Q&A with Dr. Amin

Sophie Baldwin, 7/8/24

• Medicine is a seven-year training program after high school

• Worked in a clinic after medical school, then was accepted to pathology subspecialty in Iran and passed the boards exam

• Repeated pathology residency in the United States at Mount Sinai and fellowship programs at Memorial Sloan Kettering and Johns Hopkins University

• At Brown University since 2011

What are your day-to-day responsibilities and typical caseload?

• Daily responsibilities vary based on the service I am in

• Attend conferences first thing in the morning

• Analyze patient material that was processed by staff and residents (e.g. extracted colons, tumor biopsies, kidneys)

  • Read the patient chart and look at cell slides with residents

  • Sometimes must make an immediate diagnosis (within twenty minutes)

  • The clinician may modify or stop surgery based on the diagnosis given

What is most exciting about your job?

• Training residents and students interested in pathology

• Teaching how to use histology to come up with a diagnosis

• I find joy in providing key diagnoses to clinicians to help cure patients

Why did you decide to pursue medicine?

• My father is a physician (pediatric immunologist) and I witnessed his passion for medicine; he became my teacher and taught me to always put patients first and always do my best

• Witnessed father grieve for patients, showing he truly cared for them

What is one moment in your career that made you appreciate medicine?

• I had a pediatric patient with a tutor who passed away; it was a sobering moment

• The patient's father later hugged me, gave me money, and was very grateful to me

If you could go back and choose a different specialty, would you? Why or why not?

• Since I had very good presentation with patients, my teachers suggested internal medicine for me

• If I could do it over again, I may have chosen a specialty that was more patient-facing (such as internal medicine)

• However, I still love pathology

What was the most difficult aspect of your journey to medicine?

• There are many scientific difficulties; there are many subjects that we do not know much about and it is difficult to explain the unknown

• We always get difficult cases, but I enjoy the challenge

• When I first had to repeat residency in the US, I thought it was a waste of time; now I would say that it is not

• There are still differences between training in America training in and Iran, and I was able to learn more as a resident in the US

How are you able to manage a work-life balance?

• Pathology has a good work-life balance

• Some specialties have less of a work-life balance luxury (such as surgery)

• I only need to stay late around once a month

• When I am in the hospital, I am dedicated to patient care; when I am at home, I am dedicated to my family

What is your advice to students interested in pursuing medicine?

• It is a long, difficult path and you must work hard

• You will be asked to do things you have never done before

• There will be many sleepless nights and gross situations (one time a patient vomited on me)

• Choose your specialty wisely and be patient

• Always seek advice; it is very valuable to learn from more experienced physicians