Who do you aspire to be like?

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neuro17

neuro17

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Someone recently asked me this (with regards to my choice to pursue medicine), and I was wondering how you would all respond.
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I have never been big on the whole role model concept.

Especially when it is in terms of talents and goals. We all have greatness inside of us at something. The challenge, and in a way, the best part is the journey of finding what that is.
 
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Barack Obama

obama-is-giving-you-more-time-to-sign-up-for-health-insurance.jpg
 
Of physicians and scientists? Lewis Thomas, Paul Farmer, Alberto Quiñones-Hinojosa, Michael Faraday and Gabriel Garcia are all men whose character and work I greatly admire.

Thomas for his insight into science and medicine and the facility with which he injects even the most technical, distant, banal, unfeeling pursuit or idea with incredible humanity and principle.

Farmer for his incredible compassion and indefatigable work ethic.

"Dr. Q" for his perseverance in the face of incredible adversity in so many arenas (crossed the border as a teen to come to the US illegally, made money working on farms in Cali in order to pay for English classes, goes to Berkeley and graduates top of his class, goes to HMS and then UCSF for Neurosurgery and now runs a basic science lab and practices surgery at Hopkins; any one of those things is so incredibly difficult you can't help but admire someone able to accomplish all of them).

Faraday because he had relatively little formal education and lacked training in mathematics but was such a brilliant experimentalist that he could overcome these deficits through the design of incredibly elegant and clever experiments.

Garcia again for his compassion and especially for a speech he made once in which he talked about the different dimensions of scholarship that motivated me to keep pursuing medicine and science when other opportunities had presented themselves.
 
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Fictional- The Doctor
Real Life- All of the people I would like to be are those who have talents in areas I simply don't possess- Carl Sagan, Elon Musk, Richard Branson, etc. I'm not a visionary like them- I'm just a guy trying to do my best in this world. So I guess the person I most realisticalky aspire to be is the best version of myself, and hope that at the end of the day I can look back and it'll have been enough.
 
Would saying "me in 10 years" or something like that be a legitimate response to this question in an interview? As in a "me" that has achieved everything that I've planned and worked so hard for. Thinking about getting to that point is what I consider to be the factor or "role model" that motivates me like crazy.
 
Halcyon32 said:
Would saying "me in 10 years" or something like that be a legitimate response to this question in an interview? As in a "me" that has achieved everything that I've planned and worked so hard for. Thinking about getting to that point is what I consider to be the factor or "role model" that motivates me like crazy.
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I'm no adcom, but that would sound very egotistical to me.
 
Halcyon32 said:
Would saying "me in 10 years" or something like that be a legitimate response to this question in an interview? As in a "me" that has achieved everything that I've planned and worked so hard for. Thinking about getting to that point is what I consider to be the factor or "role model" that motivates me like crazy.
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Love the confidence
 
Fictional: Dr. Eric Foreman
Real: Harvey Cushing, neusu's thread has inspired me.
 
I've never really identified with role models, but I'll give it a go.

From fiction : Daenerys Targaryen -- The Comeback Kid. Sometimes, her ideals are too rigid and lead her into trouble and I can identify with that. Also, if I could be the dude mother of dragons I'd super do it.

From IRL : My SO. Amazing work ethic, highly self directed and self motivating and focused on the things that really matter. She's very deliberate and if she does something, it's for a very specific reason. Just a super efficient person to whom I look up quite a lot.
 
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My PI. She's a MD/PhD single mother raising a teenage daughter, and seeing how often she travels and works, I find it amazing that she can fulfill her role as a mother and as a physician/researcher. Of course I don't aspire to be a single mother (would prefer to be a father), but being able to accomplish so much in a lifespan while still fulfilling your duties to your family/children is admirable.
 
Halcyon32 said:
Would saying "me in 10 years" or something like that be a legitimate response to this question in an interview? As in a "me" that has achieved everything that I've planned and worked so hard for. Thinking about getting to that point is what I consider to be the factor or "role model" that motivates me like crazy.
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heybubbaa said:
I'm no adcom, but that would sound very egotistical to me.
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I must be just as "egotistical", then, because the only person or thing that motivates me to improve is myself, lol. I work hard so that I can be the kind of person I always dreamed about being. I don't really have a role model or someone I aspire to be like... I guess that's not a good answer, though. If I were asked something like this in an interview, I'd probably talk about the surgeon I shadowed for a few months. That guy is badass. Makes open heart surgery look like it was freaking nothing, man. One of the nicest, calmest, and most down to earth people I've ever met, too. Opposite of the typical heart surgeon stereotype of being arrogant/egotistical/having a god complex or whatever. He even takes a month-long trip every year to underserved areas around the world to work for free. The guy is seriously amazing.

And just like that, a simple question comes back to med school admissions... Classic pre-meds.
 
U Wot M8 said:
Zyzz
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You think you can get away with saying that **** to me over the Internet? Think again, ****er. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little “clever” comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your ****ing tongue. But you couldn’t, and you didn’t.
 
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youngmo said:
Love the confidence
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Wish SDN had a sarcasm button so I knew if you were being serious or not
J Senpai said:
I've never really identified with role models, but I'll give it a go.

From fiction : Daenerys Targaryen -- The Comeback Kid. Sometimes, her ideals are too rigid and lead her into trouble and I can identify with that. Also, if I could be the dude mother of dragons I'd super do it.
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The word you're looking for is "father"
 
My brother inspires me. He became a teacher, which is a noble and effed-up profession, and worked his butt off for the first five years developing a great math lesson plan for EVERY SINGLE DAY of the school year. He tested his lessons in his class, refined them, blogged about them, talked them over with people at conferences, and is now a ph.d and an international leader in math curriculum design.

He basically took a field that burns out almost everyone--and which pays squat with zero recognition--and by working hard, recognizing problems as challenges, being creative, and collaborating with the best people he could find, bootstrapped a great career that really helps and inspires people.

I have a few role models like that in medicine as well, people I got to work for. People with creativity and a positive attitude (in the face of great difficulty) always impress me. But my brother is my favorite.
 
Jeff Cooper, Don Berwick, Warren Warwick, Atul Gawande, Victor Nizet, Mimi Garneri, Joseph Lister, Ignaz Semmelweiz.
 
Donald Trump

jk, my parents and grandparents. Hardworking people I tell ya
 
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Halcyon32 said:
Would saying "me in 10 years" or something like that be a legitimate response to this question in an interview? As in a "me" that has achieved everything that I've planned and worked so hard for. Thinking about getting to that point is what I consider to be the factor or "role model" that motivates me like crazy.
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The wording is a bit off, but it could be a good answer if worded properly. "I don't really aspire to be like any particular person- I want to make my own path, and be the best person and physician that I can be. While there may be many people that I admire, I don't particularly aspire to be like them, rather, I hope to one day reach the summit of my own potential personal growth and achievement."

There's no person in this world I'd rather be than myself, for I've earned each one of my achievements through hard work and sacrifice. Aspiring to the achievements of others is a poor way of looking at life, as it leaves you chasing the paths of others rather than making your own.
 
Mad Jack said:
The wording is a bit off, but it could be a good answer if worded properly. "I don't really aspire to be like any particular person- I want to make my own path, and be the best person and physician that I can be. While there may be many people that I admire, I don't particularly aspire to be like them, rather, I hope to one day reach the summit of my own potential personal growth and achievement."

There's no person in this world I'd rather be than myself, for I've earned each one of my achievements through hard work and sacrifice. Aspiring to the achievements of others is a poor way of looking at life, as it leaves you chasing the paths of others rather than making your own.
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That last line is the best way to articulate how I feel; very well said. Thank you!
 
During my 2nd year, I worked on overnight call with a Trauma Surgeon who is also the Cheif of Critical Care.

Those nights changed me, he is someone who has what I hope to have in my upcoming years.

He is one of the most humane, dedicated, but tough as nails hard-working men I know. He could flip from focused commanding business to sweet and kind, comforting, in a second.

I hope to work with him again soon and tell him how he has inspired me.
 
Ismet said:
Christina is the ultimate gunner. She always irked me. Medicine is very much a team sport, and you're not and should not be on your own unless you purposefully put those walls up for some reason.
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I'm not sure if you're as obsessed with the show as I am... It's doubtful. However, Your description of her is a little one dimensional. I could write a couple paragraphs about how the character has grown over 11 seasons but I'll spare you from that. 🙂 I find her inspirational because she's always been unapologetically confident about her skills and talent- a trait that I have not seen often in real life women. Even women who are truly accomplished and awesome. That's my take on it anyways.
 
MerYangBey said:
I'm not sure if you're as obsessed with the show as I am... It's doubtful. However, Your description of her is a little one dimensional. I could write a couple paragraphs about how the character has grown over 11 seasons but I'll spare you from that. 🙂 I find her inspirational because she's always been unapologetically confident about her skills and talent- a trait that I have not seen often in real life women. Even women who are truly accomplished and awesome. That's my take on it anyways.
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I actually watched it from day 1 until just after the whole plane crash thingy. Hard to keep up with tv shows especially when they kill off people I like and make other characters even more annoying 😛

Just commenting on the quote you highlighted.
 
How do you guys feel about that Nurse Jackie show, btw? Do you aspire to be the socially maladapted Tourette's doctor? Or the emotionally-stunted ladydoctor in the gilded cage?

No spoilers! I'm only on season 2.
 
Gary Michelson. Arguably the greatest spine surgeon in history. Saw a problem with his chosen field and fixed it, and now uses his money to try to fix other issues in the world he sees. Respect that.
 
I'm somewhere between Oprah and Steve Jobs.
 
It was Ben Carson, but then he started to run for president and turned out to be a whacko.

However, I aspire to be like Dr. Alfredo Quinonez. A hard working doctor, demands the best care from his to team to his patients, and a crazy mofo.
 
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