PEDIATRICS PERSONAL STATEMENT

 I knew from the start of medical school that I wanted to be a pediatrician. Taking care of children, both healthy and ill, is how I want to use my clinical training. The innocence of children and adolescents, the varied nature of the specialty, and the opportunity to affect positive change in the lives of young people has guided my choice. I have been fortunate enough to help care for children, adolescents and their families during their happiest of times- taking home their healthy newborn baby or after news of leukemia remission. I have also had the humbling experience of holding the hand of families who have not been so lucky - the grieving mother of a child with a serious illness or a congenital anomaly. I have been guided through these experiences by clinically brilliant yet gentle and kind pediatricians. These mentors have taught me that at those times, while compassionate words or a hand held may not provide a cure, they do provide healing.

In addition to the varied encounters and emotions, the wide variety of roles that the pediatrician plays, including healer, advisor, advocate and educator further draws me to the field. I look forward to a career caring for a variety of children and adolescents in a busy hospital as part of a committed and close-knit team handling health concerns with sensitivity and efficiency. I also look forward to teaching, both during my residency, and also in the community with an active role encouraging health promotion and illness prevention. In medical school, I was fortunate enough to experience the value of community health promotion through activities with the American Medical Students Association.

The science of pediatrics and the often highly technical subspecialities accelerates my enthusiasm and  further demonstrates the vastness of the field. Nowhere did I see this more clearly than during my NICU sub-internship that  I undertook as a visiting medical student at the School of Medicine. The precise application of physiology coupled with the reliance of team work amongst Neonatologists, Maternal Fetal Medicine physicians and nurses made for a rich educational experience that further motivated and energized my commitment to Pediatrics. It left me forever impressed.

Born and raised in Oslo, Norway, I completed medical school at the College of Surgeons in City, Ireland, including 3 years of pre-clinical training and 3 years of clinical experience.

By the time I start my residency program I will have completed an 18 month rotating internship in Norway, transitioning evenly through surgery, medicine and family medicine/primary care. This experience as a full time house officer, working long hours managing an array of patients in an urban emergency department in an Oslo teaching hospital allowed me to be responsible for my own patients in a variety of clinical situations and specialties. The family medicine/primary care position, which I am currently completing has been decidedly different. It has involved me living and working in a remote farming community in which I am the ’town doctor’ diagnosing and treating a range of conditions in both adults and children. A day in our small clinic or on house calls brings everything from earaches to myocardial infarctions. I feel that the experience and responsibility afforded by my position over the last 18 months will allow me to be a productive resident from day one.

Now, guided by my professional and personal interests, I look accross the Atlantic to the USA for my next experience. I am looking forward to joining a residency program in which I will work hard along side my fellow residents, working with a varied patient population and seeing a diversity of presentations. After my residency program, I hope to sub-specialize in hematology and oncology, an area that fascinated me during my pediatrics core clerkship. I also hope to become involved in research over the next  3 years and beyond. I am eager to develop into a scientist and a well trained clinician. I am excited to start this next educational adventure in pediatrics – the field that I knew all along suited me perfectly.