Member Spotlight
Afaf Osman, MD
Why did you want to become a doctor?
Dr. Osman’s desire to become a doctor came from her fascination with the human body, biology in general and wanting to take care, support and serve people. Service is very important to her, “being able to be in a field that enables me to serve people and help people and at the same time have the science and mental stimulation of being able to do science. Constantly learning and growing”. She’s always wanted a career that she finds interesting and is continuously challenging with the possibility of making an impact that will move humanity and her field forward.
Who encouraged you or mentored you on your way to becoming a doctor?
Through her premed journey, she’s had amazing college professors, shadowing physicians. “There’s always been mentors all along the way from day one”. All of them have influenced her in many different ways in various stages. Her father supported her into going to medical school as she was going to a medical school in a different country. Not a lot of women in her culture travel out the country for school, but with the support of her parents she was able to go and pursue her passion.
In what way do you think BPOU will benefit utah?
Utah has a growing black population that aspires to have physicians who represent them and share their unique life experiences. We definitely need to recruit and retain not only black physicians but also medical students to stay in Utah. Having an organization like BPOU, which focuses on recruiting and retaining students and training is very important and will hopefully increase the diversity of physicians or healthcare force in Utah in general. “Where there’s more diversity, everyone wins because there’s more representation of all backgrounds and all walks of life”. It will encourage more people to come to Utah to work and study here, recruitment of people outside of the state as well.
Previous Spotlight Members
Jessica L. Jones, MD, MSPH
When did you first know you wanted to be a doctor? Dr. Jones hadn’t answered that question in a long time, even still her answer was unwavering. Dr. Jones had
Maia Hightower, MD, MPH, MBA
Why did you want to become a doctor? Dr. Hightower’s desire to become a doctor started during college when she had received a scholarship to study abroad in Kenya, Africa. She
