Open Chart interviews practicing healthcare professionals so middle and high schoolers can explore medicine beyond "doctor or nurse."
From clinical pharmacist to perfusionist — explore 15+ profiles written in plain language for students of any age.
Real conversations with people who actually do this work — the honest stuff they don't put in job descriptions.
Open Chart was built by pre-med high schoolers who had the same questions you do. We go straight to the source — interviewing real professionals across fields most students have never heard of — and write it up so anyone can understand it.
Tap any card to read the full profile and interview.
Real conversations with people who actually do this work.
Why we built this, and who's behind it.
We were pre-med high schoolers who kept running into the same problem: every resource about healthcare careers was either too surface-level, too technical, or written for adults who already knew what they were doing. Nobody was writing for students who were still figuring it out.
So we built Open Chart — a free resource where students can read honest, plain-language profiles of real medical careers, backed by interviews with the people who actually do them.
Open Chart is completely free and designed to be shared. If you're an educator, school counselor, or organization working with students interested in healthcare — we'd love to collaborate.
A conversation with Dr. Grace Prince-Torain · Podiatrist & Educator, Anne Arundel County
"When I could get a wound closed, I knew I could keep a patient walking — and that means I could increase the longevity of their life."
Dr. Grace Prince-Torain
Dr. Prince-Torain originally considered becoming a pediatrician — she loves working with kids. But when it came time to commit to a medical path, she already had a child and needed a career with manageable hours. Podiatry offered that balance. Over time though, she found that running a practice with children was still demanding, which eventually led her to merge her love of medicine and kids in a different way — by becoming an educator.
Her path wasn't linear. She spent five years in undergrad after transferring schools following the death of her mother. Then two years of graduate school studying microbiology, before getting accepted into podiatry school. Because she had a son by that point, she enrolled in a special program that allowed her to complete podiatry school in five years instead of four. After graduating, she completed a three-year residency — one year of primary care followed by two years of surgical training. Then she started her own practice.
A lot of her work was preventative care for diabetic patients — people with neuropathy or poor blood flow to their feet. She also did sports medicine work with orthotics, surgical procedures like bunionectomies and hammer toe corrections, wound debridement, and regular visits to nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and patients' homes. She'd block certain days for office visits and other days for facility rounds, with separate time set aside just for documentation. "Notes are very important," she says, "because that's how you get paid, and that's also how you fight any possible malpractice."
Business. Running a practice means dealing with rent, utilities, phone bills, internet, property insurance, malpractice insurance, hospital dues, and professional license fees — on top of actually seeing patients. "You definitely underestimate the amount of business knowledge you need," she says. Knowing how to bill correctly and maximize reimbursement from insurance companies is essential, and nobody really teaches you that in medical school.
When patients die. Not from anything you did — but when you're treating people with serious comorbidities, sometimes they don't make it. That emotional weight is real, and it's not something that comes up much in training.
That podiatrists just "like feet." Her response: "If something is diseased, it's going to be unpleasant — and if it's healthy, it'll be less unpleasant. It's no different from any other part of the body." Podiatry is a full medical and surgical specialty, not a niche preference.
She's not worried about AI replacing podiatrists. "Luckily, AI can't cut toenails." But she does think AI will make the job easier — faster note-writing, more efficient billing. The demand for podiatrists isn't going anywhere. As long as people have two feet, the field will be needed.
Insurance companies consistently underpay physicians — often only covering about half of what's billed. Advocating for fair reimbursement is a constant battle, and it's something every practicing podiatrist has to deal with.
Shadow a podiatrist. Check if your local VA has a podiatric department you can observe. Volunteer at nursing homes to get comfortable with elderly patients — they make up a big part of a podiatrist's caseload. Get solid in the core sciences. And consider taking a Latin class — a huge amount of anatomy, physiology, and microbiology terminology is rooted in Latin or Greek, and knowing it makes everything easier.
Empathetic. Humble. Self-motivated. Someone who genuinely loves to keep learning — new techniques, new treatments, new materials, new data. "You have to be a lifelong learner in whatever field, but especially in podiatry."
Be disciplined and organized. Dr. Prince-Torain says she struggled her freshman year of college because she hadn't developed those skills yet. Once she learned how to manage her time, study effectively, and prepare for exams — her grades improved dramatically. "Just learning how to study and being focused" made all the difference.
Dr. Grace Prince-Torain
Podiatrist & Educator · Anne Arundel County Public Schools