Today we’d like to introduce you to Tamia Potter
Hi Tamia, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Many of the women on both sides of my family are nurses. My mother was a nurse educator who went to different facilities, and I would go along with her and play with medical equipment and anatomy models. I then went on to do the Medical Academy at my local high school and became a certified nursing assistant. I worked full time at night and loved the patient population that had neuropathology. I shadowed neurosurgeons and fell in love with the field at the institution where I worked. I majored in chemistry at Florida A&M University, graduated with honors, and attended Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio for medical school. I matched at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in their neurosurgery program and am currently in my second year.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Pursuing medicine is always a challenging journey, but it can be particularly more challenging if you are a woman of color. The cost of medical education is relatively high, and there is no one to educate you on hidden costs such as away rotations, examination fees, and board prep when you are the first in your family to attend medical school. When you are a pre-medical student, the topic of discussion is admission, and you worry about the rest once you are in. I have had to juggle 2-3 jobs throughout medical school to support myself and ensure I had the essentials for school.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Currently I am a 2nd year neurosurgery resident. Neurosurgery includes cranial, spine, peripheral nerve, cerebrovascular, pediatric, and functional neurosurgical pathologies. Residency is an apprentice program where you learn to diagnose, operate, and manage patients with these pathologies. During residency, you can gravitate toward a subspecialty that interests you and develop specialty-specific surgical conferences and meetings. I have time to explore the different subspecialties and am still deciding. I am most proud of making it to this point in this journey. The consistency and hard work of staying focused has finally paid off and I am very blessed to have the opportunity to train at one of the greatest neurosurgery centers in the country.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
To understand that it is okay for your journey to look different from those around you. Sometimes it is terrifying, because everything that has worked for everyone else is not working for you. It is okay to be unique, it is okay to be different, but it is crucial to appreciate the differences that you have and learn how to make your own path.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/royalxpalm47_/?hl=en
- Twitter: https://x.com/pottertamia?lang=fa
Image Credits
Daryl Hill Photography
StephonX Photography
