My desire to become a physician dates way back into my childhood. My parents migrated to Nigeria in the late 1960's when my father, an academician, decided to help educate children there. This was a country, which then had just gained independence. A person's goals are set by the role models he or she seeks to emulate. My childhood role model is Dr. Raj a physician. I learned from Dr. Raj, that real success and satisfaction is achieved by putting one's beliefs and thoughts into action. Dr. Raj provided quality care to the poor, especially children, alongside his richer clients. This left a lasting impression on me. Later on, when I realized that lots of people actually lacked basic medical care, I always wanted to reach out and help make a difference in the lives of others. Medicine, with its emphasis on service would therefore be the most satisfying career for me.

My interest in internal medicine developed during my training at medical school in Nigeria. Internal medicine offers a wide variety of cases, which makes it as diverse as it is exciting, requiring a problem solving attitude and constant vigilance. Having graduated from a reputed medical school in a developing country, I had the opportunity to get hands-on experience in patient care, right from start. In fact, my medical school had a unique final year program where the focus was essentially on preventive medicine and health education. During this community based health program, we were required to monitor and provide complete health care to people in neighboring villages. While working on our year book during the same year, we were able to raise money from the proceeds of the sale and various other activities (conducting symposium, charity fair, etc.) so as to provide free dug supplies to the underprivileged. All this made me realize the tangible difference one could make in the lives of others.

Upon graduation, I spent two and a half years, working in private hospital settings in India and Nigeria. This has made me a more experienced and mature physician but has left me yearning for more knowledge. For the past three years I have been in the United States and during this time, I have successfully qualified the ECFMG certification examination, USMLE steps I, II & III. I have also worked as a research associate at Stanford University on role of HIF-1a in retinopathy of maturity. This laboratory based research work has helped me gain a lot of experience in the techniques of molecular biology.

During residency, I plan to continue working hard as I did in medical school and thereafter. I have consistently sought out opportunities to act in the capacity of teacher as I enjoy sharing information and I find that I learn much from those I teach. More importantly, I have learned that all my knowledge and desire to learn and teach does not quickly lead to an accurate diagnosis and ultimately cure, until I earn patients' trust. Establishing good rapport with patients, colleagues and support staff has been my goal throughout medical school and will remain so throughout my medical career.

Balancing professional and private interests provides stability to my life. Spare time is usually well spent with my husband and daughter. My spouse and I are music lovers and we both have a fascination for astrology. I sometimes tinker on the personal computer and surf the Internet. Good weekends are spent in the park or going trekking. Taking care of my baby daughter, the latest of my experiences, has taught me to be patient and the essence of nurturing. I am proud to see how far I have come and looking forward makes me realize that I still have a long way to go. All this has provided me with a solid foundation on which I can start my residency. I am pleased with the direction I am heading and eager to get started with pursuing my medical training that will provide me with every opportunity to fulfill my dreams