Thriving in CMDA Local Communities

by Christian Medical & Dental Associations® Dr. Melissa McConville was four years old, trailing her father on house calls, when the call to medicine settled on her — not as a decision she made, but as something that was simply, undeniably there. What she couldn’t have known then was how much that calling would cost her, or how much of her own healing would have to come first. In this conversation, Melissa takes us to a road race where she knelt beside a man in asystole after twenty-five minutes of CPR — PEA to asystole, epi given, no pulse — and made the deliberate shift from clinical to spiritual, praying over him while quietly unsure whether she fully believed God still raises the dead. She acted anyway. That moment opens up the deeper questions this episode is really about: how do you hold the clinician’s eye and the believer’s eye on the same patient without one canceling out the other? What does it actually look like to offer prayer at the bedside — the right patient, the right time, the right way, with informed consent, low risk, proper documentation, and inside your college’s guidelines? And why does the order matter so much, with the spiritual coming after everything evidence-based medicine can offer, never instead of it? Whether you’re a student who feels the pull toward this kind of practice but is convinced you’re not bold enough — or a physician who has been quietly taught to leave faith in the parking lot — this episode offers a picture of what it means to be a minister in scrubs: a healer who has been healed, carrying that into the exam room safely, ethically, and without apology.

by Christian Medical & Dental Associations® For medical and dental students, life can feel like a relentless cycle of earning, proving, and measuring up. In this episode of the Student Pulse Podcast, Bible teacher and author Elizabeth Nuthalapaty offers a freeing counter-message: we were never made to chase glory or manufacture it — only to behold and reflect it. Drawing on her new 50-day devotional, Reflecting God’s Glory, she unpacks what it actually means to behold God — not merely study Him — and how that quiet daily practice slowly, even irreversibly, changes us. She speaks directly to the exhausted trainee who’s already fallen behind, making the case that small, ordinary faithfulness matters more than dramatic spiritual highs. It’s an invitation for students entering a life of caring for the vulnerable to be transformed by the One they behold — and to let that change spill over onto every patient, classmate, and roommate they meet.

by Christian Medical & Dental Associations® When the Match didn’t go the way Josh Lee planned, he found himself in the SOAP process — facing a season that felt a lot like fishing all night and catching nothing. In this episode of the Student Pulse Podcast, Josh is honest about what was happening inside him, spiritually and emotionally, in the disorientation of not matching. He shares what it actually took to trust God enough to “let down the net” one more time and submit to an uncertain process all over again. Drawing on Peter’s story in Luke 5, Josh reflects on the strange tension of holding onto faith while your hands are still empty. It’s a candid, hopeful conversation for any student standing in the “caught nothing” part of their own story.

by Christian Medical & Dental Associations® What if medical training isn’t just teaching you how to practice, but quietly shaping who you become? In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Danielle Shelton — family physician, lifestyle medicine leader, and educator — to talk about the hidden curriculum of medicine and the culture it reproduces. She makes the case that we can’t keep passing down burnout, competition, and ego and expect a healthy profession, and that Christian physicians are called to model something different: generosity, courage, humility, and collaboration. Along the way we explore why mentorship is stewardship, why depleted physicians can’t care or lead well, and what it means to be faithful within medicine while helping build what doesn’t yet exist. It’s a conversation about formation, calling, and the courage to offer your gifts before you feel fully ready.

by Christian Medical & Dental Associations® Join John Bayon, Detroit Area Director, Mitzi Roberts, San Antonio Area Director and Corey Whittaker, Triangle NC Area Director join Mike Chupp, CMDA CEO, for an encouraging conversation about the encouraging and challenging ministry to healthcare trainees and professionals in their local areas.

by Christian Medical & Dental Associations® How hard is it, really, to follow Christ in medicine today? In this episode, Corey Whittaker — who walks alongside students, residents, and physicians across Raleigh-Durham — gives an unusually honest answer. He names the pressures bearing down on Christian trainees, from moral injury to conscience protections, and tells the truth about the consequences he’s seeing play out. But this isn’t a conversation about despair; it’s about what’s actually working to keep faithful clinicians standing. Tune in for an encouraging, clear-eyed look at faith on the front lines of healthcare.

by Christian Medical & Dental Associations® If God is good and God is provident, why do children die? It’s the question every parent in a pediatric ICU eventually asks — and the one Dr. Dan Falco has spent twenty-five years sitting with rather than answering. In this conversation he makes an unusual claim: that even when a situation seems to argue against God’s goodness, He is still good, still present, still at work. We talk about the stories that nearly broke that conviction, what it means to seek God’s presence in real time, and how students can prepare before their own storm arrives.

by Christian Medical & Dental Associations® What happens to your soul when the systems that train you run on efficiency, measurement, and output? Artist and author Bette Dickinson joins host Bill Reichart for a rich and unhurried conversation about spiritual flourishing in a productivity-driven culture — and why the vineyard, not the factory floor, is a far truer image of how God forms us. Bette unpacks the vital difference between bearing fruit and truly flourishing, examines how medical training quietly reshapes our image of God, and offers a life-giving alternative for the student, resident, or healthcare professional who feels like their formation has been hijacked by metrics. Whether you’re running on empty or just sensing that something deeper is missing, this conversation is an invitation to receive the long, patient work of the Vinedresser.

by Christian Medical & Dental Associations® In this CMDA Student Pulse Podcast conversation, Davis Melin sits down with host Bill Reichart to talk about what leadership looks like when you are still in training and don’t yet have the title, experience, or authority you wish you had. Davis shares how trainees can lead from the middle of the team by first learning to lead themselves well, by honoring authority without becoming passive, and by speaking truth with grace when something needs to be said. The discussion also gets practical about the pressures of medical training, the challenge of leading up in real time, and why leadership in a clinical setting matters not only for teamwork and patient care, but also for witness and character. It’s a thoughtful, honest conversation for anyone who wants to become the kind of physician-leader others can trust, follow, and genuinely enjoy working with.

by Christian Medical & Dental Associations® What happens when a family medicine physician trained in China, formed in West Africa, and forged in the crucible of American medical residency decides the Church needs to speak more directly into the lives of healthcare professionals? Dr. Carla Da Goia Pinto joins Bill Reichart on the CMDA Student Pulse Podcast to talk about her book Pray Like This — a 12-week Scripture-based prayer devotional written specifically for those who heal for a living. Dr. Pinto brings a word that is equal parts practical and prophetic — and it’s one every medical or dental student, resident, and fellow needs to hear.