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My MedStart Experience: A Four Year Journey

 

Four years ago, I began a new phase in my life. I embarked on a journey at Wayne State University to pursue my undergraduate degree. At the time, I viewed my undergraduate experience as a hoop I had to jump through in order to get to my ultimate goal – medical school. My perspective has changed dramatically. When I look back at my undergraduate studies, I am gratified to find that this was not just a hurdle but rather an enriching experience that has molded the person I am today and will shape me as I pursue my goal of becoming a physician. In this journal entry, instead of focusing on my experiences shadowing and volunteering, which you have so often read, I will focus on my growth as an undergraduate student and the learning I’ve achieved over the past four years.

My life has always been about facing up to challenges. When I immigrated to the United States, I was faced with the challenges caused by my inability to read or write English. I had to master English quickly in order to succeed. While learning English, I also embraced important life lessons – to adapt to the current challenge and to rely on others for support. These themes have pervaded my undergraduate experience.

I graduated as the valedictorian of my high school class and had maintained a 4.00 G.P.A. throughout my secondary education. In my first semester at WSU, I earned a 3.6. In a fundamental way, I felt I had failed to reach my expectations. This failure was a shock and a challenge for me. I knew I had to adapt in order to succeed at the college level. I changed my study habits, and learned how to manage my time and prioritize my work. In my estimation, these lessons began the process of my developing and maturing into a responsible adult. I also succeeded in facing my challenge of improving my performance – my current G.P.A. stands at 3.91.

My scores on the MCAT presented another opportunity for failure. After devoting two intense months studying for this all-important test, I achieved an average score. I had a difficult time coming to terms with what I judged to be a major failure. It shattered my dreams of attaining a spot in the MD/PhD program. Support from family, friends, the MedStart staff and colleagues at work helped me come to terms with this debacle. I gathered myself up again to face this challenge and retook the MCAT. I was able to attain a better score than my first time around. This experience taught me how to deal with failure and put my life into perspective. The lesson I learned from this experience is that successful people fail because they constantly risk failure each time they try to succeed. How you deal with failure will determine how successful you will be in your career and your life. I am aware of the MCAT’s importance as an admission criterion for medical school, but the MCAT alone does not make a great doctor. By shadowing and volunteering, I was able to observe many of the essential qualities that make a great doctor – communication skills, leadership, compassion, empathy, patience. Over the past four years, I have used my shadowing and volunteer experiences to begin honing my own essential qualities.

As a freshman in college, I met Dr. Stephen Lerner, a professor of Internal Medicine. I was paired with Dr. Lerner by MedStart. Once I started to shadow him, I was impressed by the way Dr. Lerner interacted with his patients. Although his schedule was busy, he always took the time to listen to his patients and connect with them individually. I learned the most important attribute of a physician is the ability to be a good listener. After shadowing Dr. Lerner, I sought more opportunities for patient contact and secured a position at Karmanos as a volunteer advocate aide. Over the past four years I have volunteered at Karamanos and have had a chance to interact with patients from many walks of life. In their most lonely and vulnerable time, I was able to provide them with brief company, bring a smile to their faces and, most important, make a difference in their lives. The experiences at Karmanos helped affirm that being a physician is my true calling.

As an undergraduate at WSU, I had the opportunity to interact with many of the faculty at the WSU School of Medicine. Over the last four years, I have shadowed many WSU physicians. They all share the common characteristics of being very passionate physicians. I was most impressed with the way they took time to listen to each patient’s concerns and how they explained each case to me. In our society, many times this critical doctor-patient relationship seems to be lost; however, WSU physicians have set the standard for assuring the doctor-patient relationship is paramount. From my first encounter, I found myself idolizing these gifted healers, and can only hope I will one day be just like them.

While shadowing at the DMC, I observed WSU physicians providing care to many of the city’s uninsured population. Since immigrating to the US in my mid-teens, I have lived on the eastside of Detroit where the majority of the population is under- or uninsured. WSU hospitals are sometimes their only hope for receiving adequate health care. While shadowing my mentors, I have seen the diversity among patients that is almost impossible to find anywhere else. This diversity has profoundly helped me learn the art of healing. Over the last four years, learning from this faculty has enriched my undergraduate experience and I hope to continue this learning while attending medical school.

As an undergraduate, I have also worked with WSU’s researchers who are carrying out cutting edge research with the hope of improving patient care. Aware of my research background, Dr. Lerner suggested I pursue research with his colleague, Dr. Glenn Kaatz. This was exactly what I needed in a new setting. I was really impressed with Dr. Kaatz’s ongoing research projects and decided to work with him in the summer of 2005. This allowed me to get hands-on training in microbiology research and caused my interest in research to grow stronger. I also got a chance to frequently shadow Dr. Lerner and Dr. Kaatz. While shadowing them, I began to understand and appreciate the basic research applications in clinical medicine. In the summer of 2006, I decided to continue my work in Dr. Kaatz’s lab and applied for a grant to investigate Daptomycin resistance and its mechanism of action.

 

I was funded and subsequently presented my research at the Undergraduate Research Conference. In this research project, I was able to isolate novel mutations involved in Daptomycin resistance. Incorporating my new findings, this semester I have continued to build on my existing research project. Research has taught me how intricately related academic research and clinical medicine are and I hope to continue research as physician. 

Over the past four years, I have come to think of Wayne State as home. For the past four years, being part of MedStart has allowed me to explore the world of medicine while living at home. I have explored this great field of medicine from many different and unique perspectives. Whether it was learning about new infectious diseases and their symptoms from my mentor, Dr. Lerner, or learning how to talk to patients while volunteering at Karmanos or troubleshooting during my research projects by consulting Dr. Kaatz, MedStart allowed me to experience it all.

What is so unique about the world of medicine is learning is a constant. I have experienced this in my numerous encounters with patients while volunteering at Karmanos. Knowledge begets more knowledge, and I am yearning to learn more about this vast field of medicine. MedStart has allowed me to experience new and challenging scenarios. Being part of MedStart allowed me to broaden my horizons. I will take this knowledge and experience with me as I move forward to medical school.