In this blog post, we will look at how Pauline Chen, who is a female and an Asian, has achieved a balance between success and family while following the path of a surgeon.
I read a book about the life of surgeons by chance. The book I read was Final Exam: A Surgeon’s Reflections on Mortality, written by Pauline Chen. This book is not just about conveying medical knowledge, but also contains a deep reflection on life and death that surgeons encounter in their lives, and has been a great inspiration to many medical students and medical professionals.
Pauline Chen has an impressive academic background that would impress anyone. She received her bachelor’s degree from Harvard and graduated from the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago. After undergoing surgical training at Yale University Hospital, she has been working as a liver transplant and liver cancer specialist in the United States and around the world. Her career is literally flawless, and her achievements are highly regarded in the medical community.
However, it is not because of her impressive academic background that many people praise Pauline Chen. It is because she has achieved success as a woman and an Asian in the still-white-dominated American society that many people admire her and look up to her as a role model. Although the position of women in today’s society has improved a lot, it is only a story compared to the past, and society is still centered around men. In particular, it is even more difficult to become the number one in an area like the surgical field, where physical strength and mental strength are required at the same time. Nevertheless, Pauline Chen is overcoming these limitations and achieving outstanding results in her position.
Every female medical student has at least once wondered about her future position and role. Female doctors have to be ready to sacrifice themselves to take care of their patients, and they also have to take on the role of “mom” at home. No matter how much you need to be able to multitask, it is not easy to master both of these jobs perfectly. In that respect, Pauline Chen is a great example for many female medical students as a mother of twin daughters who has successfully balanced her career and family.
In addition, she demonstrated not only her excellent surgical skills, but also the personal qualities and deep empathy for patients that are required of a doctor. In her book, Pauline Chen says that doctors deal with life, but in reality, they often encounter death more often than life. In particular, surgeons are not only involved in saving the lives of patients, but also in the process of their final moments. In the process, doctors have come to realize the sanctity of life and have argued that they must constantly strive to protect its value.
Pauline Chen especially emphasizes that students must learn the sanctity of life from the anatomy lab. She says that medical students should be grateful to those who donated their bodies for the dissection of cadavers. This should not be a simple learning opportunity, but a process that expresses deep respect for those who have contributed to the study and development of medicine through the human body. After reading this book, I also came to sympathize with Chen’s words through the anatomy lab. In the anatomy lab, I was initially uncomfortable when I faced the body lying in front of me, but in that discomfort, I felt the value of life and a deeper sense of responsibility for it.
Chen’s experience taught me a lot, and the moments she experienced with her patients left a deep impression on me. She describes in detail the many difficulties that surgeons face and the sense of responsibility they feel for their patients. One particularly touching episode is the story of the bleeding she experienced during surgery when she was pregnant. Despite the fact that the bleeding had endangered the life of the fetus, Chen first considered the life of the patient lying on the operating table. She was treated only after the patient’s life was saved, and fortunately, she and her twin daughters were able to escape unharmed. This incident is a good example of her sense of responsibility and passion as a doctor.
I learned from Pauline Chen that the profession of a doctor cannot be completed by technical competence alone. She is so selfless that she prioritizes the lives of her patients over her own, and she demonstrates firsthand that this is the true attitude of a doctor. It is not just because of her success story that she has become a role model for many female medical students and young doctors, but also because of her humanistic and warm heart, and the dedicated doctor she is as a result of that heart.
It is not easy to succeed as an Asian woman in the United States. But Chen’s story shows that anyone with the drive and passion to succeed can become a true doctor dedicated to serving their patients. She not only teaches medical skills, but also teaches future doctors the dignity of life and the responsibility they have to their patients. Pauline Chen reminds us of the true definition of a doctor, and there is no doubt that she is that very doctor.
