Change of Plans Sends Aspiring Resident Down VIR Path

Change of Plans Sends Aspiring Resident Down VIR Path

When he started at Rush Medical College in Chicago, Armaan Mazra, MS, had a goal: In 2025, he would be matching into a surgical residency, possibly orthopaedic surgery.

“I joined almost every surgical Interest group I could because I didn’t have a lot of perspective on medicine, family members in medicine, or general exposure,” he said. “I went pretty gung-ho about it.”

Once he started scrubbing in to assist orthopaedic surgery procedures in his second year, his interests started to shift. He wasn’t enjoying the process.

“I was pretty open to change into a specialty that better aligned with my interests and values,” he said.

Armaan Mazra is a student at Rush Medical College.
Armaan Mazra is a student at Rush Medical College.

By his third year, he had found his new direction: vascular and interventional radiology. It was a field that he knew little about until his mother needed a VIR procedure.

The experience sent him down a different career path.

“I saw from the patient’s perspective how VIR can offer procedures to people who may not be candidates for surgery,” Armaan said. “I was moved by the hope that it offered.”

Armaan started changing course in his medical studies, leaving orthopaedic surgery behind. He soon realized that he was making the right move.

“I decided to take a VIR elective and gained exposure to the types of procedures that were available,” he said. “I found it pretty amazing, and I was inspired by all of the work that was being done and innovative procedures that were being developed every year.”

He developed an interest in medicine as an undergraduate. When Armaan was an undergraduate student at UC Santa Cruz, his father suffered medical issues prohibiting him from driving for a while. Armaan started taking his dad to appointments at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center, where he met internal medicine specialist and nephrologist, Kamyar Kamjoo, MD, who offered a chance for the college student to shadow him and serve as a scribe.

It was a big change for Armaan, who had many interests, including cooking, as a high school and college student.

“He was really inspiring,” Armaan said. “His passion for patient care helped persuade me to go into medicine.”

With his interest in medicine coming relatively late in his undergrad days, Armaan believed that he needed more experience to become better prepared to pursue a medical degree. After graduating from UC Santa Cruz, he attended the Boston University School of Medicine, where he earned a master’s in medical sciences in 2021.

He took physiology, histology, and pathology courses and performed research at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, all important steps toward becoming a qualified medical student.

“I wanted to finish my prerequisites and make myself a strong candidate to go to a medical school that aligned with his passion for service” Armaan said. “The East Coast provided me with that opportunity, and it gave me the chance to do clinical and translational research, which I hadn’t done as an undergraduate.”

Rush was his medical school choice because he wanted to pick a place that emphasized community service at its core. During his time there, he created an organization, RUSwabbed, an extension of the Gift of Life Marrow Registry.

“(RUSwabbed) helps patients with diverse ethnic backgrounds obtain bone marrow transplants because there’s a significant disparity in access,” he said. “I realized that this was a big disparity as I was creating this organization. I wanted to diminish the disparity because it’s affected my cultural background and something that I saw was an issue.”

Armaan’s past few months have been a whirlwind of applications and interviews, all in hope of landing a residency spot. He did three away rotations in the late fall to gain exposure to VIR and learn how it’s practiced at different institutions. Those visits concluded just as he was starting his interview cycle.

“The process can be stressful, but it’s also rewarding in a lot of ways,” Armaan said. “I’ve applied to programs that I thought were a good fit for me and were going to provide the type of training that I was interested in.”

Armaan has applied to programs across the country. His time in California, Boston, and Chicago broadened his horizons for an acceptable training location.

With the process winding down, he could see himself happy training at any of several programs.

“I’ve noticed that my rank list changes after each interview to some degree based off components that I found rewarding about the program,” he said. “Throughout this interview trail, I’ve tried to keep an open mind.”

Wherever he lands for residency, Armaan is motivated for what’s ahead.

“It’s exciting,” he said. “I’m preparing for a whole new journey in my life.”

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