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Biology Programs Propel Graduate Towards Med College
Bahaa Abdellatif ’21 discovered success within the classroom and a way of achievement in the neighborhood.
By:
Heather Mayer Irvine
Wednesday, December 8, 2021 10:36 AM
Photograph courtesy of Bahaa Abdellatif.
Bahaa Abdellatif ’21 jokes that he wished to be a physician in highschool “identical to all people else.” Or, at the least, anyone who didn’t wish to be an engineer. However as soon as he began critically contemplating pre-med programs, he landed on Muhlenberg Faculty and its biology major.
“Throughout my time at Muhlenberg, it actually hit me that [being a physician] is what I wished to do with the remainder of my life,” Abdellatif says. “I felt my ardour actually beginning to type whereas taking science programs in school.”
To say Abdellatif took benefit of each alternative the Faculty and the encircling neighborhood needed to provide can be an understatement. Over the course of his 4 years, Abdellatif served as president of BYOB (Be Your Own Boss) entrepreneur club throughout his senior yr, labored as a studying assistant for biology programs, carried out two analysis initiatives with Erika Iyengar, affiliate professor of biology, volunteered for the Lehigh Valley Hospital and shadowed healthcare professionals throughout faculty breaks.
“I wished to verify I knew all the professionals and cons of going into medication, so I did numerous analysis,” he says.
His work for BYOB, he says, was to assist him suppose extra creatively, outdoors of the science field.
“The small surroundings at Muhlenberg gives numerous alternatives to be concerned,” he says, noting he was impressed by two first-year workshop teams—biology and chemistry. Throughout his junior and senior years, Abdellatif led two biology workshops.
“There may be superior management expertise that I by no means would have gotten at a big faculty,” he says.
Abdellatif is wrapping up his first semester at Boston College College of Drugs, and he says it’s the coursework at Muhlenberg that helped him put together for fulfillment in a grueling med faculty surroundings.
“Muhlenberg put in in me a love of science and that [came with me],” he says.
Abdellatif’s fieldwork, so to talk, within the Allentown neighborhood has ready him to grow to be the most effective doctor he could be, he says. He would stroll 10 minutes from campus to the Lehigh Valley Hospital to assist transport sufferers, change sheets and conduct different seemingly mundane duties.
“The hospital setting is the place I wish to spend the remainder of my life, so I wished to offer again to that system,” he says. “It’s the little issues, for instance, placing a blanket on a chilly wheelchair seat and seeing a affected person’s eyes gentle up as a result of they know you care.”
He acknowledges the significance of physicians being immersed of their communities, stating that that engagement results in higher medical outcomes.
“If you’re immersed in the neighborhood, you study the struggles of the neighborhood, and that helps you deal with your sufferers higher,” Abdellatif says.
As for undergraduates contemplating pre-med? Take the method, which is overwhelming and scary, he says, one step at a time.
“One grade doesn’t outline you,” he says. “Take pleasure in your time at school and do what you’re keen on. Not as a result of your dad and mom need you to do it or what’s going to take advantage of cash. Do what you’re keen on. Your 4 years will go by means faster than anticipated. Benefit from it.”
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