As a first generation Iranian-American, my adolescence and early adulthood has been shaped by the fusion of two distinctly different cultural backgrounds. Growing up in Belmont, MA, my parents taught me the value of perseverance and working towards your goals. They both immigrated to the United States several decades ago – my father to pursue his D.B.A. in the 1970’s and my mother to escape the Iran-Iraq war during the 1980’s. The way they were able to build a comfortable life for my siblings and myself has been an inspiration as I have grown up and gone through various checkpoints in my life.
My curiosity about my cultural heritage led me to take the step of spending my sophomore year of high school in Iran, where I lived with my extended family…show more content… My father, two brothers, sister, and sister-in-law are all in business or finance. However, it is this desire to interact with a broad spectrum of people, at varying points in their lives, that has driven me to pursue this path. The year in Iran was one experience, but also attending a very diverse school like BU allows one to get out of their comfort zone and meet people from all walks of life. I also spent a semester abroad along the Pacific Rim and Africa through the University of Virginia’s Semester at Sea program. The beauty of that trip was the fact that I was able to visit the incredibly bustling city of Tokyo, the tranquil fields of Bagan in Myanmar, and the rural farmlands of central Ghana, among other places. The vastly different perspectives you see when conversing with people in these places really highlight the need to avoid ethnocentrism and bias when dealing with others. It was a tremendously meaningful experience. Put together, these experiences have fortified my desire to be a physician responsible for building meaningful personal and professional relationships with whoever may be in
