Why Did You Decide to Study Medicine?

Entering medicine is a huge decision. It means enormous responsibilities and paralleled sacrifices. We don't, at least I didn't, fully understand what it meant to study this career when we start. Before getting into how I chose this field, here's a bit of a background about myself.

I was born in India in a small village. I was the fifth born of now 8 brothers and sisters. Growing up, we were often sick with various diseases. Sickness was just something I have always been very familiar with. The names of antibiotics and medicines were commonplace in our household. I grew up with medicine in my veins both literally and figuratively.

For as long as I can remember, when people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would answer "Doctor." Why? Well, I remember myself and my family members receiving treatment and then feeling better! For me, that was something incredible, and I wanted to do that for others.

As I got older, I began working in various ministries: wheelchair ministry, local medical missions with the church, and other opportunities that would bring doctors to developing countries in order to serve and provide medical services. I had the opportunity to work alongside doctors, mostly just watching and translating for them when patients would come in. I was able to be exposed early to the world of medicine.

When it came time to answer more surely what career I wanted, I said medicine. People would react differently. Some would say "Wow, that's great!" Others would say "Boy, you have to read and study a lot!" or "You will not have time for anything else!" But I was sure that medicine was the career I wanted. My parents supported me fully and encouraged me to go ahead with the decision. But I didn't want to take a blind leap into something as important as my career. So I decided to evaluate how I would to determine if this field was right for me and, if so, what medical school I would choose. And I will tell you all about how I did that next time out!

Let me know a little bit of your background and how that played into your choosing medicine as your profession.

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