UCLA Journal of Radiation Oncology Issue 4 - Flipbook - Page 13
UCLA RADIATION ONCOLOGY JOURNAL
NICKI KARIMI-MOSTOWF
Q: When did you become interested in
medicine?
every step of the way. Me getting into medical
school was as much my accomplishment
as his--he would spend hours researching
medical schools, looking at what they were
looking for in an applicant, and compiling
everything in numerous excel sheets. I can
never thank him enough for everything he
did to help me with the process. While he
himself didn’t go into medicine, it was always
something that he regretted, so when I showed
interest, he backed me full force.
N: My mom was the first person to get me
involved in medicine. She was an Iranian
foreign grad and had me around the time she
was applying to residency, so I saw so much
of the process from a young age. I would go
to work with her and sit at her multi-headed
microscope, listening to her describe slides to
me and explain what I was seeing. Her love of
medicine was a huge inspiration.
Q: Does your mom still work in medicine?
What does she think about you picking up the
baton?
Q: What do you hope to glean/gain from the
UCLA Radiation Oncology Medical Student
Preceptorship?
N: Yes, she does. In some ways, it does feel
like she is passing the baton. That said, I hope
there’s overlap between both of us being fullfledged physicians, but regardless I’ll be using
her as a guide for the rest of my life.
N: To learn more about the specialty of
Radiation Oncology and see if it’s something
that I could pursue after medical school. I’m
also excited for the two projects I’m currently
working on, as well as writing whole papers/
chapters from start to finish. The work
is challenging but will help me grow as a
scientist.
Q: How did your upbringing, if at all,
influence your education/career path?
N: More than anything, education is something
my family stressed. My parents, having come
to the US with nothing but their education,
believed that it was massively important for
their children’s future, and I agree. They never
pushed me to go into medicine; they simply
encouraged me to get a good education and
follow my interests--a career path, they said,
would follow that. And it did.
Q: What are the topics of the papers/chapters
you are writing? Do you plan on submitting
them to any journals?
N: I’m writing a paper that examines racial/
ethnic disparities in older adults pre and post
breast cancer diagnosis with respect to their
Health-Related Quality of Life. The chapter
I’m writing is a review/guide on MR-guided
radiation of the liver—a technology that has
been used more and more in the last few years
but is still a relatively novel treatment. And,
yes, I plan on submitting both for publication.
Q: You talked mom—what does your dad do
and how did that influence your trajectory?
N: My dad is a computer scientist, and while
my mom was the first to get me involved in
medicine, my dad was there encouraging me
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