Aspiring to become a doctor is as noble as any other aspiration, however, many students (myself included) don’t always know what they’re getting into in terms of what it’s like to have their noses stuck in textbooks and their fingers shaking under constant pressure. 

 

As high school students, we don’t have many opportunities to see what it’s like to be a doctor until medical school (maybe even pre-med, if you’re lucky). 

 

I, along with 4500 other students in the country, was given the opportunity to go to the Congress of Future Medical Leaders in Washington D.C. this past November. 

 

In a nutshell, this is basically a conference giving students an inside look at all the new things happening in medicine and medical technology. More than that, this congress was definitely a major factor in the students’ decisions to continue or drop the pursuit of a career in medicine. 

 

Unfortunately, this congress is something that you need to be nominated for; you can be nominated by your teachers, guidance counselor, or a friend who has attended a past conference. 

 

As far as I know, I was the only representative from Clark, but, since this is a new program, I’m sure that more and more of the bright students here will be given this opportunity as well. 

 

I’m just going to get this out of the way. It’s a bit pricy. And it really depends on the mindset you have coming into the conference when it comes to whether or not it’s worth the tuition. For me, it was definitely worth it. 

 

Some of the speakers at the congress included some of the most influential people in medicine and science. For the most part, these speakers embodied the mindset and the attitude of a scientist – which is to never say that you can’t do what you want to do. 

 

One of my favorite speakers was Dr. Rick Sacra, who is the physician who was a victim in the recent outbreak of Ebola. Dr. Sacra was the third American aid worker who contracted the virus while on missionary work in West Africa. His moving anecdote of his time in Africa gave no sign of regret for caring for the sick, showing what it really means to have the heart of a doctor.

 

To write about all the other big medical gods who spoke at this congress would make this article about two thousand words long. So here are a few names you could look up on your own time: Dr. Boris Lushniak, acting Surgeon General of the United States; Jack Andraka, who created a new diagnostic test for pancreatic cancer at age 15; Dr. Francis Collins, leader of the Human Genome Project and more.

 

For myself and many other students spoke to at the congress, the most moving speakers were Dr. Andrew Eads and Dr. Jamie Eng. These two emergency room doctors were different from every other speaker in the fact that they are just regular doctors. They came from humble beginnings, they work at an underfunded government hospital, and they don’t get paid that much.

 

When they spoke, you could hear in their voices how much they loved caring for patients. You could tell that they spent every waking moment thinking about how they could take even the smallest amount of pain away from the person they were treating.

 

It also opened up the students’ eyes to many other issues in the healthcare world such as health care policy. 

 

By the way, they also broadcasted a live surgery where students were able to ask the surgeon questions while he was performing the surgery. No big deal.

 

Ultimately, I think that if you are really considering a career in healthcare and you get this opportunity, you should take it. You’ll get a feel for what the medical world is like – which can either give you the motivation you need to push through school or save you tons of money in medical school bills.

 

Keep in mind, this weekend is definitely not only about learning and sitting through talks and sharings. Here you’ll meet the Einsteins of your generation. A lot of your time is spent networking with the people who will be your future colleagues. 

 

At school, it’s sometimes hard to find people who understand what it’s like to have a dream of becoming a doctor. But at the congress, you’re surrounded, if not overwhelmed, by people who have the same dream. These are 4500 of the brightest minds in the nation. It’s either really intimidating or extremely humbling, or both, in my case.

 

There’s also another cool thing - once you attend the congress, you can compete to get a full medical school scholarship! Like I said, no big deal.