For a long time, I wanted to be a scientist. I grew up in my family’s small-town chiropractic office watching my parents and grandparents care for the community around us. I suppose there was something inspiring about growing up around anatomical charts and being able to ask my father questions about science.

When I was in seventh grade, my mother was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, and our lives suddenly felt dependent on the latest scientific advancements. I remember my parents sitting down and reading everything they could find on Multiple Myeloma and on what new treatments were becoming available. My mother went through multiple stem cell transplants and all kinds of other treatments, and we all spent a lot of time in the hospital over the next few years. I learned a lot about medicine, but at the time, I was enamored with the science helping keep my mother alive.

One of my mother’s doctors – one who would sit down and really talk with us – found out about my interest in science and recommended a summer research program for high school students. After my mother’s death when I was sixteen, I ended up getting into that program, and the experience inspired me to continue on the path to a career in science.

When I went to college at Duke University, I was the first student from my small high school to attend a top college like that, and I fell deeply in love with – and dual-majored in – biology and philosophy. During my junior year, I first spoke with a pre-health advisor because I began considering the health professions. I wondered whether I still wanted to become a scientist, or a nurse, or physician, or a chiropractor like my father and two generations of grandparents before him. Given my experiences with my mother, the premedical advising dean suggested I volunteer with hospice. I did, and I loved spending time with the patients and families I was fortunate to meet.

After graduating, I started volunteering at a free clinic and grew passionate about the ways I saw physicians help meet the needs of patients, especially those in primary care that could demonstrate an understanding of their patients and carefully strategize their care. That’s when I decided that I was going to apply to medical school.
Abubakar Ibrahim
Medical laboratory scientist to be. International university of Africa Sudan