostly have to thank my children. I needed to let them find their own way, and earn their spots as well. We had caring adults surrounding them, but I was relatively hands off the entire time. I prayed that if I helped other students and kept the entire community and planet at my heart, that my own children would navigate their ways as well. Throughout both their college admissions process, I reminded myself that I was part of an ecosystem of mentorship and caring adults that was rooting on all our students. I had some missteps and difficult students that had limited projects with us, and quietly left our network. But the majority of the students, especially those that I know personally and are from UC San Diego – have flourished. We had 9 out of 9 students admitted to medical school this year. That is freakin’ AMAZING!
And my own daughter absolutely earned her way into Harvard, and she knows that she is smart but there are always smarter kids out there. She is so grateful to be included in the Harvard 2030 class. Our son as well is entering his senior year at UC Berkeley, and has had to fight his way through the school to find his place. He definitely hasn’t had things handed to him up there, but he appreciates and values his time and his friends. It has been the right place for him, but a very different journey than we expected. He’ll figure out his way with his friends, and it won’t be an MD. I just ask both of my kids to get a terminal degree – some kind of doctorate (JD/MD/PhD/PsychD). I’m willing to work so that they can do that.
Just really happy and wanted to share with the blog readership this happy picture! I’m going to splurge and make a mug set with her pictures on it! My own personalized Harvard mugs! Only for me though. She thought it would be weird if other people drink out of mugs with her picture on it!
