I am a scientist and healthcare worker.
This photo seems like a simple and fun photo taken during work one night, but it is actually quite meaningful. This was taken a few minutes after midnight on New Year's. We had all just sipped Martinelli's and the drunk people were beginning to pour into the ER. While we were still taking these photos I heard a Trauma, the most severe kind, get called in. We immediately stopped our photo-taking session and headed to the trauma room where we awaited the arrival of a young man who had been shot in the chest. The trauma surgeon needed to open this man's chest in the trauma bay and looked over to me and said "You have a free hand? Put your hand here and plug this hole!" I literally had my hands in a person's heart which is the most indescribable feeling in the world. I had never felt such a high and although I have always known my calling was medicine- this was the surest of that decision I had ever been.
Here are some of my personal favorite kind of photos- Lab photos! As a biology major, chemistry minor I spend lots of time in labs. From molecular genetics to organic chemistry, that white coat and I have become good friends. Coming into college I knew that I should major in science in order to be pre-med, but I never knew how much I would follow in love with it. In these times of stress, I find it comforting to write a lab report because that feels so normal to me. I am a nerd, I know.
My best friend, lab partner for life, and overall rock, Nayiri and I are actually working on research that we are extremely passionate about. We are working on computational and pharmaceutical chemistry to design an opioid that is capable of pain relief, but non-addictive. You can catch us in the halls of Keck talking for hours on end about all things chemistry.
Why is this who I am?
Medicine and science are two parts of my life that are core to who I am. I have wanted to be a doctor since I was old enough to know that a career was and I have never looked back. Working in the emergency room has taught me that this truly is my calling. My time at Chapman has introduced me to my love for the sciences as well. Nothing feels better to me than figuring out a long organic chemistry mechanism or sequencing a gene at the end of a semester-long lab. Medicine and science are two passions in my life that a core part of what makes me, me. Finding the balance between being a full-time science student and ER Trauma Tech may definitely be adding gray hairs to my head prematurely, but I wouldn't change it. Sure, I would probably sleep more if I could, but you can sleep when you're dead, right? I choose to think so.