Sophia Gámez

Undergraduate School and Major: Columbia University, double major with a BA in Biology and English

Medical School: Yale School of Medicine

Life/professions/adventures prior to attending medical school: Professional Babysitter, Special Education teacher's assistant, Waitress at Steak and Shake, News reporter and editor for the Columbia Daily Spectator (wrote a lot about bicycle issues in the upper west side of NYC), General Chemistry Tutor, Sexual Assault Nurse Examination (SANE) volunteer advocate in NYC and Kalamazoo, Occasional poet and writer, After-school Program Science Teacher

Interests / Hobbies: Reading, hanging with my two cats, gardening, leisurely cycling, leisurely running, rock climbing, attempting to write non-fiction or poetry, hiking, forest bathing, dancing, eating good food and listening to good music, photography, and more recently I have become an amateur bird-watcher!! 

Favorite Food: Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, egg scrambles, pancakes, French toast; I also love Thai food and Indian food, Ethiopian food, and pasta!

Restaurant Recommendation: In New Haven CT, House of Naan; Bridgeport CT, Mi Rancho; Kalamazoo MI, Food Dance (RIP), Rustica, Shwarma King; in Harlem NYC, Pisticci Italian Tratorria

Favorite TV Show or Movie: TV shows: I enjoy a very wide spectrum of shows from reality shows like Love Island/Bachelor/Below Deck to dramas like the Sopranos/The Wire/Mad Men to quirky shows like Fleabag/Insecure/Grace and Frankie.  Some favorite movies are: Twister, Call me By Your Name, Ladybird, Sorry to Bother You, Parasite, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, The Disaster Artist, BlacKkKlansman, Pride and Prejudice (Colin Firth version), Beast of the Southern Wild, The Big Short

What book do you recommend to others and why: So many more but a few that come to mind... Parable of the Sower/Talents Octavia Butler, great afrofuturistic sci-fi dystopian novel that is becoming a little too close to reality but also offers a really beautiful way to hope in difficult times; Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, beautiful nonfiction by a Potawatomi botanist and professor of plant ecology where she talks about her journey reconciling science and nature through an indigenous lens; Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson, compelling nonfiction about the great migration; East of Eden by John Steinbeck, love the story, fantastic tale of redemption and intergenerational trauma; The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel A. van der Kolk, amazing book on trauma and how it impacts the human body; To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf; Emma/Pride and Prejudice/Sense and Sensibility/Persuasion by Jane Austen she was my first favorite author

Favorite Hike or Ski trail: In Maine I really enjoy walking around Two Lights State Park but Acadia is also beautiful.  In my hometown of Kalamazoo the Lilian Anderson Arboretum and Al Sabo Land Preservations were some other favorites, I need to learn how to ski ASAP

Favorite Beach (doesn’t have to be in Maine): Willard and Higgins Beach are both beautiful, in Michigan we would go to the beach in South Haven

Closest brush with a famous person: I was in line behind Malia Obama at a Harvard Yale Football game lol

Celebrity I most resemble: Some wishful thinking celebrity look-alikes include Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Penelope Cruz, or Salma Hayek

Craziest / Best / Worst Job: Craziest: Steak and Shake Waitress, the food industry is WILD and I kind of love it; Worst: I briefly worked at Kohl's and did not enjoy folding clothes or unpacking clothes from trucks

If I weren’t a doctor I would be: Journalist, writer, poet, national geographic photographer, veterinarian, social worker, conservationist

Medical Interests: Social emergency medicine, wilderness and rural medicine, ultrasound, global health, education

Personal Goals: Be a competent and compassionate doctor, be happy, be a good partner/daughter/sister/friend, live in the moment!

Favorite Place in Maine: My cute little backyard, Acadia National Park, Willard Beach, Higgins Beach, Two Lights State Park, Cliffs Beach, Mackworth Island

Why MMC: I want to be a doer and not a caller, I love the smaller city living with amazing access to restaurants, breweries and beautiful nature; I visited Maine during my first year of medical school and thought it was the most magical place on earth and have been looking for an excuse to come back; the work-life balance; the culture of MMC; unopposed procedures, most importantly my gut feeling