Hi! My name is Suniah and I’m so excited to be at UVA for med school! I was born and raised in Rockville, MD, and now my family lives in Ashburn, VA. I graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2008 with a degree in Molecular Biology and I just finished up this past May at SUNY Albany’s School of Public Health with an MPH in Community Health.
My parents immigrated to the US in 1982 from Pakistan and India, so I grew up around a lot of immigrant families and first-generation Americans. Observing the impact of SES on health was unavoidable, and I continued to notice the gaps in access, quality, and outcomes while doing volunteer work in Nashville and health disparities research in Albany. This perspective is the major reason why I’m interested in becoming a family physician. I’m leaning towards working in a rural setting, since there is a noticeable deficit in research on minority health in rural areas that should definitely be addressed. I’m also very passionate about maternal and child health (mommies and babies!), since the health of the mother and child is integral to the health of the family unit and the community as a whole.
The Generalist Scholar’s Program has been an incredible experience and I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to participate with such wonderful faculty and students. It’s been amazing to see all the different career paths in primary care along with the enormous variety of patient populations in and around Charlottesville.