My Career Plan

My career plan in applied anthropology is somewhat out of the box from conventional ideas. When most think of a career in applied anthropology, their focus is typically centered around the anthropological ideas of helping people in areas of major problems with varying topics. My focus is centered on practicing medicine.

 

Medical anthropologists focus on studying health and illness in different populations, linking what is causing health disparities and certain illnesses. They also study how different populations treat them as well. On the other hand, everyone understands that physician assistants treat and diagnose patients, much like nurses and physicians. My ideal career is a blend of these two – an applied medical anthropologist and a physician assistant.

 

Though I didn’t come to this conclusion until later than most, I like to think that I always had deep roots in helping others. My dad was a firefighter, paramedic, and police officer. My mom was a disaster relief coordinator for the American Red Cross. My stepfather was a firefight and paramedic as well. I chose to go into the healthcare profession because I watched them be selfless, kind, and compassionate as I grew up. I wanted to be them when I grew up. Furthermore, as I got in my academic years at East Carolina University, I began taking anthropology courses in addition to my path in biology. These two disciplines blended the cold and hard facts of science with the warm and comforting nature of humans. Anthropology in particular taught me to put aside judgement, look at things as a whole, and to treat everyone from all walks of life as equals. I believe that this broad approach to medicine will shape me into the best medical practitioner I could be.

 

Despite my family connection to helping others, I also find that I have chosen this career path because of who I can impact, not simply how. I come from a very small rural area, where it is often difficult to seek medical attention. However, despite the healthcare industry around the area growing significantly since I was younger, it has also become quite monopolized, getting more and more expensive to the point where people are not even trying to get medical help because they can’t afford it. Because of that, I have a strong vision of practicing medicine and anthropology to make an impact on several marginalized communities, such as the rural and low low-income populations. Once I became interested in anthropology and medicine, I found myself using Paul Farmer as a role model. He was a medical anthropology and medical doctor who practiced medicine in Haiti and Rwanda, as people living in these countries are often marginalized in several ways. I have gotten the opportunity to reach many of his books that focus on how he applied his knowledge of anthropology to help civilians and other professionals understand why groups are being affected the way they are and how.

 

In addition to the courses in both biology and anthropology, I’ve held many jobs that were centered around people and interacting with them. What is even more encouraging is being able to reflect back on them and pull something anthropology related from each of them. For several years I worked as a lifeguard, observing people and listening to them. When I entered college, I took a job as a tour guide for East Carolina University and have gotten the opportunity to talk to families of all different backgrounds and share my experiences of being here. As I got older, I gravitated towards more healthcare related jobs such as being a Habilitation and Behavioral Tech for an at home health company. This allowed me to begin practicing basic healthcare procedures while getting to know people. I think each experience I have had has led me to becoming a people person. It has led me to like talking to individuals, to making them feel important and valued. Reflecting back on all my job experiences, I realize that I have long loved working with people, even before knowing what anthropology even was. I believe that this has led to me thriving in the discipline.

 

This career path is going to require several skills, especially since I am trying to blend two very different disciplines. From the medical standpoint, I will have to have the skills associated with practicing medical procedures. However, I will also have to be skilled in effective communication and teamwork. Having the background in anthropology that I do, I am also skilled in providing a holistic approach. Most of the time, when visiting any medical professional, they are more often than not thinking with a disease centered approach to medicine. This means that they are focused on the disease and how to treat it. However, I can offer both a disease centered approach as well as a patient centered one. I can empathize better with patients, understand the variety of different ways in which they are being affected while also effectively communicating what this disease is, what it is doing, and how we are going to treat it. Overall, I am not going to be able to offer a patient the exact same thing that another medical professional can, but I can, however, offer them a unique experience.

 

Upon deciding this career path, I knew that networking was going to play a key role in achieving it. I quickly established personal pages on websites like Handshake and LinkedIn. Connecting with other professionals with the same interests as me was a way to jump start my path. I got to ask questions about how professionals came to their career decision, what advice they had for someone looking to apply anthropology to medicine, along with a multitude of other questions. I also did what any other person would do during networking: making sure that I would like this career path. Another way that I have been able to network is thankfully through the Honors College and professors at East Carolina University. I have been so lucky to have the mentorship that they provide in which I have gotten to connect with professionals such as a medical ethicist, medical anthropology, and various medical professionals. Reflecting on my network strategy, I have come to realize that it is a very flexible one and is based primarily on reaching out to people through people I already know.

 

One of my key strengths for this career plan is the fact that I work effectively within a team. In the healthcare realm, working as a team is extremely important to maintain quality care for patients, prevent any medical errors, and to maintain efficiency within the field. In addition, I also work very well individually. Even within a team, it is important to make sure that everyone can do their part. I have the mindset that if every person can work proficiently as an individual, then a team can work exceptionally well together. Both of these skills also translate from the anthropology side of my career plan, as I will be more than likely working with other medical anthropologists and sharing data and results in order to better understand our research effects. Some of my other skills also include time management, problem solving, and my ability to be a leader.

 

While it tends to be easier for individuals to pick out their strengths, it is almost significantly harder to determine weaknesses. However, after some reflection, I was able to deem my tendency to be impatient as my most notable weakness. I like to get the ball rolling early and to be a quick and efficient worker, so I find myself having to slow my roll at moments. If I am to be a good leader and teammate, then I will have to make sure that I can rein myself in and work at others’ paces.

 

With the acknowledgement of my strengths and weaknesses, as well as the anthropologic knowledge I have obtained, I would make a unique addition to the medical field. Due to my anthropology background, I can provide a visual scope that many other medical practitioners cannot. I can focus on every component while also seeing the big picture, thinking holistically but also scientifically. Because of anthropology, I will be able to better understand and explain an illness’s impact on my patients, better empathize with them, and help them to view this illness or disease through their cultural lens. I have had many experiences within the health care profession to which I have already had the chance to apply anthropology. I have used my background while shadowing or at my current job to make more meaningful connections with people by treating them more like human beings and less like a case or diagnosis. Because of my background in anthropology and biology, I will be able to blend the cold and scientific world that most people view as medicine with the warm and diverse nature of anthropology.

 

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