Many students consider the path of a doctor at least once in their lifetime. The allure of a high-paying job, career success and recognition from society are all attractive potential benefits to a lifetime career in the medical profession. However to Prerana “Preri,” Reddy, a Biological Sciences-major senior on the premed track here at CMU, the greatest allure of becoming a doctor comes from her lifetime-garnered passion for helping people.
Born and raised in Edison, New Jersey, Preri describes herself as “a determined, passionate, fun, carefree girl who strives to be a successful and compassionate doctor one day.” Eyes twinkling, this quirky, laid-back second-generation Indian-American woman says that her passion for becoming a doctor comes from an early age. “I wanted to be a doctor since the 4th grade” says Preri. “No, it wasn’t just because of my parents (they wanted me to become a lawyer)” she laughs. “I just like caring for people. I know what it’s like to feel alone and hopeless and I’ve always wanted to get rid of that feeling, for other people in despair.”
Empathy to those in need and strong desire to help others has been clear within Preri’s own life. This older sister to one younger brother says that her parent’s divorce was a sad but learning time in her life. “During that time I tried to help my brother not feel what I felt while I was growing up…but I overcame my parents divorce. I think it makes you a stronger person, to overcome those sad moments.” And with this strength Preri has focused her energies on the positive.
As director of new members to the sorority Delta Gamma, Preri has to answer to 30 new members and as a senior member helps deal with 70 girls in the sorority. She is also CMU president of Big Brothers Big Sisters, a non-profit organization that helps aid children from distressed families through mentors and volunteers. Preri is also involved in Habitat for Humanity in which she helped build a house in New Orleans. When asked about service Preri states, “I do like service, I like helping people.” This passion for service also translates into her experiences for her future medical career. She describes her time at West Penn, a school for blind children down the street from CMU. “I spent a week there being a para-educator for 6 to 7 students who were mentally and physically handicapped who were six years old and so adorable. I helped one kid learn to walk, and it was really inspiring to see how hard he was willing to work. Every time I came around him he wanted to be picked up and it just seemed like he wasn’t getting enough attention. I don’t know, it just really makes me want to be there for children.”
Preri’s experiences abroad have also shaped her perspective in using medicine to help others. As a part of Global Medical Brigades, Preri went to Tegucigalpa, Honduras during break, to help in medical care and service to the underprivileged. She recalls her experience while helping in a local doctors office. “I saw this child leaning on his mom walking into the doctors office. The boy was very skinny and small. The doctor and the mom had a conversation in Spanish and the mother started crying. After, the doctor told me the son had an incurable disease that would have been cured easily here in America, and he couldn’t even get a wheelchair there and it was very disheartening.”
She recalls another experience with a young mother. “There was this 16-year-old girl, she had two children. I went over to her and no one knew why she had come/what problem what should come in; I asked her where her pain was in Spanish, and you could she was super nervous. So I played with her child making silly faces, and then she was willing to point out where her pain was. After everything, when they were leaving, she smiled and waved to me; it was really nice to be helpful to someone, and, you know, to make a difference. You get to make that connection.”
Back here in the States, Preri describes her passion to continue service and a professional career in medicine within the US. “Health in the United States is not very good at all; or the health care system is not organized at all and can’t provide as quality healthcare as in other places. I really want to be the one to help out in rural places in America, where doctors are needed, to help people.” Even as she continues to prepare for medical school after graduating from CMU this spring, Preri prepares herself for the kind of life in the medical profession by “shadowing” doctors, following them around at work. This semester Preri has also been taking interesting classes such as Medical Ethics and Intro to Religion which surprisingly has something to do with her recent shadowing experience. “One of the patients that we were helping, was apparently in a vegetative state, and her parents refused to get her off the respirator to keep her alive. The doctors and ethics people were trying to convince the family to take her off but the father kept refusing. Four weeks later she came out of her coma. It was like a miracle story. That was last week.” Initially an atheist, Preri’s experiences so far in the medical profession have challenged her in a new respect for religion, and other’s spirituality. “For now I’m starting to explore and incorporate meditation into my days.” And so with all this work how does Preri relax? “I do yoga with the meditation and paint in my house” she says. Preri also dances hip-hop and is part of Dancer’s Symposium, having planned and choreographed dances. Fun fact about Preri? “I’ve broken my arm four times…and I help with electricity at Booth, so I know how to wire light bulbs; it’s on my resume.” What would she do if she doesn’t make it into Med School? “If I don’t get in? Don’t say that…If I don’t get in I’m going to go traveling around or something. Something cool. Go to India and learn traditional medicine. That would be pretty cool.”