The Hill News

Lately, there has been a lot of talk on Capitol Hill about student loans, with each political party proposing different ways to prevent student loan interest rates from doubling, as they are set to do this summer. As a pediatrician going into a pediatric subspecialty, I am painfully aware of the financial burden of medical education: I owe more than $350,000 in education loans, including college and a Masters in Public Health graduate degree, and  only part of that sum includes medical school. For me and so many others like me across the country, loan repayment has become an additional 30 year mortgage, and its staggering debt makes it nearly impossible to contemplate new investments like a home or college savings for my own child’s future.
 
I take on this burden because I love what I do: caring for children in some of the scariest moments of their young lives, when they visit the emergency room. I am currently pursuing a fellowship in emergency medicine ! here in DC. In this field, I can help pediatric patients in nearly every aspect of their health in the moment when they need me the most. It is exhausting, rewarding work, and I can’t imagine doing anything else.

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