This summer I will have the incredible opportunity to work with Dr. Patricia Hudson in the Uro-Gynecology department at Mass General Hospital. Many people have asked me what exactly I will be doing this summer, and I usually answer with a slight shrug and say “some sort of combination of clinical and research-based work”. And although I do not really know what to expect this summer, I am beyond excited for the opportunity and can’t wait to embark on this journey tomorrow.
I’ve known I wanted to be a doctor since I was a kid, always listing it as the career choice on my Student of the Week poster or choosing Doctor as my costume for career day. I spent a majority of my elementary years coloring at a desk in my mom’s clinic as she saw patient after patient, and hoping one day I could be a pediatrician just like her. Now 15 years later that is still the path I have my mind set on, and most of my decisions, including applying to the Brandeis Summer Shadowing Program, have been driven by my desire to eventually attend medical school.
My sights have always been set on pediatrics because I love working with kids, so most of my past shadowing experiences have been centered around that path. I’ve shadowed and worked with Neonatologist, Pediatric Oncologist, General Pediatricians, and Pediatric Neurologists, and through each of these experiences I’ve continued to solidify my career choice. Like many others, one of my main reasons for going into medicine is a desire to help others and work with other people, so I really enjoy witnessing the ways different physicians craft their patient interactions in order to help each person to the best of their ability. I am excited to see this summer how Dr. Hudson communicates and works with her patients, especially given the change in demographic from patients I have met in the past.
I am also really excited about the combination of clinical and research that this summer seems to have in store. Most of my experiences over the last few years have been geared toward the more clinical side, but I’ve always wondered if I would enjoy research and trying to help discover advancements in the field of medicine. I’m hoping that in working with Dr. Hudson this summer, I will gain not only a new perspective on adult medicine but also on who I want to be as a physician and the direction I want to follow during these next few years.
I meet with Dr. Hudson for the first time this Monday at 7am, for an orientation to the program and I am faced with so many different emotions about the coming weeks and months. I’m excited for the opportunity to work in a field I love, I’m nervous to meet and work with such accomplished physicians at one of the best hospitals in the country, and I’m slightly terrified to live like an adult and figure out how to cook for myself. But I think I’ll just take it one day at a time, starting tomorrow with my 6am flight back to Boston.