A student stands over a patient, needle poised. They have a “perfect” prescription: a textbook combination of points harvested from a lecture slide on chronic lower back pain. But as the needle meets the skin, the student hesitates - the symptom of a quiet habit that has taken hold of our profession. We routinely say we “prescribe” points. It sounds efficient. It echoes the authority of biomedical culture and fits neatly into the insurance field. But vocabulary is never neutral; repeated long enough, it dictates behavior.
Megan Zhao
Megan Zhao studies Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard College. Born and raised in Cleveland, OH, she has been exposed to a variety of experiences within the medical field and plans on pursuing a path in medicine in the future, although uncertain of which field yet. She has had a wide range of research experiences spanning chemistry, materials science research, astrophysics, global health, and public health.