I chose neurology because I get to work with some of the least well understood diseases that create the most ignored patients. The fate of the disabled brain has EVERYTHING to do with its environment (social, economical) and I accept it as my job to help change those as well.

My career has been very short but I’ve seen a 20 year old die of fungal meningitis in the NSICU that could have been mitigated with clean needle access for IV drug use. Am I not supposed to advocate for that?

I’ve seen people admitted for their 4th or 5th stroke because they can’t afford to control their diabetes. People who cannot afford their AEDs. Dementia in people much younger than you would expect because of trauma from the systems that raised them.

And of course, the work closest to me, a wealth of patients right in my backyard who suffer from migraine, MS, or who have ignored their TIA symptoms because they have maybe own neurologist two towns over and who definitely doesn’t speak their language.

Someone once told me that neurology is about bowties and academic discussion more than healing anyone and that may be the single biggest reason why I am here to prove them wrong. If someone wants to tell me that my job isn’t to advocate for structural change, they can fight me.