Alan Amedi is a current M1 at Emory University SOM and graduated from Georgia State University in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in Biology. We had a chance to sit down with Alan and ask him a few questions about his pre-health journey.
1)
Can
you tell me a little bit of why you decided to pursue medicine, and what led
you down that path?
In 2015, ISIS and their terror in the middle east was in the news constantly. There was a picture displayed in the New York Times of a three-year-old Kurdish boy washed up on a beach after the boat, in which he was escaping capsized in the Mediterranean. The Kurdish boy was the same age as my little brother at the time and had my name. When I saw his picture, I felt a desire to help rising up within me. As an American-born Kurd, I have been privileged to receive a robust education, untarnished by corrupt government and constant conflict. I knew I could leverage this foundation to pursue medicine as an avenue to help my people. I have also had the honor of being mentored by inspiring clinicians and teachers who have nurtured my dream to become a doctor. Dr. Heval Kelli a fellow Kurdish doctor has been one of the most inspirational people that I’ve met. I guess seeing someone else that was like me already in the field really gave me the confidence that I could potentially do something like that too.
2)
Could
you speak a little more about how Dr. Kelli has been a mentor to you and what
that relationship has been like?
Dr. Heval Kelli is the first doctor I really met. He’s Kurdish like I am and seeing someone like me in the medical field gave me the confidence and self-belief that I too could become a physician. He’s helped me grow as a person and as a future physician. If I had not met him, I probably would have never thought about the field of medicine. I thought if he could do it, then so can I, and here I am today.
3)
What
has been the most difficult part of either the pre-health journey years or medical
school so far?
I worked throughout
college so sometimes it was difficult to maintain a work/social life/school
balance. Trying to volunteer and get involved in research on top of that meant
that I had to give up some things, and that was difficult. I knew it would all
pay off eventually though, so I just kept trying to grind it out. So,
I think that probably was the hardest part for me. Also, the whole application
process was difficult. English is my second language, but even though I'm
fluent in English my writing is still very bad. I spent a lot of time writing
my essays or as much time as I could. And I got so many friends to look over them
for me.
4)
Could
you tell me a little bit more about why you decided to take a gap year and when
you realized you wanted to take one?
I initially didn’t want to because I was worried about how old I would be after finishing medical school, but I’ve learned that it’s more important to enjoy the journey and to trust the process. Medical school and the specialty you decide to go into will take a long time, but that doesn’t mean you can’t live your life. I also wanted to get to know myself better and grow on a personal level so I thought taking a year off would be best. The PI of the lab I was volunteering in in undergrad offered me a full-time position as a research specialist, so I thought what better time than now to get more involved in something that I was already interested in. It was only going to help my application and I already liked research, so that was the best option for me. I've had incredible experiences there. I can't ever imagine a career without research.
5)
Is
there a specific specialty you're interested in and did your research inform
what you wanted to do?
Most people say whatever they want to be now will probably change, so I guess you're going to be publishing this and I'll see if I changed my mind in four years! But I worked in a cardiothoracic lab here at Emory. I scrubbed in on a good amount of animal cases, so I got a lot of first-hand experience in the operating room. It was so awesome. I’ve also seen a couple of cardiac cases, as well, and I shadowed cardiology attendings at Emory and at Grady. So, all of that combined has shaped what I want to do. But I guess we'll see what happens in four years!
6)
You
also mentioned you considered an MD/PhD. Could you explain why you decided just
MD over an MD/PhD?
Well, I talked to a lot of MDs and I talked a lot of MD/PhDs. I really love research, but I guess it just depends on what you want your end goal to be. My end goal is to work with people, but I do also want to be doing research as well. I'd like to do them both at the same time, and I know you don't need a PhD to do research. So that's why I was like, okay, maybe the best option for me is to stick to the MD route.
7)
What
do you wish you knew five years ago?
I wish I knew that there’s no rush. Life comes and goes. Thinking about how many years it’ll take to reach whatever goal is kind of pointless. I wish I had focused a little more on the present and worried less about how old I would be by the time I entered or finished medical school. None of that matters in the end. I was so caught up on reaching my goals that I missed out on most of the journey, which to me is the most fun part. But now I know, so I’m trying not to do that for the next 4 years. You know how people say, “when I get older, I'm going to buy a car or buy a house?” The best thing you can do is to just do it now and not try to put it off for the future.
8)
What’s
one piece of advice you would give someone who is pre-med?
Be patient
and do not give up hope. I know that's way easier said than done. For me
especially there were so many times when I wanted to give up and thought
getting into medical school was impossible, but you just have to have hope,
keep pushing, keep grinding, trust the process, and yeah, eventually you'll get
there. I constantly reminded myself of why I wanted to become a doctor and
tried not to lose sight of the goal.