Photo Credit: Shutterstock Haute MD Experts share why they became a doctor by highlighting an integral and influential moment in their lives that led them to choose this career. Here’s what they had to say:

Dr. Bankole Johnson | Medical Sanctuary Expert | Miami/Fort Lauderdale

I was not naturally attracted to medicine as my love was for the arts and literature. My father did, however, see the scientist and mathematician in me, which I had studied mostly on my own, and at the young age of 17 years when I was studying languages at the Catholic University in Paris, my mother came to get me and escorted me to the University of Glasgow to do medicine. The University of Glasgow is presently the finest medical school in Europe and was where my father and his brother had studied medicine. Over the years, I have blended the arts with medicine, and that combination has led to the development and promulgation of the world-class Privée Clinics (https://privee-clinics.com), which combines the highest science with natural and holistic forces, to optimize brain wellness, health, and beauty.

Dr. Brian A. Levine | Fertility Expert | New York

When I was four years old, I asked my pediatrician why he needed a stethoscope to listen to my chest. He explained that the stethoscope was a special medical tool that helps doctors hear very quiet things, like the sounds of the heart. Determined to hear “things” that my friends couldn’t hear, I instructed my parents that for my fifth birthday I only wanted a “real” stethoscope so I could examine and monitor my stuffed animals (and living friends). As the years went by, my medical curiosity developed, and by my early adolescence, I had already alerted my friends, family, and teachers that I was going to be a physician, and that it was going to take a “really long time!” I fell in love with medical television shows like (the original) ER, Popular Science magazine, and day-dreamed of becoming Doogie Howser, M.D.

Throughout my teens, I found that science classes piqued my intellectual curiosity and that they were relatively “easy” since I thoroughly enjoyed the subject matter. My weekends were spent volunteering at a local hospital on Long Island where I was able to shadow doctors and see how the science translated into medicine and how that helped people get better; most of the time.

As I grew chronologically, my budding passion for a career in medicine grew from an interest to aspiration, and by the time I matriculated at NYU School of Medicine, I felt that the 20+ prior years of germinating medical curiosity had finally blossomed; I was truly in my element.

As I fondly reflect back upon my first foray into medicine, I am truly humbled by my own path and honored to be able to help my patients. In short, I love my job and how I got here!

Dr. Vineet Sandhu | Concierge Medicine Expert | New York

I knew I wanted to become a doctor in college when I volunteered at Mother Teresa’s pediatric clinic for the “dead, dying, and destitute” in Calcutta, India. I saw firsthand how it saved many lives but how unorganized it was given the lack of resources. There were no designated physicians, cabinets filled with multiple donated medications, and people were passing from treatable conditions. Yet still, the children and young adults were happy, smiling, and grateful.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Dr. Sandhu