Name: Shiza Tanveer

Medical Title/Credentials: PA-S1

IG: @scrubsandshiz

School/Program: CUNY School of Medicine

Favorite Hobby: traveling, reading, trying new restaurants

Why did you choose this profession? For me, being a PA was an easy decision because I absolutely loved that I would be able to treat patients in 2 short years, change specialties at any time, and still have great work-life balance to be able to travel and focus on other hobbies outside of work while still making a difference in my patients’ lives!

Biggest Inspiration: My parents — they are first generation immigrants and have always shown me the importance of hard work, dedication, and pushing me to do anything I wanted to do. I remember attending doctor’s visits with my parents as a child and feeling the barrier between them and their providers, often due to language, which is a huge reason why I wanted to work in medicine and focus my career on working in underserved communities where I can make the most impact.

Current Passion Project: When I’m not studying for exams, I spend most of my time creating content and finding resources to help other pre-PA students (especially minorities) get into PA school on my Instagram and Tiktok (@scrubsandshiz).

Fun Fact: I can speak 5 languages — English, Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Spanish (currently learning Bangla!)

Do you have any advice for others interested in entering your field? If you have a low gpa like I did, it is still possible to get into PA school by focusing on other parts of your application to become competitive. I focused on getting tons of PCE hours and took 3 gap years to do so and don’t regret it one bit!

Any other piece of advice, motivational quote, or message you would like to share? Do not let imposter syndrome stop you from achieving your goals! Whether you’re a pre-PA thinking you aren’t good enough to apply or an incoming student thinking you aren’t smart enough to make it through — trust me if I can do it as an average student, so can you!! It’s all about hard work and dedication, don’t listen to that negative inner voice!