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A serious injury enlightened me to medicine’s purest calling. As a multi-sport athlete I was very aware of the importance of physical activity necessary for one’s well being. It wasn’t until after tearing my anterior cruciate ligament and medial meniscus during a football game that I would learn how injury and dysfunction can seriously affect someone’s quality of life. There was a shift in control: previously I had been able to build and train my body, now I relied on crutches to facilitate mobility. Had I not placed my body under the care of an orthopaedic surgeon, I would not be able to function normally. Being a patient made me realize the impact that a physician has on one’s life. My doctor treated my injury with empathy. His discerned control gave me confidence that I would be able to live a healthy life again. Being a physician is about compassion, not just being able to recollect medical knowledge.

Soon after entering college, I began working part-time as a medical assistant with a large cardiology group at which my father practices as an interventional cardiologist. In addition to treating patients and learning the internal dynamics of a medical office, the associations I made there allowed me to observe hundreds of hours of cardiovascular surgery. Always curious to expand my breadth of the medical field, I made associations with doctors in a variety of specialties. Aside from observing a diversity of disciplines and procedures, including the same surgery that so changed my life, I also had the unique early opportunity as an undergraduate student to study the process of medical history and physical examination to learn the method of deciphering and interpreting signs and symptoms into diagnosis and disease. My years of clinical experience, which continue to this day, have taught me that the most important aspect of medical treatment is to heighten my observing and listening skills to truly understand the patient’s ailment and how it affects their lives. Only then can doctors appropriately apply their scientific knowledge through compassionate medicine.

During my studies at the University of Arizona I started and served as the President of the Kappa Tau Chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon, the nation's largest fraternity. I also became involved with an academic club in the College of Engineering, for which I served terms as Secretary and Vice President of the Arizona Chapter of Society of Automotive Engineers. In addition to my involvement with the University, I also found time to tutor math, chemistry, and physics to children both as a volunteer at my church and through Principal Tutoring, a private firm. Finding ways to balance all of these activities taught me the busy nature of healthcare, and how important it is for an individual to prioritize one’s responsibilities.

Additionally, while in college I challenged myself to not only develop a basis for medical sciences, but also study the forefronts of biotechnology. My senior engineering design project captured the interests of the medical staff at the University Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona, and eventually led to an invitation to attend a series of conferences regarding radiographic techniques in cardiology. I believe that my formal education in engineering accompanied with my medical education will allow me to create innovative treatments thus better servicing not only my patients but the larger society as well.

The greatest obstacle to overcome in my medical education was a deficit in the biological sciences. Eager to remedy the deficit I enrolled in and successfully completed, with a three point eight grade point average with twenty-five credit-hours, of pre-medical prerequisites in only six months all while carrying a full-time work load as a research assistant while studying for the MCAT. My tireless work continued in the months leading to my matriculation at Ross University. This research, which continued into my first year of medical school, would lead to eight publications in the advances of interventional cardiology. One of which was a chapter in a world-famous textbook, Cardiovascular Interventions in Clinical Practice, edited by Dr. Ron Waksman.

Medical school presented a new era of exciting opportunities. During my second year, having successfully completed Gross Anatomy, I applied for and was accepted to serve as a Teaching Assistant for the Department of Anatomy. In addition to my responsibilities as a student, I provided biweekly didactic instruction to classmates. After successfully serving as a Teaching Assistant and demonstrating my organizational and leadership abilities, I was promoted by the Department of Anatomy Faculty to the Head Teaching Assistant, responsible for forty Teaching Assistants and approximately eight hundred Gross Anatomy Students, all of whom were in the world’s largest anatomy dissection laboratory. In addition to my work with the Department of Anatomy, I had the opportunity to serve as the Vice President and subsequently President of the Student Surgical Society, an organization dedicated to fostering the development of students with an interest in surgery as well as serving the local population of the Commonwealth of Dominica. As President we launched the First Annual Community Diabetes Clinic in conjunction with the Roman Catholic Church. Our primary and secondary prevention efforts included positively diagnosing numerous diabetics unaware of their disease and subsequently referring them to treatment.

Still, there are less formal experiences that have inspired and aided my understanding of the qualities of a good physician. I will never forget one particular evening with one of my clinical preceptors as I accompanied him to his club softball game. On a pitch, the team's pitcher caught a divot on the mound and rolled his ankle dropping immediately to the ground in agony. As an orthopaedic surgeon, rushed to the pitcher’s mound from center field, I was amazed to see a visible aura of relief and comfort engulfs the team and spectators. It became clear that there was a strong sense of trust in the doctor’s abilities emanating from the crowd. This kind of perceived security is one that I know my own patients will experience someday, thanks to the influence of doctors like him.

The most appropriate way I can utilize my talents and skills is to devote my life to enhancing the lives of others. Medicine employs my strengths, but more importantly, it is an outlet for my passion to enrich lives. Perseverance through the ardent road ahead will be required, but with commitment I know the travels on this specific path are worthwhile. Through my life lessons, not only have I cultivated virtues that will make me a better person but also a better physician.