I grew up in New York state after emigrating from Poland with my family as a little girl. Yet throughout my young adulthood, something always propelled me towards Poland. After graduating from Cornell University, and knowing I wanted to go to medical school in Europe, I applied to PUMS.
I started my medical education at PUMS in 2001 with great excitement and anticipation. And the excitement stayed for the following four years. I participated in the American Student government, where we worked to advance the four-year medical program by incorporating American-style testing and teaching standards. The governing body of the program was very dedicated all the while in implementing changes that would serve to improve the quality of training. This proactive open-minded approach continues to be one of the fundamental strengths of the English program at PUMS. I did my fourth-year clinicals at Jacobi Hospital/Albert Einstein School of Medicine in the Bronx. The four years of medical training flew-by.
I graduated from PUMS in 2005. Two days after graduation I married a Polish engineer whom I met during my studies here. Several days after the wedding, we flew to the US, where I started my Internal Medicine Residency at Wayne State University/Detroit Medical Center in Detroit, MI. I was immediately thrown into the deep water of working in an inner-city hospital. After the intensive three-year training period, I emerged confident and knowing I can work anywhere and handle almost any situation.
After residency, I moved with my family to Washington state, where I worked at Cascade Valley Hospital and Clinics, a small 30-bed hospital nestled close to the Pacific Ocean and the Cascade Mountains. I worked as an Internal Medicine physician in the clinic as well as a Hospital, admitting and paying round visits to patients on the general IM wards as well as the ICU. I enjoyed my work immensely, working with a world-class medical staff, managing conditions that in bigger cities would have been referred out to specialists. It was here that I matured as a physician.
After three years, we decided with my husband that we would return to Poland. It was not an easy decision. By this time, we had three children. My husband was ready to go back to work and in Washington, unemployment was high. We have been in Poland now for two years. My children are now starting school, my husband works for an international engineering company and I am continuing my medical education as a fellow in Clinical Toxicology in the Franciszek Raszei Poznan City Hospital.
My medical education started at PUMS. I am proud to be associated with an institution that is dedicated to the advancement of medical training of its student body.