Pursuing A Career As Medical Doctor

In 2004, my maternal grandfather suddenly passed away under mysterious circumstances—less than a decade later, my widowed paternal grandmother followed suite. As a kid, they were both instrumental to nurturing my interest in the sciences despite only seeing them twice a year at most. They often taught me the importance and medicinal function of many locally-grown plants and herbs in the southern region of Nigeria. As I increased in my scientific knowledge—especially in college, it dawned on me that my grandfather might have had passed away from a longstanding undiagnosed ailment. The same applies to my grandmother who became fully blind after receiving several doses of harmful traditional medicine. Thus, I decided to pursue a career as medical doctor in order to serve poor West African communities like my grandmothers’ that sorely lack qualified doctors and affordable health care.

Unlike my grandparents, I grew up in the more urban side of town in Port Harcourt, Nigeria and attended a Christian secondary school. I still vividly remember the details of my high school graduation at 15—I had indicated I wanted to practice surgery despite my secondary school engineering background. My first surgical experience involved comically trying to operate on a lizard I accidentally trampled on. The same enthusiasm also carried over into college where I majored in Biology and predictably enjoyed my Anatomy and Physiology courses. The amount of knowledge I gained from these classes, including the lab sessions, cannot be quantified, as they contributed immensely in my decision to pursue a career in medicine.

In addition to my classroom experience, I conducted an undergraduate research on the genome of a novel phage. As a co-researcher, I qu...

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...s my needs and provides me the best chance to excel academically due to the quality of classes and raving reviews from alumni—although I have yet to meet any of them. I am confident I will become a success at your program because I’m more determined than ever after being on the sidelines for some time.

In the long run, I’m confident in my ability to usher a new era of modern and affordable medical career in West African communities still dependent on traditional methods. I would be naïve to ignore the financial burden such a campaign might carry—however, I believe my life experiences have shaped me to better handle future adversities. As the son of a cab driver and nursing assistant, I want to do my family proud and also render my services to the underserved. Aside from my faith, it is the greatest joy I can ever have—except I discover a cure for cancer of course!