BY DAVID JONES AND J. DANIEL DURAN

Rizwana Fareeduddin, M.D. (’01)

Coming from a family of doctors, Rizwana Fareeduddin, M.D. (’01) had many role models to look up to. However, it was her great aunt who provided her with a source of inspiration and support.

“My great aunt was an OB/GYN when she came to this country,” Fareeduddin explains. “She didn’t have any family here; she raised five sons and had a full-time OB/GYN practice.”

Fareeduddin completed her residency at Providence Hospital in Detroit and a fellowship in Maternal Fetal Medicine at the prestigious Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She is now back at Providence, serving as an attending physician in Maternal Fetal Medicine.

“People in the hallways always assume you are a nurse or part of the medical staff. I think people still aren’t used to the fact that young women can be physicians.”

In addition, Fareeduddin said she has experienced discrimination because she is a foreign medical graduate when applying to residencies and fellowships, saying people have told her that her grades are higher than most U.S. graduates, but that they rarely allow foreign medical students into their programs. However, she says she doesn’t regret anything.

“I think it’s normal to have days when you feel like, ‘What am I doing this for?’” Fareeduddin advises. “Then there are days when you say, ‘Wow, this is amazing. This is why I do this.’”

She recommends to all those thinking of pursuing a career in medicine to really think about what they want to do. She insists doctors have to sacrifice a large part of their lives, time and self. A medical career is too much of a financial, physical, emotional and mental investment to have any second guesses.

“It is such a joy and privilege to do what we do, and we should never take that trust for granted.”