A Career In Medicine: Personal Statement

As previously mentioned I was born in Nigeria, a west African country that takes pride in its oil and gas exportation but is the shame of the region for its poor health care system. As a young child, I was no stranger to illness and death. Health was a luxury that my family could not afford. I lost my cousin to malaria, my grandmother to pancreatic cancer and my god-sister to sepsis. The trauma of losing the people I loved the most to preventable illnesses was overwhelming and it planted a desire to promote health and treat the sick. I have been pursuing a career in medicine to help people live long and healthy lives for themselves and their families.

It has been 18 years since I made the decision to pursue a career in medicine and there are three influential experiences that have shaped my interest in medicine:

Throughout the 3-year shadowing opportunity I gained clinical exposure and witnessed the responsibilities of a physician first-hand. I assisted Dr. Nwabude with patient assessments, history and physicals, transcribing physician 's orders and prescriptions, ordering lab and diagnostic tests as well as diagnosing illnesses. At the beginning of my shadowing opportunity with Dr. Nwabude, I had a fairy tale perception of physicians. This experience exposed me to the real life expectations of physicians and the toll a medical profession can have on an individual and their family. I did spend a majority of my time in a primary care setting where I witnessed the incredible need for preventive medicine in my