At the festivities marking the end of our grueling first two years of medical school, I was voted the funniest girl in my class. I hasten to add, lest this admission seem immodest, that the competition was not very stiff. Medical students (and the doctors they become) are a pretty serious lot. And yet, humor had always been so much a part of my life that it seemed unlikely I could subtract it from my identity when I added “M.D.” to my name.