WHILE 12-hour weekend shifts for nurses are typical, its not common to do it while also attending medical school full-time. <\/p>\n
But thats what Mazvita Ethel Simoyi did during her first year at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, commuting every weekend to a hospital in Washington, D.C. to help pay for her education. <\/p>\n
Now set to earn her M.D. degree from UVA this month, Simoyi laughed when asked how she endured the relentless schedule of work, schoolwork and commuting. <\/p>\n
I honestly do not know how I did it, she said. Necessity makes you rise to the occasion. <\/p>\n
Lifelong Dream <\/p>\n
Simoyi knew she wanted to be a doctor from the time she was 5 or 6, when her father, Mike Simoyi, a general practitioner in Zimbabwe, brought her to his clinic to observe a tubal ligation. <\/p>\n
I stood on a stool in the operating room, looking at him make the incision, she said. <\/p>\n
As she got older, she helped direct patients at the clinic where her father worked with her mother Regina, a nurse. The time she spent there deepened her commitment to medicine. <\/p>\n
The patients [at my parents clinic] are very, very grateful for the help they receive, she said. <\/p>\n
My father is also very involved in public health, and educating people at a time when HIV and AIDS was beginning to get a lot of attention. Thats why I wanted to be a doctor so I could help people and share my knowledge with them. <\/p>\n
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See the article here:<\/p>\n
Mazvita Ethel Simoyi: Juggling 12hr shifts and med school<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" WHILE 12-hour weekend shifts for nurses are typical, its not common to do it while also attending medical school full-time. But thats what Mazvita Ethel Simoyi did during her first year at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, commuting every weekend to a hospital in Washington, D.C Continue reading