Why I Want to Be a Physician

¶ … Autobiography of Phillip Sgobba Phillip Sgobba's passion for medicine was not the result of any innate desire nurtured from youth. True, he had been attracted to medicine and viewed it as a practice from which he could prosper -- but upon arriving at university, he doubted himself: his grades were mediocre at best. One subject especially -- Organic Chemistry -- simply befuddled him and no matter how he tried, he could not succeed at achieving excellent marks.

Losing hope of ever advancing, he eventually dropped the class and ended the semester with a dismal 2.6 GPA. He was discouraged and began contemplating altering his course in life completely. One evening, it was all altered for him -- because of a brutal attack, of which he was on the receiving end. Jumped by a gang of men on his way home one night, Phillip was badly beaten and suffered fractures to his face and shoulder.

His eye was injured as well from a condition known as an orbital blowout fracture. Phillip should have received immediate treatment on his eye, but it just so happened that the area where he lived was being visited by Super Storm Sandy and the hospital was unable to operate. For five days, Phillip could not use his right eye; he sat in his house, which lost power due to the storm, and he felt as low as he had ever felt in his entire life.

Nothing was going right for him. When the storm subsided, Phillip returned to the hospital for surgery, which proved to be even more painful than the beating.

Phillip thought his life would never get better -- but three days after his surgery, he returned to his doctor's office, had the bandages removed and was overjoyed to be able to move his eye again -- the first time in over a week! Phillip felt for the first time ever in his life that he had been given a gift that meant more to him than anything else -- the restoration of his sight.

And it was all thanks to the talents and abilities of the doctors who had identified the fracture and finally operated to save his eye from further harm. Phillip returned to school determined to make a fresh start. He had a newfound love and appreciation for medicine -- a love that he had never felt before. He wanted to be part of that world that had helped him when he was at his lowest, that had given him a newfound sense of and appreciation for the beauty of life.

He knew it would be a challenge -- but it was one he felt called to answer. He renewed his resolution to attend to his studies with alacrity, and in spite of his parents' admonitions and even the advice of the Dean of Students, Phillip again enrolled in pre-med classes -- including Organic Chemistry. His resolve was like nothing he had felt before and his GPA for that semester ended with a 4.0. Phillip was on his way.

With his academic confidence now restored, Phillip set about gaining a practical, first-hand look at how the other side of medicine was conducted. He had been on the receiving end of emergency treatment -- now he wanted to be on the providing end. He participated in his first shadowing experience at a hospital that summer, and it proved an exhilarating exercise: Phillip.