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            The pull of medicine first arose in my childhood. Growing up in a small town in Ukraine, medical care was severely deficient. The nearest medical facility was beyond our town's boundary. As many people could not afford the trip, trips to the medical center were only used in dire emergency. With a farmer's salary, not many could afford the trip. The only way to get them to see a doctor would be if their pain impacted their ability to do farm chores.  It wasn’t until we moved to New York City did I have the privilege to visit a doctor whenever needed. As a very curious child, I enjoyed going to the doctor’s office and asking as many questions as I could about the different diagrams of diseases and body structures on the walls.

            My passion for medicine grew even further when I had to get my first surgery in the sixth grade. As I was lying in my gown, the medical students on their rotations help eased any nerves I had.  They all sat next to me and explained how the surgery would work, how anesthesia works, and answered any questions I had. It felt comforting when one of the students said, "helping children like yourself is the reason I want to become doctor".

            In recent years, events such as my grandfather suffering from diabetes to my father having his gallbladder taken out, served as a growing passion in my life. I wished to give back in a way that was beneficial to others' lives.  Due to my interest in biology and the medical field, I came to Stony Brook University to discern my true passion amongst all the options in medicine. In lab courses, I found myself enjoying hands-on work. Following a set procedure to mix chemicals and make Lidocaine in organic chemistry lab was a lot of fun. I felt accomplished after using a piece of my own hair to make a tool to delicately cut a Xenopus embryo in half, only to watch it grow into a tadpole two days later. I realized that I enjoyed learning a procedure and perfecting it. I thoroughly valued using instruments combining my manual skills with my mental abilities to perform tasks.

            During my senior year at Stony Brook, I was elected as the President of the Pre-Med Society. As president, I was in charge of managing the club of over 80 students and organizing events and volunteer opportunities. I was directly involved in establishing a relationship between the club with Red Cross, the Child Care Center, and the Veteran's Home at Stony Brook. When I was a member in my sophomore year, I was first exposed to the Physician Assistant occupation. The details presented to us were everything I wanted to do in the future. As president, I learned to work in a group on top of having a leadership role. As a physician assistant, we have to be able to directly work in a group to help treat patients.

            While working as a full-time medical assistant at Adult and Pediatric Dermatology, I was able to first hand witness the role that physician assistants play in the health field. I am able to witness everyday how Zina Goldvekht, PA treats and cares for her patients. We see cases ranging from acne to precancerous actinic keratosis to basal cell carcinomas to psoriasis and eczema. I am able to first hand witness Zina using liquid nitrogen to stop the progression of actinic keratosis or warts. An invaluable experience I have with Zina everyday is witnessing biopsies done on suspicious lesions on the body to be sent out to labs. With 1 CC of Lidocaine, Zina makes in an injection near the site of the lesion and pushes the syringe in the direction of the lesion to numb the entire area. Next, with a razor in one hand and cotton swab with aluminum chloride on it, she gently cuts the superficial layer of the lesion and dabs the cut with the cotton swab to control the bleeding. During this process, I am standing next to her with the specimen container and a bandage.

 

            I have always been someone who strived to do what I can to get what I want and getting rejected from PA schools last year really made me think about whether or not this is the right path for me. In my opinion, working as a physician assistant, be it as a family physician or to be performing surgeries, would be the most satisfying career I can imagine. It will provide me with the fulfillment of handling instruments, following a procedure, and working in a sociable and personal environment. Having the chance to see the inner workings of how physicians diagnose is exceptionally fascinating. I know that it will take years to perfect the demands of being a physician assistant, and yet it is work that I am drawn to and believe that I can excel at.

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 The pull of medicine (awkward) first arose in my childhood. Growing up in a small town in Ukraine, medical care was severely deficient. The nearest medical facility was beyond our town's boundary (awkward). As many people could not afford the trip, trips (avoid repetition) to the medical center were only used in dire emergency. With a farmer's salarywere the whole town full of farmers?, not many(who?) could afford the trip. The only way to get them to see a doctor would be if their pain impacted their ability to do farm chores. what a jump! i think a transition is needed here It wasn’t until we moved to New York City did I have the privilege to visit a doctor whenever needed. As a very curious child, I enjoyed going to the doctor’s office and asking as many questions as I could about the different diagrams of diseases (awkward) and body structures on the walls.

            My passion for medicine grew even further when I had to get my first surgery in the sixth grade. As I was lying in my gown, the medical students on their rotations help eased any nerves (word choice) I had.  They all sat next to me and explained how the surgery would work, how anesthesia works, and answered any questions I had. It felt comforting when one of the students said, "helping children like yourself is the reason I want to become doctor".

            In recent years, events such as my grandfather suffering from diabetes to my father having his gallbladder taken out (removed?), served as a growing passion in my life. I wished to give back in a way that was (is?) beneficial to others' lives.  Due to my interest in biology and the medical field, I came to Stony Brook University to discern my true passion amongst all the options in medicine. In lab courses, I found myself enjoying hands-on work. Following a set procedure to mix chemicals and make Lidocaine in organic chemistry lab was a lot of fun (word choice). I felt accomplished after using a piece of my own hair to make a tool to delicately cut a Xenopus embryo in half, only to watch it grow into a tadpole two days later. I realized that I enjoyed learning a procedure and perfecting it. I thoroughly valued using instruments combining my manual skills with my mental abilities to perform tasks.

            During my senior year at Stony Brook, I was elected as the President of the Pre-Med Society. As president, I was in charge of managing the club of over 80 students and organizing events and volunteer opportunities. I was directly involved in establishing a relationship between the club with Red Cross, the Child Care Center, and the Veteran's Home at Stony Brook. When I was a member in my sophomore year, I was first exposed to the Physician Assistant occupation. The details (what about the details were appealing? This is so vague)presented to us were everything I wanted to do in the future. As president, I learned to work in a group on top of(word choice) having a leadership role. As a physician assistant, we have to be able to directly work in a group to help treat patients.

            While working as a full-time medical assistant at Adult and Pediatric Dermatology, I was able to first hand witness the role that physician assistants play in the health field. I am able to witness everyday how Zina Goldvekht, PA treats and cares for her patients. We see cases ranging from acne to precancerous actinic keratosis to basal cell carcinomas to psoriasis and eczema. I am able to first hand witness Zina using liquid nitrogen to stop the progression of actinic keratosis or warts. An invaluable experience I have with Zina everyday is witnessing biopsies done on suspicious lesions on the body to be sent out to labs. With 1 CC of Lidocaine, Zina makes in an injection near the site of the lesion and pushes the syringe in the direction of the lesion to numb the entire area. Next, with a razor in one hand and cotton swab with aluminum chloride on it, she gently cuts the superficial layer of the lesion and dabs the cut with the cotton swab to control the bleeding. During this process, I am standing next to her with the specimen container and a bandage.

 

            I have always been someone who strived to do what I can to get what I want and getting rejected from PA schools last year really made me think about whether or not this is the right path for me (i think you should talk about your determination here, rather than self-doubt). In my opinion, working as a physician assistant, be it as a family physician or to be performing surgeries, would be the most satisfying career I can imagine. It will provide me with the fulfillment of handling instruments, following a procedure, and working in a sociable and personal environment. Having the chance to see the inner workings of how physicians diagnose is exceptionally fascinating. I know that it will take years to perfect the demands of being a physician, and yet it is work that I am drawn to and believe that I can excel at.

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