Radiologist

Why did you decide to become a radiologist?

Multiple reasons:

• As a radiologist you are the "doctor's doctor." You are a consultant for all services and get to work with your colleagues in all specialties (internal medicine, surgery, OB/GYN, etc.). Additionally, every patient that comes through the hospital gets some type of imaging, so you are directly helping numerous patients as well as your colleagues.

• Radiology is like deciphering a puzzle. Every image comes with it's own story, and you can tell a lot about a patient's history by reading their images. Afterall, a picture is worth a thousand words! That being said, a good radiologist doesn't just "make the findings" in the imaging, but correlates with the patient's chief complaint, history, labs, prior imaging, etc., to diagnose what is going on and make the best recommendation to the primary team.

• You get to work head-to-toe! I like variety and Radiology allows you to read everything from brains to chests to extremities/limbs, in various modalities (x-ray, ultrasound, CT, MR) and if you choose to sub-specialize you can narrow your focus and become more of an "expert" as well. There is a lot of flexibility in the field.

• I love procedures! Radiology, specifically interventional radiology, allows you to do a lot of procedures, that can be a lot of fun and rewarding. You get to interact with patients and directly help alleviate their symptoms (examples include draining fluid and/or abscesses, placing tubes into their stomach to help with feedings, placing stents and filters to help improve blood flow, burning tumors, etc.) and define patient care (biopsies = samples that help explain what's going on with the patient).

• Work-life balance: Depending on if you choose Diagnostic Radiology, Interventional Radiology, or a mix of both, you can work from home! The world is fast paced and as a woman I am cognizant of wanting to become a mother and thus I wanted a field that was flexible where I could work part-time if I wanted and/or work from home.

How was your path becoming a radiologist?

• Undergraduate: You can major in anything as long as you have a "pre-med concentration." I was blessed to be accepted in a combined "BS/MD" program in which I majored in Bioengineering and completed 4 years of undergraduate education to earn my Bachelor's in Science. This program allowed me to skip taking the MCAT, but generally speaking, unless you are in a special program similar to this, the MCAT is taken during your 3rd and/or 4th years of undergraduate training.

• Graduate: Medical school for 4 years.

• Post-Graduate (aka Residency):1 year of Medicine/Surgery/Transitional training, followed by 4 years of Radiology training, followed by a 1-2 year subspecialty fellowship (ie. Breast Radiology, Abdominal Imaging, Nuclear Medicine, Interventional Radiology, etc.). Total = 6-7 years of postgraduate training.

Did you face any struggles being a Muslim woman in this field?

I wouldn't say I faced any particular struggles being a "Muslim," however, being a woman definitely comes with some extra work to prove yourself. Radiology is still a male-dominant field, and so is interventional radiology, but there is an increase in encouraging women to enter the field and many female radiologists have stepped up to be mentors for young women.

What’s your favorite thing about being Muslim?

That everything, literally everything you do from breathing to eating to studying to working out, if done with the right intention, brings you good deeds and brings you closer to Allah (SWT). Allah rewards us by our intentions and if our intentions are sound and we hold steadfast to our deen and our Islamic principles, Allah will guide us and ease everything for us, as long as we keep that perspective.

I'm proud to Muslim, even more so in a non-Islamic country, because we do dawah every day and by showing how beautiful Islam is in our actions and daily habits, we directly affect people's understanding and can counter false media claims.

I like being different! I like being different than everyone else and having the genuine guidance of the Quran and Sunnah. Because at the end of the day, no matter what life throws at you, if you have Allah and you genuinely believe in tawakkul and that Allah has your back, everything will be fine. No need to stress or worry, just breath in and realize that you were chosen to be Muslim, that that is the biggest blessing you will ever have.

If somebody wants to be a radiologist when they grow up, what should they do?

Shadow a radiologist! That being said, shadowing a radiologist is very different from shadowing in other specialties. You have to be engaged and ask questions, as well as ask the radiologist to let you just "figure out the puzzle." Radiology is a lot of mental work that if you are not directly engaged, you will not realize and will not benefit enough from.

Shadow other specialties and take note of all of the imaging required and how the imaging affects patient care.

Talk to radiologists and see why they chose it. Do they still like it after 10 years? 20 years? Any regrets? There is significant burn-out in the medical field and it varies from specialty to specialty, but as you talk to various physicians, you will realize that most Radiologists are pretty happy people and don't regret choosing the field.