Alessandra Colaianni MD, MPhil is a writer and an otolaryngologist-head and neck surgeon who specializes in the treatment of patients with head and neck cancer. Using creative nonfiction essay, she explores the worlds of surgical training, medical ethics, medical education, and illness. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Harper’s, Guernica, VQR, The New Yorker online, The New England Journal of Medicine, Intima, The Journal of the American Medical Association and other venues.