When Dayna Pham was diagnosed with severe psoriasis at 21, the hardest part wasn't the plaques. It was the staring, the dating she stopped doing, and the version of herself she had to grieve. A few years later, on her first day of medical school, psoriatic arthritis arrived too. Now a University of Chicago med student, NPF advocate, and mentor for chronically ill students, Dayna talks candidly about the internal stigma that follows you even when no one's watching, the full-time job of managing a chronic illness on top of everything else, and what kind of doctor she's determined to become. Plus, Holly tells the story of a 12th-century Persian physician who linked a patient's psoriasis to emotional conflict — and why it took Western medicine until practically yesterday to admit that the mind and body are linked.

Explain This to Me: Brian Lehrschall on Self-Advocacy, From a Doctor's Office to Capitol Hill
32:47

"I Didn't Know How to Be a Partner in My Own Care": Joel Nelson on Learning Self-Advocacy Late
42:41

Ask A Doctor: Dermatologist Dr. Anna Chacon on Maximizing Your Appointments and the Research Gap
31:45