My Pre-PA Journey

      There are many essays and blogs about folks relating to knowing about their early calling in life. For instance, such as: “I have always known that I would be "A" or "B", etc. You know the drill. Well sorry to say or disappoint, but this piece is not one of those stories you see quite often.

     Nor will I use the clichéd stories of how an ill relative or a friend or a close family physician served to be the inspiring force for me when considering a career. In fact, unlike so many other college students’ paths to medicine, mine was truly a circuitous one compared to so many others that I have known or read about. 

       Truthfully, I was never ‘pushed’ nor ‘talked’ into going into medicine by my parents or anyone else either for that matter. However, medicine didn’t cross my mind until I began enjoying my natural science courses as a freshman and sophomore, and junior in college. I felt I would end up pursuing a graduate degree in molecular biology. I even thought about being a bench researcher in the lab after graduating from college or becoming a medical technologist. 

        Basically during this time, I was setting my sights on landing a co-op job experience as a research student @ Argonne National Laboratory--- far from becoming a PA  back then. 

        Halfway into my 3^rd year, I began to feel an affinity for medicine as a potential occupational possibility, so to explore that late interest in a medical career and not with the romantic idea of becoming a doctor I decided to explore employment opportunities in a medical or a hospital setting. In a stroke of luck, I was able to land a job as a Pharmacist Assistant while completing my undergraduate studies. 

        Luckily this particular experience gave me a different perspective, a very insightful one on my desired career path. As I neared graduation, my options became clearer, and my desire to remain in medicine albeit in a different role was cemented; it was clear that my future would require a more definitive game plan from my behalf. For years, I methodically researched in depth about the different allied health careers, from “A” to “Z” and while the infinite options were considered and entertained, no would-be profession back then matched or resonated closely as much as the Physician Assistant Profession did for me.

             And the rest is history as the saying goes…