There are many reasons for becoming a doctor, but mine are focused on meeting the challenge of helping those in need. Likewise, there are different paths a person may take to become a doctor, but my path to a medical career has been quite direct. While in eighth grade I read Dr. Frank Vertosick’s book When the Air Hits Your Brain: Tales of Neurosurgery and knew that the challenge of a medical career was for me. That year I shadowed a neurosurgeon and completed a career report on the topic. Since that time, I have focused on preparing for a career in medicine.

As a high school freshman, I enrolled in the honors program because it allowed me to add an extra biology course to my schedule. I decided to attend Oberlin College due to its excellent reputation in the sciences in general and neuroscience in particular. At Oberlin I majored in neuroscience, but completed honors research in genetics and minored in psychology. As a college sophomore, I spent the month of January shadowing Dr. Michael Vogelbaum, a neurosurgeon at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. There I was fortunate to observe the skill, teamwork, and discipline required of a physician in clinical and operating room settings. A common trait of each physician I met was the unrelenting drive to help others.

My work at a local nursing home during college was also particularly rewarding. This experience gave me the opportunity to develop and conduct one-on-one physical therapy sessions with two severely disabled patients. My patients gained both flexibility and strength, but they also gained the confidence necessary to undertake other activities within their community. For example, one patient, who rarely interacted with other residents prior to therapy, began to write plays to be performed for the retirement community. The nursing home experience, my college coursework, and my experience at the Cleveland Clinic further reinforced my decision to enter medicine.

I enrolled in Loyola University’s Stritch School of Medicine in 2008 following graduation from Oberlin and will be completing my second year in May. I look forward to the regular hospital rotations that begin this summer as part of the third-year medical school regimen. Those rotations will provide in-depth looks at many disciplines within which I might specialize. Although the depth of my appreciation for the field grows daily, my excitement for medicine remains unchanged from what I felt after reading Dr. Vertosick’s book ten years ago.