My Story.

Chemistry and biology were my strengths in school. Biochemistry at the University of Toronto was the natural choice. Medicine never crossed my mind. My plan? Academia. Research. Simple.

Four years of lab work and scientific thinking confirmed it. Or so I thought. I was ready to go deeper, to pursue a Master's in Chemistry. The skills I was building would prove invaluable. Just not in the way I expected.

A Master's in Chemistry meant going deeper: organic synthesis, analytical methods, exploring novel compounds with therapeutic potential. The work was demanding: designing experiments, troubleshooting failures, celebrating rare breakthroughs.

I found it incredibly rewarding. Meticulous. Intellectually satisfying. I was so convinced I applied for a PhD program. Academia was the plan.

Then the hospital presentations started. I'd show our molecular findings to clinical teams, doctors treating real patients. The contrast was immediate: they left our meetings to change lives. I went back to the lab.

Their work mattered daily. Directly. Undeniably. Mine? Might contribute to something useful years from now. Maybe. I realized I wanted what they had: tangible impact, human connection, work that mattered today. Wrong path entirely.

Plot twist: I turned down the PhD offer.

The path was set. PhD acceptance, academic career ahead. I walked away. Reckless? Maybe. Right? Absolutely.

I wasn't leaving science. I was aiming it differently: at people instead of molecules. Direct impact instead of distant potential. Human connection instead of lab isolation.

Medical school meant erasing years of planning. New exams. New applications. Completely different trajectory. I chose RCSI-Bahrain to stay close to family through the transition.

No pause between. August finished the Master's. September started medical school. No gap. No backup plan. Just the leap.

Medical school was a reset. Again.

The hardest part? Being back in a classroom. After years of independent research, I was memorizing anatomy, practicing clinical examinations, sitting through lectures. From confident researcher to struggling medical student. Humbling.

But the chemistry background paid off, differently than expected. Analytical thinking. Systematic approach to complex problems. Comfort with uncertainty. It all translated to clinical medicine.

Five years in Bahrain meant international perspective: diverse healthcare systems, varied patient populations, classmates from everywhere. I stayed academically active, publishing multiple papers alongside clinical training.

Every rotation taught me something new about what kind of doctor I wanted to become. By graduation, the path forward was becoming clearer.

Graduated with distinction. Residency was next.

The transition from medical school to residency? Brutal.

I went all in on both pathways. For the US: completed USMLE Steps 1 and 2, traveled to the States for electives in Chicago and Boston, interviewed for surgery and O&G programs across the country. Simultaneously preparing UK applications: Foundation Programme, SJT exam, the whole process.

Running parallel applications meant double the stress, double the preparation, double the uncertainty. Two completely different systems. Two sets of interviews. Two possible futures.

Match Day came. The US didn't work out. Disappointing? Absolutely. But the UK result softened the blow immediately: I'd matched to Oxford, my top choice.

Plot twist part two: the "backup" plan was actually the better path. Oxford Foundation Training. The doors this would open? I had no idea yet.

Student to doctor. The transition was brutal.

Real decisions, real patients, real responsibility. The learning curve was vertical. Every shift brought new challenges and emergencies.

Oxford Foundation Training was demanding. World-class environment, brilliant consultants. I rotated through specialties, building clinical skills while searching for the right path.

Surgery kept pulling me back. During my surgical rotation, I stayed academically hungry. The right people noticed and nominated me for a research fellowship at Oxford investigating Crohn's disease.

The opportunity was perfect: clinical medicine plus rigorous research. I'd missed the lab. This was the bridge I needed. I said yes.

I joined Dr. Matthias Friedrich's lab at the Kennedy Institute. First task? Secure funding.

We wrote grants. Refined our pitch. Made the scientific case. £130k from the Oxford Colon Cancer Trust. Approved. Now we could actually do the work.

I was back in the lab, but different this time. Clinical perspective changed everything. I focused on the enteric nervous system, using CellDive, transcriptomics, advanced techniques to probe the gut-brain axis in Crohn's disease.

Results came. Publications in top-tier journals. Conference presentations. Awards, including the Royal College of Physicians Novel Research of the Year (2024). Real contributions to the field while maintaining clinical momentum.

This was the bridge I'd been building since chemistry: rigorous science meets direct impact. Lab informed by bedside. Research shaped by patient care. Everything finally connected.

The hardest decision of my training.

I applied to both Core Surgical Training and O&G. Prepared for both: separate exams, separate interviews, building two different cases simultaneously.

Both came through: Core Surgical Training at Cambridge. O&G at Oxford. Two prestigious programs. Decision time.

O&G offered something surgery alone couldn't: diversity. Surgery, medicine, continuity of care. Acute emergencies and long-term relationships. Operating theatres and antenatal clinics. Run-through training, one application, straight path to consultant.

Cambridge surgery was tempting. Oxford O&G was right. I chose O&G.

I'm navigating specialty training: rotations across hospitals, building surgical skills, managing complex cases, learning from excellent consultants. The learning curve is steep, but this time it's exactly where I want to be. Every day confirms it.

Operating theatre in the morning, antenatal clinic in the afternoon. Emergency caesareans at 2am, routine procedures the next day. Medicine meets surgery. Acute meets continuity.

The path from chemistry labs in Toronto to operating theatres in Oxford wasn't straightforward. Multiple pivots. Several reinventions. But every detour built something essential.

Now I'm here. Training in the specialty I chose. At the institution I wanted. Doing exactly what I set out to do.

The path to medicine is anything but straightforward. Mine included chemistry to medicine, a declined PhD, international training, dual US-UK applications, research at Oxford, and choosing O&G over Cambridge surgery.

I mentor because I remember needing guidance from someone who'd just navigated the same system. Not advice from a decade ago, but current experience from someone one step ahead.

Your journey will be different. But having someone one step ahead makes the decisions clearer.

Ready to take the next step? Let's figure it out together.