“There is no such noble profession as a doctor’s profession,” said my mother, when I was a kid. Being born in a small town, I saw my family members to suffer through without advanced healthcare facilities and this incident inspired me to choose medical profession as there is no greater service than providing healthcare to the sick. I decided to pursue medicine as my career and my dream came true when I was ranked among the top performers in the state medical entrance exam and was admitted to the most prestigious medical schools in my state. Being the first doctor of my family, everybody has high hopes of me.

Being the first doctor/medical student in my family, everyone has high expectations of me. Becoming a doctor was my dream since I can

In high school, this game developed into my passion for Biology. I started spending more time reading about human biology and I decided to pursue a career in medicine. My dream came true when I was ranked among the top performers in the state medical entrance exam and was admitted into one of the most prestigious medical schools in my state.

When I was in the second year of medical school, my aunt became very sick. She was cachectic and icteric with very high bilirubin level. After visiting multiple doctors, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She was given chemotherapy and after two courses, sadly, she couldn’t survive the side effects. Initially, she had symptoms of epigastric pain and I was astounded by the fact that a fatal disease can present with minor symptoms initially. I realised the importance of understanding the disease course and pathology to make accurate diagnosis. This incident deeply impacted me and it is there I developed a keen interest in Internal Medicine. Even before I began

To gain exposure and get acquainted with the US medical system, I completed two months of clinical rotation in Mt. Sinai Hospital, NY working in the department of Cardiology and Infectious Diseases. Working closely with the fellows, helped me understand the rationale of choosing certain treatment protocols over other. I started referring to scientific articles for each case and in no time I realized my interest in research and to pursue this, I did two months of research elective at Johns Hopkins University in the Centre for Clinical Global Health Education working with Dr. Amita Gupta and her team on (a) residual respiratory impairment following Pulmonary Tuberculosis; and (b) prevalence of antimicrobial resistance. Being interested in research, during my fourth year, I did research on contraceptive knowledge in females of reproductive age group and prevalence of malnutrition in primary school children and I presented a poster of these findings at Medical Student’s International Conference 2013 and publication appeared in New Indian Journal of Surgery. Currently, I am working as an observer in Johns Hopkins Hospital in Infectious Diseases.