Send us a textWhat happens when an idealistic pre-med student becomes a physician and discovers the healthcare system isn't quite what they expected? In this first part of our conversation with Dr. Anuj Khattar, we trace the path from a diverse San Jose childhood to six different healthcare jobs across Seattle.Dr. Khattar currently works as medical director at Cedar River Clinics, teaches at Swedish Family Medicine and ICHS, provides care at Planned Parenthood, runs a ketamine-assisted therapy practice, and works urgent care—a portfolio that reflects both passion and the complex realities of modern medicine.In Part 1, we explore:Growing up in 1990s San Jose during the tech boom, where white students in his school were the minority and diversity was the normThe mobile clinic experience at UCLA that cemented his commitment to serving underserved communities and taught him to see systems of power and inequalityUndergraduate research experience and his realization that this was not his pathThe challenging first two years of medical school at OHSU— endless exams and questioning his pathFinding redemption in third-year clinical rotations and discovering his mentor in family medicineThis episode is essential listening for anyone considering medical school. It's honest about the challenges—the grind, the depression, the culture shock—while showing why some people persist. Anuj's story isn't a warning to stay away from medicine; it's an invitation to enter with eyes wide open.Coming in Part 2: What happens when idealism meets the constraints of the American healthcare system.Visit EthnoMed.org for additional resources. Follow us on YouTube and Instagram @EthnoMedUW