Maho, Griselda(15792575) Personal Statement

I was born and raised in a small village in Albania, with a lot of friends and cousins. My family had a
small farm and a lot of pieces of land fields all around the village. I remember enjoying the nature and its
creatures and I will spend my day with my Dad in the farm and the fields.

Also, we had a small school and very dedicated teachers. I loved going to school. I remember in middle
school I was fascinated by biology and math.

For High school we had to move in a big city, and it was the best high school in the city. It was
challenging in the beginning, but very soon I started to excel. I was a hardworking student.

Looking back into my childhood, I remember always being sick and in poor health. I had an appendix
removed, that was about to rupture, when I was 10 years old. Then, when I was 14 I had a very bad
pneumonia and had to stay for ten days in the hospital. And when I was 16 I had an allergic shock from
penicillin. So I had a big consideration for doctors. They were my saviors every time I got sick. I had a
big dream of being one of them one day and help people in bad health. After high school I applied for
university, in medicine, economics, and informatics. And I won all of them!

… But medicine was my Big Dream! I got in the only medical school that it was at that time in Albania. I
graduated in 2010 with very good results and worked for eight months as a General Physician in a rural
area. Next I applied for residency, my favorite specialty was Endocrinology and I got admitted in the
residency program. I finished one year of internal medicine rotations and three years of Endocrinology,
Diabetes and Metabolism. During the internal medicine rotations, we had 4 weeks rotations in different
departments, infection disease, internal medicine, rheumatology, pneumology, cardiology, emergency
medicine, GI, nephrology, pediatric endocrinology and surgery. I earned a lot of skills during my
residency, confidence in treating patient with multiple chronic disease, during my night shifts I was
admitting new patient to the in patient unit, treating any emergency in the ward, taking a full medical
history and completing a full physical examination. I finished residency in 2015.

In the meantime, I got married to my husband, and we had a baby girl, her name is Alisa. Also, in
Albania it was very difficult to find a job without knowing the right people. So we decided to apply for
US lottery, and we won. That same year we left our families there, and we came in the US, without
knowing anyone. It was a very big challenge for our small family. My husband had to work two or
sometimes three jobs. I started to apply for the USMLE exams, and started to study. I was eager to be a
doctor in the US. But it was difficult for my little girl too, in the middle of all that, she started regressing,
and soon got diagnosed with ASD. So I had to make a decision, I felt so guilty about my daughter
regression, I blamed myself, so I lost all that motivation to go on with my education. I paused everything
with my studies and focused on my daughter health 100%. This was until two years ago, when my
daughter was improving a lot and I felt complete again, and positive, and motivated more than ever to
continue what I started a couple of years earlier. In the meantime we got blessed with another girl, her
name is Aria. She is a big support to her sister.

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Maho, Griselda(15792575) Personal Statement

Being the mom of two joyful girls has accomplished me as a better and stronger human being and a good
doctor. I'm a flexible person, I can adapt to different kind of people and situations. I do great working in
teams, and supporting the people around me. I'm compassionate with my patients and know how to listen
very carefully to their concerns.

I passed step 1 and 2 of the USMLE, on my first attempt, March 2022 and February 2023 respectively.
Now I'm waiting for ECFMG certification, and I'm studying for step 3, which I plan to take it by
February 2024.

Thank you for reading this!

I look forward to an interview opportunity with your program representatives!

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