CV

I had to rewrite my CV for a new wilderness medicine instructor position I was offered and I thought the cover letter described my "I DONT WANT TO BE ANOTHER PREMED" mentality pretty well. I'm still editing it, but for shits and grins here we go:

Since graduating high school in May of 2004 my goal has been acceptance into medical school. My path towards that goal has changed and evolved as I have continued my education, both within and outside of academia, but the goal has remained the same. Rather than assuming the same path as many of my peers with the same goal I wanted to branch out into other fields of study, gain experience, and prove to myself that a career in medicine was my calling in life.

My first two years of college I balanced my academic career with an elite level athletic career in cycling. In 2006 I decided to take a hiatus from school in order to pursue my other dream of becoming a professional cyclist. I moved to Herstberge, Belgium to race for an amateur Elite team against some of the finest cyclist’s in the world. Racing and living in such a professionally oriented environment taught me many things. I learned discipline throughout my lifestyle, I learned to love a routine, and most importantly I learned how to struggle and be successful.

Upon my return to the United States I was set to return to Europe and race the next season. Fate had other plans and in the spring of 2007 I found myself injured and unable to ride my bike. This blow to my racing career brought me back into academia as I threw all of my energy previously reserved for athletics into my school work. It was at this time that I began working in the Vascular Biology Lab at Big Mountain University and found my passion for research. This new found passion changed my academic plans and I began to explore careers that would allow me to combine medicine and research. The natural path was a combined MD/PhD program.

Athletics had instilled into me a work ethic and my research experience has shown me a new path I wished to take. However, the true turning point after which I allowed myself to completely dedicate myself to a career in medicine came when I earned my Emergency Medical Technician (EMT-B) license. I loved interacting with patients and hearing their stories. I loved having the knowledge to help them and most importantly I was driven to gain more knowledge and more experience in order to help those patients more. I finally saw medical school as a means to an end rather than the goal itself. Now, I wish to go to medical school not to become a physician but so that I can gain the knowledge and experience necessary to help the patients that I cannot help now.

I have many opportunities now that I believe will help me become a better physician in the future. I would like to teach Advanced Wilderness Life Support courses because it is a combination of my passions for the outdoors and for medicine. I would like to work for the County Search and Rescue team because of the challenging and rewarding nature of such work. Finally, I would like to continue my training as an EMT because in the end I believe it is those experiences with patients that have driven me this far and will help me the most over the course of my life.