My story begins from the beautiful country of Pakistan. Being the oldest son of a military officer, my childhood heavily involved structure and discipline, yet enough freedom and space to pursue my goals and passions. Although we enjoyed our life in Pakistan, religious extremists made it extremely difficult for my family to live safely and freely. It was then that my dad had to make the very difficult decision of sacrificing his career, friends, and relatives for the betterment of his family. We immigrated to Canada when I was four years old and were warmly welcomed. It was rough for our family to settle into a new environment with new people but we managed to build a life for ourselves in Canada. I truly believe that the person I am today is the embodiment of all the struggles my family, mostly my dad had to make. When thinking about my past and present, I can find no stronger motivation for me to work as hard and diligently as I can to fully utilize the opportunity I was given. My interests and passion for the sciences and technology mainly stem from my upbringing. I was continuously encouraged from my parents to read books and learn basic programming by being given a plethora of books and a computer at a young age. Thus, I thought that I would excel in a career in either computer science or engineering. However, after being admitted to the Sci-Tech program at Port Credit, I quickly learned that what I truly enjoyed and found fascinating was science, particularly biology. I found the human body to be the most interesting as it continuously amazes that each part of the body has a unique and distinct purpose and how as a whole if any one part does not function properly; the whole system is in jeopardy. Thus, these realizations lead me to enroll at the University of Guelph for Biomedical Science.
Enrolling in Biomedical Science has been an eye-opening experience for me. It continuously reminds me how humanity has just scratched the surface of scientific knowledge and how every day through hard work and perseverance, we are expanding our knowledge. During first year, I was extremely fortunate to get a position as a student researcher with Dr. Rana, a neurologist I respect and admire a lot. While working with him on various topics related to Parkinson’s’ disease, it was then where I truly understood the extent to which we as scientists don’t understand diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and many others. This further increased my motivation and devotion towards uncovering as much knowledge as I possibly can to help as many people possible. It is also during this time where I seriously started considering becoming a physician as research plays a very important role in medicine. As a Senior Tutor for Bright Future Tutoring, I teach various subjects to students ranging from grade nine to twelve. I have the wonderful opportunity to transmit the current knowledge I have, to students who can further expand on the knowledge on their own. Whenever I am working as a tutor, I am constantly reminded about the importance of not only learning, but further sharing the knowledge one possesses. For humanity to continue surviving and thriving, it is very important for us to collaborate as much as possible in the quest to uncover scientific knowledge. This is yet another reason why I am extremely interested in pursuing medicine as being a physician is not just about learning new things, but also communicating and teaching these novel discoveries to other people. Furthermore, as an avid advocate for promoting Parkinson’s disease awareness, I received the wonderful opportunity to be part of the World Parkinson’s Program (WPP) by the founder himself. I have been involved with this organization for about 4 years now and have taken many pivotal roles such as being a member of the International Affairs committee where I was solely responsible for collaborating and opening new chapters around the world. The organizations goal is to provide resources such as walking aid and medication to improve the quality of life of Parkinson’s disease patients and I fully support his. I hope that as a physician, I can further help Parkinson’s disease patients by finding better medication to treat Parkinson’s disease.
These are just some of the reasons why I hope to go to medical school. Many of these reasons come from my passion to learn and apply my knowledge to better humanity. As a physician, I will have the option to conduct research, teach, and continue doing community service while making the lives of my patients better. Although a physician’s life is very demanding, doing what I love every day while helping others is the most I could ask for.
