Interview with Alexandra D'Souza and Megan Watson from Clerkship Commute Podcast

Get to know the Co-Directors of the Clerkship Commute Podcast, a UofT medical student initiative making medical education more accessible and fun one podcast at a time!

Vrati: Hey Alex and Meg! So lovely to be speaking with you today. Could you start by telling us a bit about yourself.

Alex: It’s so nice to be speaking with you today also, Vrati. Thank you for having us! My name is Alex, and I previously attended Western University for Medical Sciences. Now. I am a 2T5 medical student at the University of Toronto

Meg: It’s great to speak with you! Prior to starting medical school, I attended McMaster University for my undergrad in Biochemistry, as well as my masters in Global Health. 

Vrati: Can you tell us a little bit about the podcast?

Alex: So The Clerk Commute Podcast was originally developed by two 2T2 UofT medical graduates, Lauren and Brendan, who are now completing their residences. Meg and I were really passionate about continuing to grow the podcast after they moved on; we wanted to createa new chapter for the podcast. The Clerk Commute is a med-ed podcast designed for incoming and current clerkship students across Canada. The episodes feature clerkship content, interviews with physicians, up-to-date research, and case based discussions. The whole premise of the podcast is to provide students with short, digestible, and enjoyable content to listen to in preparation for their clinical rotations during their commute to the hospital.

Vrati: What drove you to take on the position of co-directors of the Clerk Commute podcast?

Meg: Alex and I both love listening to podcasts and are constantly sharing interesting podcasts that we find with one another! Co-directing a podcast together seemed like a great way to bring together our academic interest in medical education with our enjoyment of podcasts. We loved the premise of the podcast, and we were excited by the opportunity to share an impactful tool with fellow classmates and current rotating clerks that would make a difference in their clinical experiences. 

Vrati: Has anything surprised you about the role?

Alex: We’ve quickly realized how weird it is to listen so much to our own voices! All jokes aside, we were pleasantly surprised to see that our first episode received hundreds of downloads within just hours of its release. It has been exciting to see how many people we can reach and to imagine the impact the podcast can have as an accessible knowledge translation tool. Since we’ve only just started, I’m sure we will run into many more surprises in the future.  

Vrati: Did you both know each other before starting this position? How has taking up this role helped you develop your friendship?

Meg: Yes, we did know each other before. Funnily enough, Alex was one of the first few people I met when we started school. We actually met the night of the scavenger hunt during our O-Week. 

I think taking over the podcast and directing it together has forced us to have really good and open communication with one another–developing a new chapter for the podcast with both of our visions in mind. It is also just a really fun activity to do together, in addition to the breaks we take to cook dinners together. 

Vrati: What has the role taught you so far about leadership?

Alex: So far, it has really taught us to embrace everyone’s individual assets and talents. Meg and I are so thankful for our wonderful team of executives, each of whom has something unique to contribute to the podcast and the team. 

Being in regular communication with the team has also been very important. We want everyone to be up to date on everything that is happening as we develop this new chapter of the podcast. We hope that to create a space where they can openly contribute and share their thoughts about anything we have going on at the time. 

Vrati: Finally, what is your vision for the podcast? What can we expect this year?

Meg: Our vision is to grow and diversify the podcast to reach a broader audience. We are hoping to include new types of episodes, such as discussions on current research, case-based style episodes, and more physician/resident interviews. We are also trying to have regular weekly or bi-weekly posting of episodes, so that listeners can get excited for the next episode and know when it’s coming out (spoiler: it’s Tuesdays!). 

We hope to engage more with the audience to gain feedback from students about what they want to hear about, and what clerks/residents think is important to learn. Ultimately, we hope to expand the podcast to clerks and pre-clerks across Canada and collaborate with students at other medical schools. We are so excited for this opportunity and can’t wait for everyone to hear our new episodes!