Birthing her first child turned Grace Farris into a patient--which made the good doctor "want to rethink everything and reconsider [her] medical training." And so she wrote and illustrated See One, Do One, Teach One: The Art of Becoming a Doctor, insightfully distilling her medical journey through charmingly accessible comics.
In 1996, as a summer volunteer, 14-year-old Farris learned she "didn't mind the much-maligned 'hospital smell.' " She realized her medical school dream in 2004 when she enrolled at Brown University. She considered going vegetarian after dissecting cadavers; she worried about loans; she met her husband-to-be; she learned endless mnemonics. Rotations, which filled the third and fourth years of med school, meant she "finally" got to see patients--in pediatrics, surgery, OB-GYN, psychiatry, internal medicine, radiology--but also meant facing sexism, racism, and blatant bad behavior from her superiors. Residency in internal medicine then took her to Boston. She got married in 2009, but missed her residency graduation in 2011 because of pregnancy exhaustion. Since 2025, she's returned to the same Austin, Tex., hospital where she was born. Despite advances and (not enough) changes, the "human connection" keeps her doctoring.
Farris's simple line-drawn, colorfully enhanced, seemingly hand-lettered panels create a welcoming intimacy. While never eliding the overwhelming physical and emotional struggles of working toward doctorhood, Farris notably balances gentle humor throughout, observing that "anatomy is best on an empty stomach," deciphering "the runs," and imagining "Cards for Med Students." Empathetic encounters resonate most: experiencing the resilience of kids, finding the most humanity in a psychiatric hospital. Farris's memoir provides an enlightening real-life, deeply heartening overview of the medical ladder. --Terry Hong