Most kids got a new car or the latest iPhone when they turned sixteen. My father bought me a book.

Of all the doctors I had met, this one was by far the strangest, and I looked upon her with some suspicion.

Summers in the city were tough to bear. My internship at the Community Action Partnership’s Human Development Corporation (HDC) burdened me with the task of recording “Family-need Evaluation” minutes.

As Deo stopped talking and drifted out of consciousness, his head sagged and his body went limp.

“River rat pride!” I looked up from the metallic charms in my hand as these familiar words rang through the monotonous buzz of the Ann Arbor Art Fair crowd. In front of me stood an old friend, with arms extended, ready for the inevitable embrace ahead.

There are not many situations in which the ability to read could make the difference between life and death.

I yearn for a profession that weaves human connection, challenge and innovation into my everyday life.

If my DNA could be extracted from an inanimate object, that object would be my grandpa’s address book. It represents his and my determination to connect with those around us and have a life devoted to service.

At ten years old, I faced my first critical decision in the hospital setting: whether or not to give my grandfather a cookie. He never had a sweet tooth before, but Alzheimer’s disease made him unrecognizable as he yelled and pleaded for the dessert in my hand.

Through my three years as a neuroscience major, through discussions with physicians and medical students, and—I’ll admit it—through a few seasons of medical drama binge-watching on Netflix, I have become intensely fascinated by the surgical field.

Although I was born on the East Coast, Colorado will always be the place that I call home. Both of my parents spent the majority of their lives in Brooklyn but ultimately decided that they wanted to raise their kids elsewhere.

When I was growing up my grandfather was my hero. Around the age of ten I asked him why he chose to be an accountant - I had no idea that his response would begin my passion for the medical field.