For Mimo

Dr. Manar K. Askar

May 27,2009

Personal Statement

Cardiology is a field where clinical competence, compassion, & sensitivity are paramount to patient care. I believe my personal strengths and experiences will allow me to succeed in the field. When applying to residency few years ago, I spent considerable amount of time attempting to give definition to my future. Now seeking a fellowship position, I again find myself clarifying my future. The same principles that characterized my desire to go to medical school still shape my professional and personal decisions; however today my thoughts are more directed in that I am focusing on a specialty, Cardiology, and more inclusive in that my interests and priorities outside the medical arena are playing an increasing larger role in my decision making process. Residency has been a wonderful opportunity. I look forward to a new challenge, that being my postgraduate training. During my Residency, I tried not only to learn the required material & do my work, but also attempted to envision myself as a career physician within the field of Cardiology. My exposure to Cardiology during last years of medical school, internship & residency, impressed upon me the diversity & uniqueness of this field. Both the breadth of disease processes it encompasses &, the opportunities for research from both clinical and basic science perspective make Cardiology an exciting career choice. Yet, the most influential quality that attracts me to Cardiology is the intimacy of patient interaction prevalent within all aspects of the field, a quality I find to be essential to be content and satisfied with a career. The Cardiologist , whether in general practice or a subspecialty field, often works with patients when they are physically and emotionally most vulnerable. These individuals may include among others, the atrial fibrillation patient, the gentleman recently diagnosed with a myocardial infarct, & the family of an acute heart failure patient at the ER. My vision to pursue Cardiology came into sharp focus in medical school. After my first exposure to the CCU, I realized the structure, team work, and the challenge of the various conditions. All of that & more had sparked an interest in me. I jumped at the opportunities to do everything for cardiac patients, from reading the EKG, studying their medications, attending echoCardiography unit, & cardiac cath. procedures. This focus grew during my internship & residency, & gave me the title of Cardiologist starting my R1, as my interest became relevant to all, as I started reading Cardiology books, & presenting from Cardiology journals, so I became the interns & juniors residents side consultant on EKGs & other cardiac inquiries. This influenced me more, as it influenced my attending Doctors, especially the Cardiologist, who encouraged me to pursue my dream, once they believed in my capabilities & interests.

Dr. Manar K. Askar

May 27,2009

I realize that interest alone is not enough, and Cardiologists are trained, not born, & that Cardiology is one of the toughest & most competitive fields in medicine. I am a very hard working individual; I always set high standards for myself, and am most critical of my own work. Aside from possessing the qualities required of an aspiring Cardiologist, I believe that I have the necessary measure of desire to become not just a good Cardiologist, but an excellent one. I am from the kind who organizes everything, concentrates much on his work, aims high, treys his best always, succeeds with extinction, & never get tired. I have been from the top students at my medical school, never missed a lecture, or failed an exam, never attended a morning round late, or left an undone job, worked duties lasting 72 hours covering the whole hospital without sleeping, & I never nagged. I love medicine, more than anything else in my life, & I wish that my coming years will be dedicated for Cardiology. I finished a 1 year work on a heart failure study Just 2 weeks ago, & the article is in the process of application to different journals, I finished also a month of elective Cardiology at AUB 3 months ago, & achieved high on all my in-service exams, including the ACP & the Arab board, so that I am running for the elections of the best chief resident at MGH in the mean time. My choice for Hammoud Hospital University Medical Center fellowship is based on a multitude of factors, concluded during my internship there few years ago, in comparison to other Hospitals, and the feedback of fellows from different hospitals, which make me sure that Hammoud Hospital University Medical Center is an excellent place for me, to achieve my dream in being an excellent Cardiologist, and this is based mainly on the high quality Cardiologists, Hospital tremendous load as a referral center, & its affiliation to my Medical school. Finally, I would like to say that I am placing a great deal on my acceptance for this fellowship at Hammoud Hospital, wishing that this will occur, and I will be a source of proud to my teachers and to the whole institute in the future. To me, this is a dream I achieve, in most of my life. Thank you. Date: May 27, 2009 Name: Manar K. Askar, MD Signature: