From Refugee to Doctor to Plant Medicine: Karolina’s Story | Exchanging Cultures

Send us Fan Mail Karolina’s family left communist Poland when she was three. They lived as political refugees in a camp near Naples, then settled in a small village in the Italian Alps as the only immigrant family in town. Just as she finally felt Italian, her parents told her they were moving to Chicago. At 12, she packed her whole life into two suitcases. In this Exchanging Cultures episode, recorded in Colombia, Crispin Valentin talks with Karolina, an internal medicine physician and founder of PlantMed Health. They start with Preguntas al Chile, pierogi versus tacos, then get into her story. She learned English from an old textbook the summer before school. She watched her professional parents start over in basic jobs. She talks about the priest who told her she couldn’t be an altar girl, and why she left the Catholic Church. She also explains how she earned a U.S.-recognized medical degree in Poland. Then the turn. A book on the placebo effect, burnout during COVID in Hawaii, and an ayahuasca retreat in Costa Rica led her to leave hospital medicine. She shares why psychedelic research stopped in the 1970s, what she means by holding space, and why she believes plant medicine calls for intention, respect and reciprocity. What you’ll take away:  How immigrating twice shaped her sense of belonging  Why she says doctors get almost no nutrition training  What the placebo effect reveals about belief and healing  The history behind the psychedelic ban and its return  Her view on the right way to approach plant medicine This episode reflects Karolina’s personal experience and is not medical advice. Connect with Karolina: [Instagram] https://www.instagram.com/karolinamikosmd/ [Website] https://www.plantmedhealth.com/  Connect with us:  YouTube @thegloballatinfactorpodcast  [email protected] Listener question:  What’s one thing your family left behind when they moved, and what did they bring that still shapes you today? Support the show Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheGlobalLatinFactorPodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/thegloballatin1 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegloballatinfactorpodcast Tiktok: ...