Member Highlight: Nikita K. Joshi, MD

Member Highlight: Nikita K. Joshi, MD

Niki K. Joshi, MD
Assistant Clerkship Director, Emergency Medicine
Stanford University
Twitter – @njoshi8

1. What is your most memorable moment of teaching?
   The most memorable moment of teaching probably is in high school. For some reason I really enjoyed the Kreb cycle and I used to help my friends understand it after school. I even would use a whiteboard to draw out all cycle over and over again. I guess it is pretty clear that I’ve always enjoyed teaching.
2. Who or what is your biggest influence?
   Academically speaking, probably one of the greatest influences is Dr. Christopher Doty, my program director in residency. I found him to be a strong and dedicated leader, and someone who continues to inspire me as an educator. Personally, my biggest influence is probably my husband. We met in college and over the years have grown together and shared some pretty awesome experiences. I definitely would not be who I am today without him.
3. Any advice for other clerkship directors?
   My advice would be that medical students want to learn and also want to feel appreciated. They want to feel like they are part of the team. This is especially challenging in the busy emergency department, but the worst thing to do is to have faculty and residents ignore the student and make them feel like a burden. Definitely not conducive to learning. No matter how great the curriculum, if the clinical setting is not inviting, then it will not be a good learning experience.
4. What is your favorite part about being and educator/director?
   My favorite part is to think of new ways to keep the curricula exciting. There’s always new educational technologies and content to consider and add, such as simulation a few years ago and now social media resources. I also love getting inspired by CORD and CDEM for new ideas to shake things up.
5. Any interesting factoids you would like to share?
   I am a basketball fan! Which is only natural as I was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina when Michael Jordan was there playing college basketball. I also grew up in Chicago in the 90s, and got to witness first hand some of the greatest years in NBA history courtesy of Jordan. I went to college in Cleveland and was privileged to see LeBron James play in a high school game and in the McDonald’s high school all-star game. Now I live in the San Francisco area and get to witness the pretty awesome basketball skills of Steph Curry. Regardless of all the greats there have been and those that will be in the future, I will always believe that Jordan is the greatest player to ever play in the NBA.