PERSONAL STATEMENT

You are special, unique, and unlike anyone else in this world. This mantra rings in
my ears as my parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles constantly repeat it to me.
However, it wasnt until I started diving into my major-level courses that I really began to
appreciate the amount of truth that sentence holds. There are billions of things that could
go wrong in the human body during pregnancy, childhood, and throughout a lifetime;
Genetic mutations, mechanical defects, and infectious diseases just begin to scratch the
surface. Looking at my siblings, friends, and family and realizing that all of us were all born
healthy and happy is nothing short of a miracle. My passion for medicine continues to grow
as I learn more about the delicate relationship between biology and chemistry in the
human body. As I continue to learn, it is only reaffirmed that I am indeed special, I am
entirely unique, and I am undeniably unlike anyone else in this world.
Since I was a sophomore in high school, I have known that a career in healthcare
was the only option for me. However, I was not sure which area would best fit my unique
skill set. In order to figure that out, I researched and explored every area I thought would
make the most use of my skills and specific strengths. This included shadowing the
anesthesia department under Dr. Sreelatha Nandigam at Hillcrest Hospital (a branch of the
Cleveland Clinic), trying geriatric caregiving with Guardian Angels Family Care, and
discussing mission-based medicine with the help of Dr. Reuben Gobezi. While working
closely with nurse paralegals at Reminger, I became more and more interested in obstetrics
and gynecology. I fell in love with embryology and spent most of my lunch breaks reading
old malpractice cases and borrowing books from the medical library. I knew I was getting
closer, but it still felt like something was missing. It wasnt until my senior year at DePaul
that I figured out what my purpose was in medicine.
July of 2015 I packed my bags for Via del Mar, Chile. After an exceptionally
challenging junior year, I had to take a break from my science courses and make use of my
electives through a study abroad program. I have always had an affinity for Spanish and
since I was not able to study it as a second major, I figured studying abroad would be a
great opportunity to study it in a broader sense on my own. I took courses that gave me a
more holistic view of where I was studying: Human Rights, Economic Development, Film,
and types of government in Latin America. As I went through these courses, I felt as though
I was uncovering a new world of interests.
During one of my government courses, the class began discussing womens rights in
Chile. We touched on a number of different areas such as the workplace, divorce, etc. But it
was one area in particular that caught my interest. Chile is a very conservative country, and
because of this, abortion is illegal. However, that is not the biggest problem. Due to the
countrys policy on abortion, young women have taken it upon themselves to self-abort.
There is a whole corner of the Internet devoted to this: YouTube tutorials, blogs, how-to
forums, chat rooms. Horror stories of botched attempts, infections, and complications were
rampant. Instead of being provided with the medical guidance these women so desperately
needed, they were putting their lives at risk by performing the procedure by themselves in
unimaginable ways. I walked out of that class knowing exactly what I wanted to do with my
career.
Working for Doctors Without Borders as a physician specializing in obstetrics and
gynecology is my ultimate goal as a healthcare professional. After all my research, this area
encompasses my greatest strengths, my interests, and my unique skills. It includes my
priorities as an aspiring physician, such as establishing patient relationships and a constant
learning environment. But most importantly, this area includes my priorities as a woman.
No woman, no human, should be left in the dark about her options as an expecting mother.
If the only thing I could do was to educate these women about their legal options, it would
be a victory. I have traveled around the world and seen what healthcare looks like in other
countries, and I want to be a voice of support for women and girls that may not have the
privileges and accessibility to healthcare that I do.
Looking forward, these past few years have all been in preparation for my future.
My experiences and courses have been like puzzle pieces being put together to finally
reveal what my calling is, and it has been an amazing journey. As I begin the next chapter in
my life as a prospective medical student, I am in preparation for the next set of puzzle
pieces that will undoubtedly mold me into an exceptional physician. Medical school has so
much to offer me and the knowledge I learn there will only add to what I can offer to my
patients. I have learned that to work in medicine means more than performing procedures
and completing the tasks at hand. Being a physician means to ensure each patient knows
that they are special, they are unique, and they are unlike anyone else in this world.