An injury ridden tenure as a student basketballer first forced Dr. Gianakos to find the bright side to a sticky situation. Since then, she hasn’t stopped turning negatives into positives. Whether it was serving as research chief at her residency program, co-founding SpeakUpOrtho, or helping shape In-Office Needle Arthroscopy early in its lifetime, Dr. Gianakos has found a way to enrich any space she’s a part of.

We’ve recently been interviewing more and more medical students in the middle of research years. In our opinion, this episode puts many of our prior episodes on research years into perspective. As someone who took her own research year in med school and now guides medical students in her capacity as a faculty member, Dr. Gianakos is in a great position to speak on making the most of research experiences. In our interview she details the simple, clear, and urgent steps one should take at the beginning and end of any research project.

Whether you’re wondering if you’re cut out for a field, you’ve recently been doubting yourself, or you want to learn how to turn around setbacks, this episode is for you. Dr Gianakos’ words are distinctly motivational and we’re so so thankful to her for spending her time with us. In doing so, she helped us record what may just be the extremely informative pick me up you need this weekend.