Illumination

Heyyy,

I had lunch with a good friend of mine attending UCSF med, and talking to him really allowed me to obtain perspective in how I would like to approach a career in medicine. His wisdom from going through the application process was invaluable and allowed me to reflect on what I wanted to take from my current and past experiences. After exploring health policy and planning, underserved medicine, and research, I feel that I know where my passion lies. The process of exploration was an amazing growing experience as it really allowed me to learn more about myself; in addition, It has also given me an idea of what direction my career in medicine may take.

As of now, research has been the most invigorating experience that I have ever had. Because I have always been the creative/spatial learner, research seems to fit in extremely well with my persona. It's intellectually stimulating, extremely challenging, and really allows me to exercise my creative intelligence through the extensive problem solving and conceptual learning involved on a daily basis. Also, the challenge of making experiments work and solving complex problems that impede experimental progress, really makes produced results rewarding. I like translational research because it's easy to see the potential application of experiments in solving human diseases (hopefully benefitting my future patients!). I was able to see the translation while working in the lab because by treating human gliomas implanted rats with CED therapeutic, we can gauge how it may benefit patients suffering from GBM (or other malignant tumors), due to the similarity of mammalian physiology. If tested chemotherapeutics are fully translated, neurosurgeons around the world will have a new tool in their fight against brain cancer!

So...one might wonder why I don't pursue a Ph.D? Well, as interesting as research is, its main appeal to me is that it can be used clinically to benefit people suffering from fatal diseases. I would like to be the liaison between the lab bench and clinical treatment. I want to offer the newest, most cutting-edge treatments for my patients in order to give them hope through their difficult conditions. My year-long shadowing experience with Dr.--- has shown me the true advantage of being an academic physician involved in translational research. As a faculty neurosurgeon at UCSF, Dr.---- takes what basic and translational researchers produce from UCSF labs and apply it to his own patients by enrolling them into clinical trials. For example, many people with GBM have no change for survival within 1 year of diagnosis, only 20% survive up until two years, and there is no effective treatment thus far. Any development from translational labs carries the potential of a cure or at the very least superior management of the disease; the only people able to offer these new promises are physicians who involved in these studies, which is what makes academic/research medicine so intriguing to me. Also, translational/clinical research physician expand the field of medicine by generating data from clinical trials that could benefit patients at other medical centers, and incorporate new therapies into universally accepted medical practice. It's just mind-boggling how much of a contribution a physician can make to their own patients when he/she is involved in research and academics.

Also, academic medicine is extremely rewarding not only because of the research, but also because of the teaching aspect. It contributes to medicine by training the next generation of neurosurgeons who will further carry the field to new limits. From my limited teaching experiences in halaqas and training other lab assistants, it's extremely rewarding to see someone learn and apply knowledge due to your own efforts. When shadowing Dr.----, and discussing lab publications with Piotr (my P.I.) I can see how much they enjoy teaching their respective fields to students. It seems as though they also had amazing mentors, which inspired them to teach with kindness and compassion to create another generation of compassionate contributors to medicine. I would like to be part of this extremely spiritual process of teaching and mentorship in which you guide individuals into doing their best for humanity. I'm sure it's an amazing feeling to know that you helped create physicians who are improving the quality of life for hundreds of others.