I am a medical resident on the cusp of embarking a fellowship journey. This essay should convey my interest in the field of hepatology (liver disorders) to the program director.
I have always had a penchant for solving puzzles. I even created a board game to study microbiology when I was a medical student. Naturally, I was drawn towards internal medicine when it came to applying for residency since it most closely resembled my passion. All through my residency I kept searching for my next challenge and it came in the form of hepatolgy. I never knew how intricate and complex hepatology was until I saw a patient on one of my floor rotations. She was a young female in her twenties who presented to the hospital with decompensated cirrhosis. We tried our best to investigate the cause behind her condition but were met with disappointment with all of our work up coming back negative. At this point I was getting frustrated with not being able to help her as I saw her condition spiral downwards. After an ehaustive workup spanning infectious, genetic, and autoimmune causes remained unrevealing, we labelled her as possibly having nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. She was eventually referred to a hepatologist at a different hospital for consideration of a liver transplant. I had the opportunity to coordinate and transfer her care with the hepatology team. She stayed with us for about 2 weeks and I remember I used to read up on her case everyday on coming back home trying to figure out her mystery. This whole experience showed me how intricate and vast the field of hepatology is and how challenging the patient care can be. To this date, I keep wondering how the hepatology team would have cared for her differently and how the liver transplant would have changed her life. NIH is world renowed for its hepatologists and is the perfect place for helping me realise that dream and turn it into a reality. I hope to bring my enthusiasm, empathy and compassion towards patient care to your team.