thought the hardest part of finding a passion project would be coming up with something meaningful. It wasn’t. The hardest part has been finding ways to change PatternMD to find where it can have the most real effect. At first, it was supposed to help doctors diagnose faster. That felt like the obvious solution—reduce delay, …
Dear PatternMD
It’s difficult to think of something that could genuinely help people—and even harder to follow through with it. Ideas are easy to romanticize. You imagine the impact, the lives changed, the problems solved. But the moment you try to build something real, doubt creeps in. You start asking yourself if it’s even good enough. If …
Dear Resting Lab Face
In all honesty, my new motto entering the lab was: “Act like you give a sht.”* I would literally repeat it to myself before walking in. Not because I don’t care — I do. I genuinely love research. I love thinking deeply, solving problems, contributing to something bigger than myself. But I realized something uncomfortable: …
Dear Lab
Dear Lab, Coming into the lab, I worried I wouldn’t fit in. Girl straight out of Nigeria. New to microbiology. New to American academia. New to everything. And then I walked into a room full of Indians, other Nigerians, Pakistanis, Koreans — Christians, Muslims, Hindus, atheists. Different sexualities. Different genders. Different ages. Different stories. And …
Dear Imperfection
Dear Imperfection, As an artist, dealing with you comes with the territory. You show up in brushstrokes, uneven lines, colors that don’t blend the way I imagined. In art, imperfection can even be beautiful. But as a researcher, you terrify me. I think about the weight of getting things wrong. Not small mistakes — not …
Dear Money
Dear Money, You’re an uncomfortable topic in medicine. One people dance around, soften, or pretend doesn’t matter. But you do matter — not as the goal, but as the context. When I think about becoming a physician-scientist, I don’t imagine wealth as excess or status. I think about sustainability. Freedom. The ability to choose meaningful …
Dear MCAT
Dear MCAT, You’ve been a lot. I’ve officially started studying for you, and honestly, it’s been intense in a way I didn’t fully expect. A lot of the content feels unfamiliar, and some of it feels like I’m learning a new language all over again. But I’ve found that sticking to Anki, committing to a …
Dear Words of Wisdom
Dear Words of wisdom Some of my identity was shaped not by places or people, but by words I encountered at the exact moment I needed them. These poems didn’t demand interpretation or explanation — they simply stayed. Quietly. Steadily. Long enough to become part of me. On Purpose “The two most important days in …
Dear New Beginning,
Dear New Beginning, I came to America on my mom’s birthday — December 19th. After a long, exhausting flight, we landed in Houston relieved, hopeful, and completely overwhelmed. There were five of us and over thirteen boxes. The first challenge was simply getting everything out of the airport. The second was standing outside in the …
Dear Nigeria,
Dear Nigeria, I went back to you for many reasons. One was logistical — my green card interview date was finally released, and I had to return weeks ahead of time to prepare. Another was personal — my grandfather’s funeral was in December, and I wanted to be there. I went back hopeful, believing that …
Creating My Autobiography 