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Rheumatology Personal Statement

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One of my earliest memories, is watching a small figure hobble across the stones with disfigured feet and toes. This was my grandmother and as she dragged her body – riddled with what I now believe to be rheumatoid arthritis – I always wonder how her life might have been changed with proper treatment.

Just when I thought Internal Medicine was my field, I was introduced to Rheumatology. It was during my intern year when working in the Rheumatology Clinic. The core of my initial attraction was the very proximity between Rheumatology and IM. Even as the mode of treatment hinged on working with inherent uncertainty and innate complexity, you also needed to turn to IM fundamentals to determine a diagnosis. Moreover, I found myself highly intrigued …show more content…

In time, I discovered a constantly evolving field, one having made recent advances in biologic agents, thus opening up limitless opportunities for research. Moreover in managing side effects of immunosuppressants/biologic agents that are the mainstay of therapy in rheumatology produced its own set of challenges. These were but a few reasons why rheumatology held me …show more content…

In that osteoporosis is a huge societal problem, causing a large number of fractures in the elderly population and thus leading to a poor quality of life and worse, it was clear that education of healthcare professionals was a must. Since the USPSTF guidelines state that all women over age 65 should get dexa scans to screen for osteoporosis and start on appropriate therapy to prevent these fractures, it soon became clear that in our resident run outpatient clinics we were doing a very poor job in this area. As such, with two colleagues, we designed an intervention protocol based on provider education on osteoporosis for all residents, attendings, nurse practitioners and physician assistants. Succinctly, the intervention increased the rate of dexa scan ordering by 34% and this trial is now in its second phase.

There have been other equally important turning points to date. In my rotation at Georgetown, I sought to explore the field of rheumatology at a tertiary level and in doing so, gained experience in common autoimmune conditions and some rare ones as well all which served to solidify my interest in the field. One of the most pleasant aspects of my duties at Georgetown was the opportunity to work with children. In taking pediatric rheumatology consults, I realized that as a rheumatologist I may be able to care for patients of all age groups, leading to an interesting and highly diversified

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