Professional Summary
Personal Statement
On my bookshelf, in a wooden box I keep mementos from my military service: a scarf gifted by a tribal elder, a cork from a bottle of Habu Sake we shared after making it back state-side, and a medal I was awarded for actions in Afghanistan. The next morning, I took out the medal and left for the hospital. I went to this young woman’s room, woke her, and as I placed the medal in her hand, said, “I’m a medical student on the service caring for you. You need to know how wrong you were yesterday. Before I even thought about going to school, I was in Afghanistan in some of the scariest moments I’ll remember with some of the bravest people I’ll ever know. If you asked us, we were the toughest guys you’d ever meet. I promise you, when things got hairy, there wasn’t one of us who wasn’t scared out of his mind. I got this for some stuff we did one of the times I was scared, keep it and remember, being scared doesn’t mean you aren’t brave.” I left her room and never spoke of this to anyone until now. Though I never saw her again, she remains a reminder that as a physician, fear is an emotion to which I do not have the luxury of yielding. Informed by this lesson, I stopped “suffering in silence,” and instead embraced the discomfort of asking for help in addressing the deficiencies of the first two years of medical school, facing the fear of being deemed an “imposter” by asking the “dumb question” with the understanding that if I do not ask, I cannot learn. Not only has adopting this mentality improved my academic performance, but it has imbued a more profound meaning to my definition of success in medicine. I define success now as doing everything possible to ensure the greatest care for the patients I serve, and while this may likely always be an uphill battle, it is one I wholeheartedly welcome.
Why I Chose Cincinnati
As I combed through the list of various residencies across the country, it was important to me that I train at a program that is not simply patient-centered, because all Internal Medicine programs are, but one that incorporates an active pursuit in recognizing and addressing the various injustices faced by the communities it serves. In their ongoing work in addressing implicit bias in medicine, patient-centered bedside rounds, and the Ambulatory Long Block, I found that at the University of Cincinnati. Also, ever the nurture-over-nature advocate, I found UC’s focus on improving medical education through the inclusion of the Growth Mindset truly inspiring. I wanted a program I felt shared my social and educational beliefs, as well as my sense of service. Reading through their website the night before my interview, I couldn’t help but feel like somebody designed this program with me in mind. I was excited on the interview day to see this wasn’t just lip service, but a philosophy the residents and faculty sincerely shared as well. By the end of the interview day, I was sold. I chose Cincinnati because no other program fit like UC.
Education
MD: University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine