To that end, we thought now would be a good time to step back and remind ourselves why we got into all this in the first place — to reconnect with the big picture. To come together as community — as tomorrow’s physicians — virtually and accessibly, to share thoughts, ideas and observations.

So, we launched our last week, and we’re loving what you’re sharing. Check out some of the responses and join in the !

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It consists of multiple moments, from seeing the physicians care for my grandmother during her cancer, to the fulfilling experiences volunteering at a free medical clinic. While I enjoy conducting research, I learned I wanted to have patient care be part of my life.

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For me it’s a bit of an oxymoron. It was a feeling that was cultivated subconsciously throughout my life experiences as the child of Albanian refugees in Greece. It was the doctors working for the local NGOs who with kindness and humanity would check and make sure we had what we needed regardless of our ethnicity or insurance status. Yet, I didn’t realize this was my calling until the end of my college education when I became aware of the extraordinary work of doctors in refugee camps in Greece amidst the Syrian war. I had the opportunity to connect with a few physicians on the ground and the very first doctor who took care of me when I got sick as a baby…who at the age of 67 was still volunteering with MSF in Greece. That’s when I realized that I cannot imagine myself doing anything else. So far I love every second of my education and hope that one day I can give back to my patients the same love, care, and kindness I encountered.

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A great majority of my family members are doctors and from a young age they inspired me to pursue this profession. Every time they were able to relive someone’s pain I felt empowered to do the same. I’ve always been aware of the challenges this career implies but being able to have a positive impact in somebody’s life is worth the sacrifice. Something that also captivated me was the functioning of the human organism. It is so satisfying to understand what and why changes occur inside our bodies in different circumstances. It’s fascinating!

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I’ve never had “a moment”. Though from a family with both parents as medics I watched them as I grew and somehow someway, found myself getting attached to anything and everything medically inclined. I couldn’t and still can’t see myself doing anything better than serving humanity medically! Even after getting a degree and working few years, the unrest led me here and I love every bit of it!

I can’t wait to be 100% involved.

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Hard to pinpoint a single moment where I realized I wanted to become a physician, but the biggest driver when I was a kid was learning first aid skills in Scouting! I was fascinated with the application of science to the human body, and I loved being able to help people out with my skills.

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Agreed about a single moment. I took a career quiz that suggested healthcare as an option. I decided I wanted to work with people and I wanted to be challenged. This started me on my journey to pursue medicine!

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I never wanted to be a doctor growing up–it wasn’t until I started college that I even realized I liked science at all! But later that year my mom found out she had cancer (she’s been in remission for 7 years now!). My experiences with the doctors who took care of her really opened my eyes to the kind of impact a physician can make, and I wanted to be a part of that if I could

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I agree, it is hard to pinpoint an exact moment. For me, my interest started as a child when I would listen to my parents share interesting cases at the dinner table. My interest was cemented after I volunteered with my local community emergency response team.

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I can’t remember exactly because my dad kept saying to me “you are going to study medicine” i guess i just grew with it, but i am actually loving.

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At the age of 16 years old, I left the country of Barbados where I was born and raised, to pursue my passion of medicine. I had to leave my friends and family behind, while adjusting to a new country, culture, school system and living alone. I made this sacrifice because I knew if I wanted the slightest chance of making my dream of becoming a physician a reality, I would have to move to the United States where I could have access to more educational opportunities. My parents, friends and family thought that I was insane for wanting to start a new life in a foreign country alone, at such a young age, but I knew the goal I had in mind and I was determined to fulfill my dream.

Because of my young age, I was often bullied during college and suffered from impostor syndrome.�� This led to many sleepless nights for me, and subsequently, doing poorly academically my first two years of college. As a result, I was often told to give up on my dream of becoming a medical physician or that I’ll never make it to medical school. These words were discouraging to hear but I never let them stop me from pursuing my passion. In fact, I used these negative circumstances as fuel to prove everyone who said I couldn’t become a physician wrong. I decided to take a gap year to better improve my competitiveness as a medical school applicant and enrolled in the Barry University Master’s in Biomedical Science program, in-order to showcase my true academic abilities, to make me a more competitive applicant and to help me be better prepared for medical school. The program is very rigorous and mimics the first year of medical school and has helped me to improve my study habits, self-confidence and time management skills and I can truly say that I feel prepared and equipped with a solid foundation to excel in medical school.

My faith has played a vital role in allowing me to become the resilient woman that I am today and has gotten me through all of the challenges I have faced on the road to becoming a physician. I knew that God had called me to be a physician so I never doubted that I would be accepted to medical school even though the odds were not in my favor. For me it was only a matter of when I would see that promise come to fruition.

The journey of  getting into med school and the medical school application process can be very stressful and discouraging but I always kept myself grounded by making sure to surround myself with supportive friends and family members and to keep doing my regular extra-curricular activities such as volunteering and going to the gym. Volunteering has always been my escape from the everyday stresses of my life. Seeing how one small act could change someone’s life forever truly kept me inspired to want to continue to give back to my local community and abroad. Volunteering also reminded me of the reason behind why I was working so hard to become a physician and made any problems/obstacles I was facing at the particular moment seem insignificant. My advice to anyone who is embarking on the journey to medical school and beyond is to never ignore the calling you have to be a physician despite what obstacles may be in your way and to always take up space in a room where you feel like you don’t belong. Because of your bravery and resilience you will go on to inspire others who are afraid to do the same.

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We recently asked our followers on : any good book recommendations this holiday break? Here were some of the top responses we heard were on your reading list.

1. Becoming Dr. Q: My Journey from Migrant Farm Worker to Brain Surgeon by Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa, MD

Dr. Quinones-Hinojosa, also known as Dr. Q, may be a neurosurgeon and neuroscientist today; but before that he was known as “Freddy”—a ‘nineteen-year-old undocumented migrant worker toiling in the tomato fields of central California’ (from ). Looking for inspiration when classwork and training are feeling tough? Go on Dr. Q’s journey from impoverished childhood in Mexico to American citizen to Harvard Medical School in this gripping memoir.

2. What Doctors Feel: How Emotions Affect the Practice of Medicine by Danielle Ofri, MD

Get in touch with the rollercoaster of emotions you feel as a physician-in-training with Dr. Danielle Ofri’s deep look into the lives of doctors. Dr. Ofri examines the range of ‘shame, anger, empathy, frustration, hope, pride, occasionally despair, and sometimes even love’ that doctors experience through health care delivery (from ).

“This is where factors other than clinical competency come into play,” says Dr. Ofri, exploring how emotions ultimately impact health care. review says the book’s hallmark is ‘her honesty,’ particularly when she analyzes her own medical mistakes.

3.��Heart Matters: A Memoir of a Female Heart Surgeon by Kathy Magliato, MD

Dr. Magliato’s memoir isn’t just for females, any future physician will benefit from her account of life behind the scenes in the operating room as a heart surgeon. And not only is Dr. Magliato a heart surgeon, she’s also specially trained to perform heart transplants.

Take a look into her ‘highly demanding, physically intense, male-dominated world’ (from ) and see how she balances life as a surgeon, mother, and wife …you may just get some ideas on how to balance various areas of your life with a busy schedule!

4. Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh, CBE, FRCS

Dr. Marsh gives an ‘extraordinarily intimate, compassionate and sometimes frightening understanding of his vocation’ as a neurosurgeon practicing in Britain, according to of Do No Harm. He gives a raw depiction of the ‘dread and anxiety’ experienced before a complicated surgery, and the ‘complicated calculus of risk’ that comes with decision-making.

If you’ve already read Dr. Marsh’s first memoir, he has since published a follow up called Admissions: A Life in Brain Surgery.

5. Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande, MD, MPH

Last on our list is Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance by Dr. Atul Gawande.

[blockquote author=”” link=”” target=”_blank”]So how do doctors, in this imperfect, occasionally messy and ultimately all-too-human endeavor called medical care, manage to do better?[/blockquote]

Dr. Atul Gawande poses this question in his book, as quoted by .��Though this book was published back in 2007, Dr. Gawande shares medical stories throughout his early career that walk us through both triumph and failures. You’ll learn from his experiences no matter what stage you’re in of your career. This level of self-reflection – or measuring performance along the way – is ‘one way to get to excellence,’ . Explore how to better yourself as a future physician with this book so you’re able to provide the best health care possible for your patients.

What else are you reading this holiday break? Share it in the comments below!

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