Being raised by South Indian immigrant parents, I knew almost from birth that I had to become a doctor or an engineer. There has always been a stereotype surrounding our culture and its relationship with the expectation that we must have a successful career. Growing up, I revealed a sort of interest in medicine that caught the attention of my parents. This interest started the assumptions of me becoming a physician. At that time, I began to take on their assumptions of me and playing the role they expected of me. Experiencing this helped me gain a better sense of self in terms of what I was genuinely passionate about: pharmacy.
When my senior year of high school came about, the pressure of my parents’ desire for me to continue on the Pre-Medicine track weighed down on my shoulders and was beginning to feel like a burden. Looking back, I knew this would be a defining moment not only for myself but also for my future career. Although I enjoyed the fact that medicine offered me a close relationship with patients and that it appealed to my interest in biology and chemistry, it was something that I wasn’t really passionate about doing. It felt like a career that was forced on me. However, I have always had a fascination with how medications work in the human body.
The treatments of illnesses rather than diagnostics, and pursuing a career that focused more on the inner workings of medications was starting to genuinely grab my attention and the people around me began to notice this as well. This newfound passion of mine turned from a dream into a goal that I wanted to turn in to reality. I was advised to strive towards becoming a pharmacist by my peers and advisers, but the stereotype of a pharmacist working in a Walgreens and being stuck in a retail position was ingrained in my brain.
In her efforts to combat those stereotypes, my high school guidance counselor had recommended to me a summer pharmacy camp at XXXX University in my senior year. There was where I learned about a myriad of fields that a pharmacist can work in the medical field, from hospital to industry to specialty. This two-day camp allowed us to familiarize ourselves with everyday tasks that pharmacists can carry out, such as us compounding Tiger Balm and learning how to take blood pressure. We also were able to talk to current pharmacists and pharmacy students about their interests and why they had chosen this path in their life.
I knew after this experience that pharmacy was certainly the profession for me. There were countless flexible and stable options for positions that I could have as a pharmacist, and the focus on the chemistry and biochemistry behind medications and how they perform in the body appealed to me immensely.
Since then, I have continued to teach myself more about pharmacy as a profession by taking seminars and shadowing pharmacists. As of right now, I work as an undergraduate research assistant at the XXXXXXX under Dr. XXXXX, where I was able to find a passion for pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics research, especially relating to infectious diseases and antibiotics. I hope to be able to further this passion for infectious disease in pharmacy school, as well as my passion for the altruism of the medical field.
While it is a passion for many people, it is the underlying enthusiasm to devote oneself to helping other people and to be a part of a team of other medical professionals to help a patient that draws me in. On any medical team, the pharmacist holds the most crucial position by using their professional knowledge about drugs, including interactions, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics in the body, to counsel patients and guide other medical professionals about drug therapies and treatment. While a patient could be easily diagnosed and treated by a physician, the pharmacist saves the day with their more specialized education in treatment and drug therapies.
With the decreased instruction of medications in medical school coupled with the upsurge of new medication being released almost daily, the average physician cannot effectively treat a patient without the aid of a pharmacist. I would be honored to be a part of a community of professionals with such a bright future.
