Shadowing

From the award-winning author of Chemistry comes a sharp and poignant short story that follows a young medical student working in clinical research and grappling with the realities of a future in her chosen field.

To become a doctor someday, every student must complete a certain number of hours in clinical research, volunteering, and shadowing. There are algorithms to this stuff, to building the perfect résumé for admission to the perfect doctoral program. With this goal in mind, a young pre-med student earns a coveted role in a study about diet and its effects on the human heart, replacing another Asian-American woman from the same school and on a similar college track. The doctor in charge - a middle-aged woman who'd built her career at some of the most elite medical institutions in the country - is erratic and overbearing at first, but her quirks and habits become clearer as the time goes on. Faced with the stark realities of the doctor's life within and outside of the lab, the student must take stock of her ambitions and her own place in the world.