User:FatimaNasr

From a young age, my visits to the doctor with my mother were always fascinating, perhaps owing to the wonderful pediatrician that I frequented. He would make all the children smile, turning anxiety and fear into laughter. I wanted to be like him, I wanted to make people smile too. It also didn’t hurt that the candy was really tasty! Being born and raised in Sudan, My love for biology and the workings of the human body in high school paved the way for my enrollment into Medical school. There I realized that I was lucky yet oblivious to how so many suffer. I volunteered on the numerous medical relief missions and convoys organized by my university, which targeted rural populations with poor access to proper healthcare. We were able to provide some much-needed aid. Through those missions, I’ve come to understand that being a doctor is a privileged position, one that makes a real and tangible difference on the lives that I come across. Afterwards , I worked as a Senior House Officer in Khartoum. On a quite morning, a truck sped through the hospital’s entrance carrying the victims of a horrific RTA. Bodies upon bodies were overflowing the truck. It was a gruesome scene. My seniors and I sprang into action to provide the urgent care required. Unfortunately, a large number had already passed. A 12-year-old boy in his high schools uniform was among the injured. He was severely weakened, yet still mustered the strength to hold my hand. We managed to stabilize him, but he needed urgent referral to another hospital for surgery. While accompanying him, his gaze was fixated on me the entire way. It carried his hope in me, and his refusal to give up. It carried life. Thankfully, we made it and he was saved. This experience has made me realize that I must always push myself, overcome the many obstacles that will surely come my way, and do all that I can for my patients. That I owe it to myself and to my patients, to constantly strive for self-betterment. My sights were fixated on reaching the U.S as I knew it was the cream of the top when it came to medical training and advancement. I completed my USMLE step 1 and 2 exams and was working in the General Pediatrics Department at the time. The NICU consultant and the medical director of the hospital decided to take the best junior doctors from the staff to work in the NICU. I was the first one to be selected. This was because of my immense dedication and devotion to my work. Working in the NICU was a new experience for me. I’ve always been a quick learner, meticulous in my approach. I was able to acquire a lot of knowledge and develop new skills during a short period. This period sparked a passion in me for Neonatology, and opened my eyes to the many pathways within the world of pediatrics. Subsequently, I secured a job abroad at the Abu Dhabi Stem Cells Centre in UAE. It was a great opportunity for me to be involved in a research environment. It was vastly different from the clinical setting I was accustomed to. I found that in it lies endless possibilities. It was very exciting to know that any advancement we make can change and improve treatment modalities as a whole. All of these experiences have made serving patients an absolute priority in my life, and I will continue to do all that is within my power to aid this purpose. I’m a huge advocate for not only being an efficient medical worker, but also a patient communicator and listener; an asset I’m proud to possess in abundance .I seek a residency program that emphasizes team work and allows me to learn as much as I can, interact with as many as people of different backgrounds and cultures and to dive deeper into incorporating research into my practice. That is the pinnacle of my career dream.

Children are the future. I become more aware of how much truth this statement holds with every passing day. They carry our hopes, our ambitions, our dreams and aspirations and perhaps unfairly so. They are a blank canvas; untainted by the unpleasantness of our world. Through them, we see goodness, we see innocence and we see what might come to be. To protect them is our collective duty. I have chosen their healing as my life’s mission.