ABOUT

My name is Mara. I grew up in Berkeley and Oakland, the daughter of Vietnamese refugees. I am currently a resident physician in internal medicine. I ultimately want to be a primary care physician who takes care of underserved and marginalized communities.

I created this space to share my journey of becoming a doctor and thoughts on social issues, particularly border justice, immigration, Native American and Indigenous autonomy, women's health, correctional medicine, and community building. This is an ever evolving space as I find my place in the world.

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Mara Cao

Learning Medicine at Mule Creek Prison

I. We wait for the metal gate to slide open. It is my first day at Mule Creek Prison. I feel anxious and nervous, but also excited. I...

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Mara Cao

Desert Writings: An Introduction

This is a collection of short vignettes and photos of my experience volunteering with No More Deaths (NMD), a humanitarian aid...

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Mara Cao

i. desayuno

I am awoken as the morning sun heats up my tent. I walk over our kitchen tent and turn on the propane gas stove and place a large cast...

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ii. a kitchen in the middle of the desert

Mara Cao

ii. a kitchen in the middle of the desert

By mid-day the heat of the sun beats down mercilessly. The air is dry. There is no breeze. I sit on a cooler under the kitchen tent. Some...

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Mara Cao

iii. hot cows

We drive out listening to Bruce Springsteen. The road is unpaved, rocky. We bounce up and down in our seats. My stomach starts to feel...

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Mara Cao

iv. harsh desert mountains

We park the truck in the wash and get out. We hike up the hill, each of us carrying three or four gallon jugs of water in our backpacks....

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Mara Cao

v. ocho tios

It is April and the ocotillos are blooming, their red flowers sitting against the blue sky. Jeff says he remembers ocotillo by thinking...

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Mara Cao

vi. carrying a baby across the desert

We are sitting under the kitchen tent lazily chatting about nothing. Our brains are dazed by the midday heat. Suddenly my friend looks...

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Mara Cao

vii. the best water

Out of the bushes appear three figures. On all sides sinister shadows of mountains creep in on them. They come closer and the light in...

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Mara Cao

viii. washing dishes with perfect hair

A group of four men come into our camp as the evening takes over. They are quiet, worn out. They sit around and we start cooking dinner....

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Mara Cao

ix. el serpiente es mala suerte

I finish cleaning the trailer and go around to the ropa tent. It is disorganized, but the heat is getting to me and I do not feel like...

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Mara Cao

x. hasta un mundo sin fronteras

We leave dawn to start our hike to put out water before the heat becomes unbearable. As we drive the sky lightens to a mauve, just before...

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Mara Cao

xi. dry bones

I wake up from a nap. I am in a bed and I must have passed out. It is past 6pm and I am hungry, so I order a pizza. I feel like I am...

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Mara Cao

They Broke The Law

I. “But they broke the law!” The young woman who said this to me was a family friend who I had known for many years. I was telling her...

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Mara Cao

Suiting-Up To Swab For Covid-19

“Turn around,” Dr. Harris says to me. “Let me look at you.” She instructs me to adjust my mask strap. I take a deep breath in. My mask...

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Mara Cao

Portrait Of A Surgeon

“This is a 38 year old man who was run over by a light rail train and extricated from the tracks” reports the EMS. We transfer the man...

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Mara Cao

Learning About Life And Death In The ICU

He lies before us, the heart monitor beeping, the ventilator inflating his lungs up and down. His eyes flutter behind the closed eyelids....

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Mara Cao

Hidden Wounds

When I was small, my mom owned a small beauty salon on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland, CA. She used to being me along to her salon so she...

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