Fatima Al-Saedy

COMM 1010
Haslam

For this project, I interviewed a Radiation Oncologist and I really wanted to see if I can
still do activism majorly. I am a big person on human rights and Humanities is going to be my
major in college before going to medical school. I wanted to see if that is possible. I asked Jon
Grant, the oncologist, about medical school and education, life outside medicine, and what his
job is like. The information I got out of it has changed everything.

Medical School and Education: Medical school has this negative stigma around it and with this
interview, Dr. Grant cleared all that up. He went to UCLA medical school and they don’t have a
grading system. He said, medical school was some of his fun years. Undergrad was much harder
because you are trying to build a name for yourself. (Grant) I always thought everyone in
medical school knew what they were doing and how they wanted it done for example their future
career. I found out Dr. Grant didn’t even know what kind of doctor he wanted to be until his last
year of medical school. Another key issue I want to figure out is going out of state, my dream
school is NYU and he said he recommended me to go out of state because learning in a diverse
environment and diverse city is very eye-opening. “You will learn about problems you didn’t
know even existed.” (Grant) He even told me it is a very good idea for me not to do a science
degree. It is a big problem in our medical world right now, especially the racism going on in the
medical field right now and medical schools are not accepting as many science degrees as other
degrees.

Life outside the Medicine: Dr. Grant explained to me yes being a doctor requires a lot of hours
but as an oncologist, everything is organized and timed. You have a timed schedule and you do
things in an order you like. The more experience you have the more control you have over your
hours plus the weekends are off. (Grant) That is something I am really happy about because I
don’t want my activist side to die. I know I can be a politician and I care a lot but I really want to
change the game of cancer and the way it is treated and that goes with my morals. That shouldn't
mean I can give up other things I like talking and speaking up for.

Job: In this sector, I wanted to find out what traits a doctor should probably have and how it
deals with cancer patients. Mostly the emotional side of how the doctor is feeling and the patient.
Something Grant said was, “Cancer is not easy to say out loud just hearing give you chills there
is no perfect way to tell them but there are ways to make their life easier you are the doctor who
is going to be by their side and make sure if they slip you are ready to catch.” This really inspired
me. I don’t want to tell people bad news but bad news is bad news. I really want to be there for
my patients even if they feel like they are drowning and can’t handle the pressure.

Interview Analysis
Before starting this interview I was actually about to quit this dream but I finally got the
motivation again. I was wondering if I really want to waste my life in medical school. I found
that connection that made me want to become a doctor in the first place. I love the medical
classes I have taken but it felt like I lost my touch and this interview helped me a lot. It sounds
perfect to me. I don’t want to get married or have any kids but even if I didn't want to, I would
still have time to spend time with them.

My feedback that I received was concise which I wish there were more starting with my
negatives, some specific Dr. Grant would like to improve on is a longer introduction of myself. I
felt like it was long enough but I was trying to make sure we have enough time to do the
interview and so he can go back to his patients. One of my positives is he thought it felt like a
natural conversation which is what I tried aiming for but still professional and he thought that
too. The thing I will work on is a longer introduction of myself. I don’t like talking about myself
I would rather talk about something like random conspiracy theories and how society can be
transformed. I love talking about things I care about. I get very passionate, and it may sound like
I talk too much, but I just love sharing that stuff.