Rising Stars: Meet Stephanie Benjamin

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Benjamin.

Hi Stephanie, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
During my bustling preschool years, I gravitated towards medicine and decided that I’d become a physician. On graduating to kindergarten, I took up journaling as a side gig to help unwind from my wild recess and snack time ventures. I haven’t put the pen down since and have so far written 37 journals. Fast-forwarding a few decades, I completed medical school in the Midwest. The entries from medical school journal were the basis for my first book, Love, Sanity, or Medical School, an award-winning memoir giving readers a glimpse into the joys and hardships of medical training.

Following medical school, I completed a four-year residency specializing in emergency medicine. I then completed a year-long fellowship in emergency medical services (EMS) and disaster medicine. Today, I’m an author, an emergency medicine physician, and the medical director for several different EMS agencies in southern California. Excerpts from my book, articles, satires, and more can be found at my website StephBenjaminMD.com. When not at work or writing, I can be found hanging out at the beach with my husband Alex and our two Rottweilers.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
While my path has not always been smooth, I’ve been able to transform negative events into fuel for achieving my personal and professional goals. As a small child, the deaths of my siblings from an incurable genetic disease led me towards a career in medicine. During high school and college, the September 11th attacks and Hurricane Katrina focused my sights on emergency and disaster medicine.

Currently, being a frontline emergency medicine doctor during Covid has been an enormous struggle. I’ve grappled with burnout, compassion fatigue, and anxiety about my personal health and safety. Keeping a journal has been a safe place for me to mentally debrief, process, and grieve. Moving forwards, I will use my journals from the past two years as the basis for my next book.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As an author and a physician, I’m known for my writing and for my work in emergency and disaster medicine. I’m proud that I’ve been able to simultaneous develop both of my career paths. My training in EMS and disaster medicine led me to becoming Chief Medical Officer of the Covid field hospital in Imperial Valley California during the height of the summer 2020 Covid wave. On the writing front, I’ve been published widely in both medical and mainstream publications. My writing has appeared in venues ranging from the NY Times to new blogs, from scientific journals to satirical websites, and from textbooks to television shows.

My current goal is to merge my specialties by sharing the evidence-based benefits of writing on one’s mental and physical health. I’ve recently joined the national conference circuit where I talk about how writing provides a safe outlet to process, unwind, unload, and mentally debrief. This can help stave off burnout, improve mental health problems, and can even alleviate the impact of many acute and long-term illnesses.

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
I enjoy the podcasts Ologies and EM:RAP for scientific information, The Art of Manliness for general health and self-improvement advice, and Lore for its great storytelling. My favorite authors are Chuck Palaniuk, Mary Roach, and Neil Gaiman, each of whom inspires me to push my boundaries as a writer.

Pricing:

• Love, Sanity, or Medical School, paperback, $14.99
• Love, Sanity, or Medical School, Kindle edition, $9.99

Contact Info:

• Email: stephbenjaminmd@gmail.com
• Website: stephbenjaminmd.com
• Instagram: @stephbenjaminmd
• Twitter: @stephbenjaminmd