Mentor Assessment #1

Hrushikesh Abdas

February 4th, 2020

Dr. Shafiq, through our various meetings, has proved to be a great source of learning

and growth, as every step that I am able to take since I secured this mentorship has been a very

influential one. Because of this, I have come to take notice of the different ideologies that Dr.

Shafiq has that helps to make him very qualified and experienced in order to direct and lead

another student. His overall knowledge of not only the specifics in Cardiology, but his business

techniques and other business management methods help to solidify him as a solid primary

source of experience. The things he has been through in his career have helped him to gain

experience and pass it onto young individuals such as myself.

While visiting Dr. Shafiq during the past week for a mentor visit, there were two main

things I was able to take away from my visit with Dr. Shafiq. Firstly, before you become a

Cardiologist, you need to be able to earn the right schooling. Originally, Dr. Shafiq wanted to

entertain the idea of becoming a computer engineer. While entering college with that intention,

he took a couple courses that would give him some experience before he hit the genuine

computer coding classes required to complete and earn his degree. While in one course, Dr.

Shafiq attempted to successfully code using a program known as “C++”. While trying hard but

eventually not meeting the requirements, Dr. Shafiq found out that the computer engineering

route may not be the thing for him. Moving forward, he shifted his focus on earning a bachelor's

degree in Chemistry. After earning it, he was not pleased with the two routes he could pursue

from there, so he decided to take the only route from there that lead to where he is now, the

Cardiology route. Taking courses to earn his certificate, he took 4 more years of specialized

training in Cardiology. In the span of 14 years, Dr. Shafiq went from an aspiring computer
engineer, to a now certified Cardiologist. In the end, this wild journey of his relayed one

message to me: do not expect to be what you aspire without attending college. Dr. Shafiq, since

our very first interview, has always emphasized to me that while it was great to figure out a

starting point for what you want to be, you need to see where your life will lead you after

experiencing the real world in college. Next, Dr. Shafiq was explaining to me the ideology

behind the schedule of a Cardiologist. Originally, Dr. Shafiq graduated college, and instead of

immediately starting his own practice, he started working for a hospital. While gaining a lot of

experience working for a hospital, Dr. Shafiq was originally satisfied with where his specialized

training had led him to. Working with other Cardiologists, Dr. Shafiq has his fair share of patients

and learned a lot from veteran Cardiologists who wanted to help him as well. While working with

these individuals, Dr. Shafiq saw a large upside to being a part of an organization of

Cardiologists, rather than working by himself. However, the weaknesses of being in such a

group started to show up more often. Being on call 24/7, even though it was not your shift, took

a toll on a Cardiologist such as Dr. Shafiq. While working your own shift, you never knew when

and why you would suddenly get called into work again to either take another doctors shift, or fill

up a spot previously vacant. Your professional life and schedule was controlled by the hospital,

who’s views may not align with yours. Also, it was fine to deal with your own patients, but the

real stress came onto Dr. Shafiq whenever he temporarily had to deal with another doctor’s

patients, as he did not always know what their condition may be. Considering these negatives,

Dr. Shafiq left the organization, and started his own practice, where he could hire his own

employees and determine his own schedule. This freedom also allowed for Dr. Shafiq to grow

as both a Cardiologist and a father. The lesson Dr. Shafiq wanted to teach me was that I need

to figure out what's best for me. While setting up a private practice might have been beneficial

for Dr. Shafiq, it may not suit me as well. That is why, when I reached that stage, Dr. Shafiq told
me to not rush my decision, and to test out different scenarios before I made my choice.

Between these two lessons, however, there is one repetitive theme: ​with every decision

comes a large amount of responsibility​. Being able to attend college, you must be

responsible and mature enough to realize where your life may really lead you, and to pursue

something you really have a passion and interest in. It is equally as important to be responsible

and mature enough to determine whether you wanted to be an independent Cardiologist, or one

part of a group. Although these examples are very specific, this theme applies to all major

decisions of your life.

While this visit didn’t focus on helping my Cardiology skills, it was supposed to be more

of a life lesson, instead of an educational one. Before learning about the specifics of Cardiology,

it is important to learn about the background, and what it takes to even train to become a

Cardiologist. However, instead of turning me down, these life lessons that I learned actually

motivated me to achieve all of these little goals in order to fulfil the biggest one of them all. If I

back down from the little aspects, it will be hard for me to maintain the bigger responsibility of

being a successful Cardiologist. In that way, I found that the advice given to me by Dr. Shafiq

has proved to be impactful on my future views as an aspiring Cardiologist. I realized that this is

something that I can’t figure out while I'm on the journey, but now itself, as I prepare for that

journey. Preparing by showing the same responsibility now while I make decisions such as what

college I want to go to, or what clubs I join, and how much effort I put into assignments is what

will lead me to gain experience as being responsible. Making these decisions responsibly

means to not just “know” what I want to do, but rather, prepare for the decision I make. For

example, gathering information and doing research on colleges such as acceptance rate,

requirements, location, and its environment will allow me to make a more educated selection of
which college I want to attend. Through this idea of making responsible choices, I hope to put

this advice into use consistently as I continue through my life.

Overall, the advice given to me by Dr. Shafiq can prove to be very impactful in the future.

Although I may have my sights set on being a Cardiologist for now, realizing the possibility that

that may not be the case in 14 years from now makes my future all the more exciting. To be

able to see the influence college has in guiding my future and how it will look motivates me even

more to give myself the highest chance to be able to succeed in my primary goal. Dr. Shafiq, as

a highly respected, talented and motivated individual has provided me with excellent instruction

thus far, and has led me to realize the various possibilities that my life may end in. By not only

being a mentor, but someone who offers to help me with whatever I need, he shows that he is a

very kind and self motivated individual. Dr. Shafiq’s words have led me to realize how much life I

have left, and has motivated me to capitalize on that.