Empower Future Doctor with Overseas Experience

My name is Ava Hamilton. I am a rising senior at Paraclete High School, in Lancaster, CA. I have wanted to be a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon since I was 3 or 4 years old. At age 8, my Dad asked me what book I wanted to buy on a trip to Barnes & Noble at The Grove LA. I chose this book, Grey’s Anatomy.

I have always been fascinated by the heart, I drew a detailed cardiovascular system of my favorite animal, the elephant, in 4th grade.

Growing up, I would watch surgeries on YouTube growing up. The blood never bothered me. I still find it fascinating what we can do to help save lives.

My grandfather, the late Hassan Bacchus, MD gave me a 3M Littmann Stethoscope (in my favorite color, purple), when I was about 10 years old, which I wore with my lab coat to school on career day!

He also taught me how to manually take a pulse, how to look at the patient physically (their eyes, their skin, their body) and not just trusting lab results or scans to determine treatment.

Last year I was nominated as a delegate at the 2024 Congress of Future Medical Leaders in Boston, and attended last summer.

I got a part-time job, fundraised, and saved to attend the Congress.

The Congress is a three-day honors program for high-achieving high school and college students who want to become physicians (M.D.), Considered one of the most selective and prestigious opportunities available to high schoolers in the medical field, as it only accepts nominations from students with a GPA of 3.5 or higher.

Congress mentor speakers include winners of the Nobel Prize, award-winning young inventors and scientists, leaders in medicine, medical futurists, and prominent medical school deans.

At the Congress, I witnessed my first live surgical procedure, with Justin Griffin, MD - Virginia Beach, VA. - Reverse rotator cuff surgery.

I also learned about a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity, next summer, in Vietnam with FutureDocs Abroad.

FutureDocs Abroad is THE summer honors program for high school and undergraduate students who aspire to a career in the medical field.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to gain real-life experience in gross anatomy labs, operating rooms, and medical treatment rooms. Students will spend a minimum of 60 hours in the hospital and at other medical facilities.

FutureDocs Abroad puts students into an intense medical environment overseas, where every single day I will be taking part in exactly the same activities that third- and fourth-year medical students experience as they observe physicians. It allows passionate and qualified students an opportunity to experience right now what they’ve only been able to imagine!

Gross anatomy – in the anatomy lab I will be working with a professor, learning about the anatomy and proper dissection of human cadavers, and practicing those dissection techniques on full cadavers.

Observing surgery – spending hours and hours with physicians and surgeons watching surgeries, debriefing with them, and understanding exactly what life in the operating room is like.

Shadowing physicians – going out into the wards, emergency room, clinics, and spending time with physicians across dozens of specialties to truly understand what it’s like to be a doctor. Watching them interact with patients, handle real-life situations, and administering treatment.

A global view of medicine – an invaluable perspective that students may not have the chance to witness before medical school and one that is invaluable. Seeing and understanding how medicine is practiced differently and with different tools and resources in another country will give students an appreciation for medicine that simply cannot be found in the United States.

Students’ passion, commitment, focus, knowledge, and vision for what they want to do in medicine, and their determination to never give up will be secured.

FutureDocs Abroad does NOT happen in the United States because of our privacy laws and insurance regulations that restrict high school and undergraduate students being in hospitals. Experiencing “the Big 3” in the United States used to be difficult, but now it’s almost impossible.

Thank you for helping me in my journey to becoming a future pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon!