Celina Busuk, MD.

profile:

Current City: Vancouver, British Columbia

Year arrived in Canada: 2008

School(s): University of Calgary (undergrad), The University of British Columbia (MD)

Academic Programs: Medicine

Current Occupation: Medical Doctor

1. Tell us about your story, how did you come to settle for Medicine out of all the career options that were available to you?

I didn’t think much about becoming a doctor until Grade 11 in high school. I had a personal experience that sparked my passion to study medicine. My dad had a serious medical situation and we had to rush him to the hospital. At the hospital, he waited in line in a wheelchair writhing in pain while the nurses went about doing other things. I ran around from one nurse to another trying to draw their attention to my hurting father. By the time a doctor showed up to attend to him, about 3 hours had passed. Seeing my dad ignored while in pain did not sit well with me, I was livid. I resented feeling so helpless in that situation and wanted to do something about it. There and then, I decided to become a doctor. I was young and stubborn; I told the doctor that this wasn’t acceptable and that I was going to become a doctor. He said, ‘that’s great’ and gave me a wry smile before walking away.

The next day at school, I approached my chemistry teacher and shared my thoughts on wanting to become a doctor. He asked me to meet with the student career counsellor who in turned laughed about my medical school ambitions. He went ahead and gave me a long lecture on how become a doctor in Canada wasn’t easy and that I should focus on more realistic ambitions as a new immigrant. It all appeared like wishful thinking to them. Anyway, they saw my determination and listed what courses I needed to take to get on the medical school path. The rest is history.

2. What are your main success factors in your academic journey? Inherent intellectual aptitude goes without saying.

Focus. All my time and energy went into my courses. I did not pay much attention to my surroundings. Growing up, there are a lot of things and distractions happening around you as a teenager. There were obvious voices of doubt around me asking, are you sure about this doctor ambition? Strong focus and willpower got me through the academic aspect of the journey.

3. Can you tell me a bit about your career path after finishing medical school to your current role?

After graduating medical school at UBC in 2018, I was selected to do residency at Surrey Memorial Hospital in Vancouver. I am currently on track to finish in 6 months; April 2022. I am still learning a lot; it is not an easy career path. There are daily challenges that you need to overcome. First year was particularly very hard, but we have a good mentor who is very supportive. Overall, it is doable if you approach it with the same passion and dedication that got you there in the first place.

4. What are the challenges you faced trying to get to where you are today, if any?

In my UBC class of 2018, there were 50 of us and I was the only female and only black person. Given this set up, there were predictable challenges. Whenever anything to do with Africa came up, everyone would turn to me. Malaria, for example.

As a black female doctor, there are often issues with patients, especially older ones. They will look at me with a funny look of doubt and disapproval or explicitly ask me to call a doctor. It happens a lot. A LOT. For the most part, I power through it, I don’t let it bother me. But we are humans and it is very hard to ignore someone questioning your value and abilities. There are days when I would run to the bathroom and cry. These things can be very trivial but really test your emotions and mental strength.

5. What does your average workday look like?

I work on Monday to Saturday, anywhere between 12 to 18 hours a day. I get Sundays off. Some surgeries can be long, so it is hard to predict how long each day is going to go. We have administrators who prepare our daily schedules, which patients to attend to etc. As a doctor in residency, you are paired with different doctors each day. You get to learn different things based on their specialty. They sometimes fly in specialist doctors from outside the country and you get to learn from their approach and solutions to a given situation.

6. What’s something about being a doctor that would surprise the average street Joe?

I don’t think the public fully understand and appreciate the amount of effort and energy that doctors put into their work. You don’t only deal with individual patients and their sickness, you also deal with their family and loved ones. You also work to educate them to make healthy choices for the patient. You take a holistic view of the patient from a socio-economic and cultural context. Is the prescribed treatment plan economically feasible for them, do they have health insurance? Do they have a job and how does this treatment fit into their economic activity and daily life? Do they have a family and dependents? How strong is their support system?

7. Do you have a mentor? If so, how have they helped you in your academic or professional career?

I do. I have a lot of mentors. My dad is one of them. My high school teacher with whom I am still in contact with to this day has been my mentor since day 1. His name is Mr. Angel. He is someone I reach out to whenever I am going through something. He is very familiar with medical school; he went to second year of medical school before dropping out and becoming a high school teacher. Whenever I talk to him, I come away energized and confident that I can do anything. My uncle who is a lab technician in Juba has been very supportive as well.

8. What’s your favorite thing about being a doctor? In other words, what fuels your enthusiasm and helps you get out of bed on a winter Monday morning and power through an 18-hour workday?

My patients. I interact with them very well. Seeing the smiles on their faces as they come out of surgery. Or when we come out of the ER to deliver good news to anxious family members. Telling them that their dad, husband, child, mother is okay and seeing the relief on their faces is something that makes me want to go to work everyday. I feel like I am making a difference in peoples lives, giving someone a second chance to live feels good.

9. Is your racial profile helping or hindering your professional growth? That is, if race is a factor at all in your medical school journey?

I think, yes. It is helping. There are always pros and cons when it comes to race. When our people or even general African immigrants come to the hospital and see me, the first question they always ask is, where are you from? They always guess Nigeria or Ghana. Seeing them identify with me motivates me to grow as I stand for something bigger than myself. Nigerians have a hard time believing that I am not one of them. Hopefully soon, there will be more doctors from South Sudan, Uganda or Kenya so that it is not as rare it is now.

10. What do you know now that you wished you had known before you started your career?

Knowing what I know now, I should have known earlier that not everyone you meet or everyone that calls you family or relative is happy to see you succeed. Not everyone is happy. It took me this long to realize this. You want to strain and invest your time and energy on people who want to see the best version of yourself.

11. What would you do differently if you were to start over again in Canada?

I think I would surround myself with people who are ‘higher’ than me. I wouldn’t use the word smart because everyone is smart in their own way. If I had to relive my life, I would put more of my time into people who can add value to my life. I would upgrade my social circle.

12. Do you have any advice to new students planning to pursue Medicine in Canada?

We want more doctors, especially South Sudanese. There are very few of us who are doctors. Canada is a land of opportunity; you can become anything you put your mind into. You can achieve the life of your dreams if you put in the work. Nothing comes easy, you need to really, REALLY focus and put all your energy into becoming whatever you want.

My second advise to them is to first discover who they are as an individual. You must know who you are, your skillset, capabilities and limits. Know why you are here. Your purpose in Canada will drive your aspirations and effort. Knowing where you came from will guide the standards you set for yourself. There is a lot that you must sacrifice to get to where you want to get in life. It may not happen overnight, but it will be worth it when you finally get there.

My third advice is to value yourself. Know that you are important. Know that you belong here and are as capable as anybody else. Whatever you tell yourself is more important than what others say about you. We underrate ourselves and this limits our aspirations.