iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 13/11/2025

That one creepy frame from The Ring or endoanal ultrasound?

Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 02/11/2025

I learned today that when you inject anesthetic under the skin/mucosa/whatever, its called raising a WHEAL not a WHEEL 😮

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 20/10/2025

Seahorse. Wait… what was the question again?

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 20/10/2025

I have the best Halloween costume idea but its too colorectal-niche for me to wear anywhere: nervous tic, but like tic as in diverticuli 🙈

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 13/10/2025

Now that I’m becoming a colorectal surgeon, I want the title of the biopic based on my autobiography to be called “The Bottom Line.”

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 27/09/2025

Whats the word for the mutual feeling of being super happy for somebody but also blind with jealousy about it? I’ve been following that Argentinian hockey player’s love fairytale with that Dutch politician and I feel that, whatever the word is for it.

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 24/09/2025

Fine, I’ll say it, the smell of the ascetic acid we use to find HPV lesions on anorectal exam makes me crave sea salt and vinegar chips real bad

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 24/09/2025

I don’t acknowledge patients on the street (bc HIPAA) unless they acknowledge me first, but sometimes I feel like they’re not acknowledging me bc I’m not acknowledging them and they think I don’t remember them but I do!!

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 11/09/2025

Something I didn’t expect to miss so much breaking up after a long term relationship, is the mundane ritual of telling them about my day. Its not that I don’t have friends who wouldn’t want to listen about my day… but its just not the same

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 11/09/2025

(To the tune of Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne)

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 11/09/2025

People are always like “sucks you have to see butts all day” in colorectal clinic, but our clinic is right next to vascular clinic and let me tell you I’d rather see butts than those vascular feet

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 08/09/2025

Maybe the fistulas were the friends we made long the way

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 27/08/2025

Its always a little funny to me when patients get kinda flustered when I ask them to tell me how they’re pooping. You came to colorectal clinic, what did you think we were gonna talk about??

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 27/08/2025

Google scholar tells me one of my surg ed papers from residency just got its 10th citation, bumping my h-index to 10 ☺️ (which really doesn’t matter to anyone but its kinda neat anyway)

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 20/08/2025

A month into colorectal fellowship & I’m learning folks are very ambitious (& a little bit delusional) as to how well they’re going to feel post hemorrhoidectomy. Everyone thinks they’re going to be up for working once the propofol wears off & I gotta tell them how mistaken they are about that 🙈

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Reposted by Jorge Zarate

Tyler 🎃 👻 @coastalhoe.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

I saw Goody Proctor using chatgpt

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 09/08/2025

I’m biased as a colorectal fellow, but the anus is the most intelligent sphincter in the human body.

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Reposted by Jorge Zarate

Myra Batchelder @myrabatchelder.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

Thinking about how dangerous it will be if more people turn to ChatGPT for medical advice as more and more people lose health insurance and healthcare access in the US. We need more public education on the limits of AI as well as ensuring everyone has access to the healthcare they need!

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 05/07/2025

One of my favorite papers that I wrote during my research time in residency finally reached 20 citations on google scholar! This one paper led to like 3-4 other ones, got me invited onto a med med podcast, and also to write an editorial 🥰

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 02/07/2025

Not me trying to use the WashU Manual of Surgery Podcast for board prep but getting misty hearing the voices of my former attendings and co-residents 🥹

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 01/07/2025

I finished residency! Its true what they say, the days are long but the years are short. I’m so grateful to the countless people that made this possible: family, friends, patients, hospital staff, and everyone at WashU Surgery. On to the next big thing: colorectal fellowship at Mt Sinai!

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 20/06/2025

Closing out the chief talks, the admin chiefs: Dr Kepper talked about lessons from fatherhood we can apply to surgical training, and Dr Hess acknowledged all the reasons surgery is hard and more importantly the reasons why we still do what we do

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 16/06/2025

Congrats to Dr Sathe who recently had a paper published in Surgery with updated outcomes for our surgical prehab program SPAR, which decreases mortality, rate of discharge to acute care facility and length of stay. Here's the link to the paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.su...

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 16/06/2025

What do we mean by endpoint? Like when we should stop them?

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 12/06/2025

Third week of chief talks at WashU: Dr Beache talked about how we learn to cope through the hardships of residency & Dr Han shared some lessons from her time as a 2nd grade teacher

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 12/06/2025

2nd week of WashU chief talks last week included yours truly, talking about Broadway, what surgeons can learn from musical theater & some lessons I've learned in residency as told by my favorite musicals; Dr Martinez talked about the incredibly hard road IMG prelims walk to become surgeons in the US

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 08/06/2025

Residency has been a wild ride and I couldn't be more excited to continue my training as one of the incoming colorectal surgery fellows at Mt Sinai. Check out this little playlist I curated if you want to listen to some showtunes!

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 08/06/2025

Its time for final bows! I'm so grateful to my family, partner, and friends for supporting me through the last 7 years. I also want to thank the residency staff, everyone at the hospital, my junior and senior residents and my co-chiefs of course.

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 08/06/2025

A huge part of being successful in research is finding mentors who will believe in you and support your work. I'm forever grateful to Drs Sanford, Hammill, Ohman, Chapman Jr, Wise, and Awad for always being my advocates

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 08/06/2025

One of my fav papers from my research time got rejected from 6 journals before it found a home. Once it did, the publishing journal had an IF x3 the one I had originally submitted to. That paper produced many more papers, got me invited onto podcasts & to write an editorial! doi.org/10.1111/medu...

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 08/06/2025

It can be easy to lose faith in your work when you get that stinging rejection email from the journal of your choice. But like Dr Michael Awad once told me, "every paper has a home." So you owe it to yourself and to those who might benefit from your work to not give up!

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 08/06/2025

Lastly, Rent is an amazing musical, but most amazing is the ardent self-belief Jonathan Larson had in his own work. This allowed him to persevere despite 10 years of rejections until he was finally able to get somebody to agree to invest in the project that would become Rent

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 08/06/2025

Fortunately, I've been very lucky to have come across some excellent teachers in my years at WashU and I would like to thank them all for everything they have invested in me

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 08/06/2025

Most people in surgical education have little formal training in such and giving good feedback is very hard. At times they will miss the mark and give feedback that is unhelpful. Give yourself permission to discard feedback that doesn't help you become a better surgeon

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 08/06/2025

Wicked is super popular right now. In the iconic song "Defying Gravity," Elphaba realizes she needs to free herself from the criticism she has heard all her life to fulfill her potential

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 08/06/2025

I've been lucky to find community with an amazing group of Latino trainees at WashU and we need to continue to show up for each other. Gracias por tanto!

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 08/06/2025

Black & Latino residents are underrepresented in surgery which manifests as a distinct lack of available mentors in academic surgery.

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 08/06/2025

In The Heights (Lin-Manuel Miranda's OG musical) is all about how the Latino community of Washington Heights shows up for each other

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 08/06/2025

My favorite thing about musicals is how they weave multiple artistic disciplines to tell stories with universal messages. I focused on 3 of my favorite musicals to give my junior residents some advice

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 08/06/2025

Kneebone argues that recognizing the parallels between surgery and performance can make us better surgeons if we are open to learning lessons from the performance world

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 08/06/2025

The operation itself is a complex choreographed dance where surgeon & assistant work in tandem, they also work in concert with the scrub, circulator, anesthesia, etc. Sometimes, things don't go as planned and we have to improvise both in the OR and on stage

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 08/06/2025

Dr Roger Kneebone argues in "Performing Surgery" that there's performance all throughout our patient encounters. In the clinic, we act like we are giving our undivided attention to patients but in our heads we're processing data & devising treatment plans doi.org/10.3389/fpsy...

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 08/06/2025

Early surgeons relied on public performances of anatomic dissections and procedure demonstrations to prove their skills and build their practice

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 08/06/2025

I would also argue that it requires a healthy amount of self-delusion (main character syndrome) to make it on Broadway and as a surgeon

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Jorge Zarate @jzaraterod.medsky.social · 08/06/2025

There's many similarities between musical theater and surgery. There's costuming, setting, props in both. Both require a ton of rehearsing to reach proficiency. We even borrow the concept of the academic surgery triple threat from musical theater!

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