COM Outlook Summer/Fall 2019

NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY | 15 Florida representatives who work in Washington, D.C.,” she said. “I was also driven to start conversations at the KPCOM about mental health awareness. A few years ago, new statistics about physician suicide were released. Sadly, more than 400 physicians a year are lost to suicide, including my late uncle, who was an anesthesiologist in California. Not only did I have a deeply personal reason to raise my voice, but I also wanted to ensure I was part of an ongoing conversation that so desperately needs traction today.” In addition to the aforemen- tioned activities and activism, Hazariwala takes great pride in her participation in one of the college’s medical outreach trips to Jamaica. “I had the chance to spend time with about 20 of my class- mates in rural parts of this island nation, where we provided general medical health exams and visual acuity tests,” she said. “We organ- ized clinics in small churches and schools and learned to appreciate the precious value in the medical resources we often take for granted in the United States.” With her gaze fixed on the future, Hazariwala leaves her NSU family to begin her ophthal- mology residency at Beaumont Health in Detroit, Michigan, which includes a transitional year in medicine. “My goals during and after residency are not so different than what I cur- rently try to achieve,” she said. “I would like to become involved with groups like Women in Ophthalmology and Congres- sional Advocacy Day to lobby for improved practice management outcomes for my patients and my colleagues’ patients,” she ex- plained. “In addition to patient advocacy, I would like to continue doing research in hopes of improving outcomes in those with ocular tumors.” While she embarks on her residency training with an understandable eagerness, Hazariwala also brings to her budding career a levelheaded approach to medicine. In April, her beloved cousin passed away at age 63 after fighting a losing battle with metastatic prostate cancer. “His diagnosis was made in its late stages, and the disease had pro- gressed much more aggressively than other tumors,” she said. “It was insidious and unfair. Our families held hands and prayed in the hospital for three days before he took his last breath.” Although it wasn’t her first experience with human loss, Hazariwala realized something within her had altered during the grieving process. “I recognized a change in myself, a perspective I had not known I had. Over the past two years, I have witnessed much sadness on my clinical rotations. And with each tragedy, my heart has hardened a bit further,” she admitted. “The tears do not flow as swiftly, and my hands tremor less with each death I witness,” she concluded. “However, it is the lives we can save, the diagnoses we can catch, and the treatments we can offer that make this profession an incredibly humbling journey.” Vikisha Hazariwala assists her attending neurosurgery physician during a craniotomy procedure to help release excess fluid from a patient’s brain. continued on page 16