Melika Behrooz is a medical student at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine (New Jersey). She is a 2025 recipient of a STFM Foundation Medical Student Scholarship.

Melika's Family Medicine Story

I was originally born in Tehran, Iran, but moved to Jersey City, NJ, just before kindergarten and have lived there ever since (minus 4 years of undergraduate college). Even now, I commute to Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine from my own apartment in Jersey City!

I lived a few blocks from a community hospital and first volunteered there in high school. I was pre-med curious so I stuck with the pre-med track throughout college, and pursued things I enjoyed in research, public health, and urban studies. I graduated in 2017 from Barnard College and worked in clinical research at Mount Sinai and Columbia while I took (and retook) the MCAT and applied to medical school. I did not have any family members in medicine, so the years I spent in hospitals and with patients exploring my interests meant that once I was finally accepted to Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine in 2021, I was sure of my decision, and even on the most difficult days I was grateful to be there, because I knew I did not want to pursue anything else.

I would love to practice in my hometown of Jersey City, NJ. I will of course have to see where my career takes me, but I generally would like to end up in a community similar to the one that raised me, with diverse immigrant populations and working class families I can help take care of.

As I mentioned above, I did not have physicians in my own family. I was lucky to have a mentor at my school teach me about the conference, and recommend that I apply after learning about my interests. I'm so grateful to have gotten the STFM Foundation Medical Student Scholarship. I think having the chance to attend the 2025 STFM Conference on Medical Student Education will open the possibilities of what I imagine doing with my career even further.

I am 110% sold on going into family medicine. I have a strong interest in academic medicine as well, I think my decision will largely be impacted by the job market and whether I have the opportunities to do both in the near future, or at different stages of my career.

I am looking forward to connecting with the other student scholarship recipients at the 2025 STFM Conference on Medical Student Education. I know they will be an impressive group of future doctors and it will be incredible to look back on this conference when we are all in the future stages of our careers. My goal is to also learn directly from family physicians who have chosen Academic Family Medicine to be a part of their careers, and understand how they ended up on that path, and what opportunities there are for me to do the same.

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