Maya Graves, M.S.

Current Medical School Student Specialty: (applying for residency in) general surgery

Background

Maya Graves, M.S., is a current medical student at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. She completed undergraduate school at Indiana University Bloomington where she earned her Bachelor of Science where she particularly focused on nutrition science. Ms. Graves graduated Magna Cum Laude where she was also apart of several activities and societies including the Nationals Society of Leadership and Success, participated in the Indiana University Riley Dance Marathon. She was also and Anatomy A215 Undergraduate teacher's assistant. Ms. Graves then completed graduate school at Columbia University where she earned her Masters of Science (MS) with a particular area of focus on human nutrition. As aforementioned, she is now attending the NYU Grossman School of Medicine to earn her doctorate of medicine (MD candidate). She is apart of NYU's first class of their free medical school.

Ms. Graves extracurricular experience includes being a file clerk at the Gillian Institute where she filed and organized patient charts. She was also a student intern and program coordinator for Project Healthcare and NYU Langone Heath and Bellevue Hospital center. She was also a Campus Ambassador for "Girls Helping Girls. Period." at Indiana University. Ms. Graves was also a research assistant at Weill Cornell. Ms. Graves's "conducted research and completed her Master's Thesis Project at the Weill Center for Metabolic Health and Comprehensive Weight Control Center investigating the role of carbohydrate last nutrient sequencing for the prevention or delay of type 2 onset in individuals overweight and obese.

Throughout her educational path so far Ms. Graves has earned many accolades including the Founders Scholar at Indiana University, and been admitted into the Hutton Honors College at Indiana University and the Hudson Holland Scholars Program at Indiana University. Ms. Graves is also an active member of the National Society of Leadership and Success.

More about General Surgery

"General Surgery is a discipline that requires knowledge of and responsibility for the preoperative, operative, and postoperative management of patients with a broad spectrum of disease, including those which may require nonoperative, elective, or emergency surgical treatment. The certified general surgery demonstrates broad knowledge and experiences in conditionals affecting the alimentary tract, abdomen and its contents, breast, skin, and soft tissue, endocrine system, surgical critical care, surgical oncology, and trauma."

Q&A Interview

Q: What experiences in your personal and professional life inspired your career in the medical field?

A:"I guess both of my parents have always worked in a very medicine adjacent field, so both of them were basically in pharmaceuticals. My mom did big pharma and my dad worked in drug companies and I guess they were always talking about medicine and interacting with the doctors and that kind of sparked my initial interests. Then when I was in high school I took an anatomy class and my reacher could tell I absolutely loved it and she basically recommended that summer I spent the summer at University and do a STEM and i did the STEM program and from then on when I went to undergrad that I would definitely study either biology or some biological science to prepare for medical school , and I ended up just launching from there."

Q: What sort of challenges did you face as a woman of color pursuing a career in the medical field?

A:"I think one of the biggest challenges has just been finding a role model that I guess I really identify with. I don’t know if you know but I think the stats say less than four percent of doctors are black women so that I think has been a big struggle of mine, but I don’t think its marginalized me in anyway it's just I have had to work outside of my comfort zone and to really seek out good mentors who wanted to develop a girl like me."

Q: What advice would you give to young minority girls who are interested in pursuing a career in the medical field?

A:"To absolutely go for it. Don’t feel like there is any barrier. Don't feel like there is any situation you won’t be able to figure out. Don’t feel like you won’t be supported or accepted. We need you, and patients need you, and to just get excited about medicine and try to stay excited because I recognize that it's a super super long haul but I think it's very so worth it in the end."

Q: What advice and suggestions would you give in terms of learning experiences for young girls interested in exploring the medical field and explore different areas of the medical field?

A:"Look into your own communities , the different opportunities you can have. My very first experience after the anatomy class I kind of sought out an opportunity to get into the operating room because I thought I might be interested in surgery and a local hospital in Indianapolis there were opportunities for high schoolers to go in and spend a day with a surgeon and I was paired with a gynecologists oncologist. Gynecologist focuses on reproductive cancers in women and that was the first day I was in operating room I think I was 16 years old, and now I’m basically building a career where I will spend every day of my like in the operating room so it was a really really you know Hallmark experience at so young and really shaped what I’m interested in today. So I would say just try to find as many opportunities as you can while you're young, and try to explore while your brain is still nice and fresh and able to soak up everything."

Q: Given the inherent challenges and stress involved with medical school, how do you mange and cope with the ups and downs of your career path?

A:"I think it’s important to build a community outside of medicine. Otherwise you don't have that luxury to kind of take a step back and remove yourself from your so-called job. I also would say that you’ve got to develop your own interests outside of medicine as well. I'm really into painting and exercising and those are things that I do on a regular basis that you know are ways for me to have my own wellness time."

Q: Have you decided your specialty yet? If so, can you share where you interests lie and why?

A:"Sure. I am definitely going to apply into residency in general surgery. I like that general surgery gives you a lot of opportunities past the five year residency and I liked having that open door and that ability to choose where I am going to further specialize. Right now all of my recent research work since I started med school has been the transplant team and I find transplant surgery absolutely phenomenal remarkable, and out of this world. It’s really unique in that you are taking organs from one person and putting them in someone else, and while you may not be entirely curing the disease you are dramatically improving that persons quality of life and expected life expectancy with these operations and I think my interest in transplant has kid of stemmed from background in nutrition. I know it doesn’t sound like there the most related fields of study but the kidney and the liver and the pancreas are three of the most important accessory organs to the stomach and the gastrointestinal system and just with my background knowledge and study in nutrition science and human nutrition i found that very applicable in the realm of transplant surgery, and that is where I am right now."

Q: Who is your role model and mentor?

A:"So I have a collection of mentors, and I think that something I learned is very important to have one once you are in medical school because every mentor is going to have their own unique role. You have a mentor that is going to guide you on what you should be, check in one you, and kind of play the mom and dad role. You will have a mentor who is more or less your sponsor who you may not go to the very personal things for, but that is person that when they have and opportunity for you to write a paper or for a research symposium they will promote you and get you there. I would say you will have also have those mentors that will be really real with you and talk to you about the life aspects adjacent to medicine and how your life might and answer financial questions and what, so I would say I have 3 or 4 pretty strong mentors and I think all girls wanting to go into medicine try to do that as you progress through your years."

Q: What has been your most memorable experience in med school?

A:"There’s so many. I mean truly I think the greatest experience I was really looking forward to is the white coat ceremony. It’s so symbolic. It’s the fresh start of something new. The white coat itself you're finally stepping into that role as a future physician, and I feel like just that moment, a very early one in my years, has been very memorable and one of my favorites."

Q: What would you be if you weren’t a doctor?

A:"I would 100% be a pilates or barre instructor. I think about if after, but I no I am very happy with my profession."

Q: Could you elaborate on your experience applying to med school?

A:"The application process is kind of long. I applied after my senior year of college. I decided that giving myself time outside a couple weeks after graduating undergrad to really focusing on the MCAT was very important for me so then I applied that following summer right after graduating 2018. I think I applied to sixteen or seventeen schools. I think it's important to apply broadly but to not apply that at the end of the day you would not go to, and for me I really focused on location ad where I kind of wanted to start my adult life and New York was where I wanted to be, and I was very fortunate to get into schools and now live here. "

Sources:

https://www.absurgery.org/default.jsp?aboutsurgerydefined