A young woman and a doctor from Saudi Arabia, still only 25, I am an outgoing person who very much enjoys life, travel, and experiencing new things; my mosaic of life thus far, academic and professional experiences combined, have empowered me to excel in Internal Medicine. I look forward to contributing to the diversity of your program both as a woman and as someone from the Middle East. I am pleased that medical exchange is one of the principal ways in which our very troubled Middle Eastern region of the world can build bridges with the West that bind us together.
Both are great communicators with admirable verbal skills; my parents guided me from infancy on how to speak creatively and with confidence. This has helped me to communicate successfully with an extensive range and diversity of patients and medical professionals, and this diversity has increasingly helped me to become a better physician.
Early on, I learned the importance of hard work and independence, especially when I began my studies as an undergraduate student at King Abdul Aziz University. I earned several academic awards during this period, generally ranking first place in my class, and excelling outside of the classroom as well. I graduated from college with only one aspiration – becoming a world-class physician. I am a very hard worker, a fast learner, and an accomplished team player who lives to solve problems through creative and independent thinking. I am confident that I would be able to excel in your residency program in Internal Medicine, especially since I am passing my USMLEs with a high level of performance. While I keenly look forward to developing and exercising my capacities in all aspects of general internal medicine, I also hope to create a thoroughgoing specialization in pulmonology. I especially appreciate how pulmonology deals with such a wide variety of patients, young and old, chronic and acute illnesses, from treatable and preventable disease to non-treatable disease, etc.—all making for a great opportunity in terms of new research into more effective treatments and prevention strategies.
What I would be able to learn from the experience of a residency position in the USA would be invaluable for helping me to attain my long-term goals of making significant contributions to the advancement of medicine, especially pulmonary care, in my native Saudi Arabia. Highly dedicated to lifelong learning, research, and publication, after becoming the most highly skilled physician possible through practice in the USA, I plan to return to my country and devote many decades to come to address the need for creative and progressive advancement of our public health care systems in Saudi Arabia. In particular, I hope to be instrumental in developing a systemic effort in the prevention and treatment of pulmonary diseases with specific attention to the rural areas in my country. Most concretely, I want to be at the forefront of our elimination of TB.
My tenure as a resident at the King Abdul Aziz University Hospital has helped me to learn to thrive on responsibility for the complete care of individuals who are gravely ill and suffering. This rigorous experience has taught me so many things of great value, helping me to see my duties from multi-dimensional perspectives. I have especially enjoyed mentoring medical students and interns, subsequently discovering that I have a great passion for teaching. I have a profound and dynamic, extraordinary passion for the field of interventional pulmonology; I am constantly mesmerized by the vital operations and functionality of this organ and the complex ways in which it is related to the rest of the human body. It is in this area that I hope to continue to participate in clinical research. To date, I have conducted three studies as a co-investigator, and participated in another two as well. I love research, starting from scratch with a literature review, as well as proposal and manuscript writing. One of my projects on the prevalence of sleep apnea in the KSA has been accepted and is scheduled for publication at the end of this year. To complete this research, I launched campaigns in numerous schools, raising awareness of sleep apnea in my country.
I have always been a leader at home in Saudi Arabia, beginning with my school years. Each year, I was elected as our ambassador of peace, running our charitable campaigns, and educational programs, and distributing food and toys to low-income families with children. I was school valedictorian in high school. While in medical school, I worked with the Zamzam medical charity organization, providing needy patients with medication and equipment and teaching them how to use it. I particularly enjoyed the challenges that this entailed when we went to rural areas of the country. The year that I spent in a pulmonary clinic has been the highlight of my career so far, the opportunity to build a long-term relationship with my patients, some of whom continue to write and thank me to this day.
I thank you for your consideration of my application to your distinguished program.
