Future Doctor Inspired by
Real-Life Experiences

Helping people always came second nature to Colleen Birmingham, but it took a private tragedy to inspire her to focus her life’s work on public service through medicine.

“I didn’t really like science when I was a little kid,” said the 21-year-old senior from Poughkeepsie, N.Y. But at 15, when she saw her mother’s life quickly taken by breast cancer, she decided then and there to devote her life to medicine. “[When I saw] the relationship between my mother and her oncologist, I realized being a physician was more than a career path,” said Birmingham. “You really take a role in people’s lives.”

Her older siblings had moved out by the time her mother fell ill, leaving her and her father to care for her mother as she underwent chemotherapy and other treatments. Birmingham spent quite a bit of time at the hospital as well, talking with the doctors and learning the strategy and science behind her mother’s treatment. After her mother passed away, she set her sights on learning even more in medical school. “I was excited by the challenges that medicine seems to offer physicians because you’re really not doing the same thing every day,” she said.

Lured by the myriad experiences New York City has to offer and Fordham’s excellent reputation for preparing students for medical school, she decided to enroll in the University’s pre-med program. “I knew that people were being accepted from Fordham to great medical schools,” said Birmingham, who is headed to her first choice, NYU School of Medicine, in the fall. “Professors really work with you to help you with the pre-med program. I think it makes the whole program a lot easier to handle.”

She got a glimpse of what her future as a physician would offer while volunteering in an emergency room at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital in Massachusetts the summer after her freshman year. As a unit clerk, she took phone calls, transcribed diagnoses and performed a host of other administrative tasks. But most important, she got to see firsthand various aspects of medicine being practiced.

“It was almost an emotional experience,” said Birmingham, who fell in love with the fast pace of life in the ER. “It was a great position to be in because I had constant contact with the doctors and nurses. They explained why they made certain diagnoses. It really just amplified my interest in medicine.”

Keeping true to her interest in helping others, Birmingham also took part in a non-medical, yet equally important, community service experience the summer before her senior year. She and 12 other students drove cross-country to Montana to do environmental and historical restoration work as part of Fordham’s Global Outreach program, which enables students to serve communities in need throughout the world. The students restored OTL Ranch, the first ranch in Montana that would eventually be used as a facility where inner-city kids could experience a rural environment. She also volunteered at La Punte Home, the only emergency shelter and soup kitchen for hundreds of miles in rural Alamosa, Colorado. Not only did she help prepare meals, but she also did construction work at the facility. She gained valuable insight and experience during the 18-day trip, which she said was “not just a community service program, but a cultural experience.”

Starting in the fall, Birmingham’s focus will be firmly fixed on medicine. She is thinking of specializing in some area of pediatrics and has a strong desire to work in inner-city neighborhoods and hospitals.

“There is a discrepancy between the levels of care that different populations receive in our country,” said Birmingham. “I knew I wanted to be in some sort of service position early on. I just think it brings out the best in me. You want to pursue a career that puts you at your own best.”

— Keisha-Gaye Anderson

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Future Doctor Inspired by Real-Life Experiences

Future Doctor Inspired by
Real-Life Experiences