Eman Hijab

Eman Hijab, 2022 Doctor of Medicine (MD) candidate, Emory School of Medicine, is originally from Chicago and went to the University of Michigan for undergrad where she dual majored in evolutionary anthropology and neuroscience. Emory has always been a place that is dear to Eman because when her family immigrated to America in 2001 from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, their first U.S. home was in Atlanta. Her mother did many odd jobs and research at Emory to support their family in the hopes of restarting her residency career in America. Eman’s mother began her residency in Chicago in 2003, which she largely credits to the work she did at Emory. “That’s why when I got into Emory for medical school, it felt so special, like our journey went full-circle. I ended up at the first institution that set our family – particularly my mom – up for success and allowed us to have a second chance at life in America,” says Eman.

Match Day will reveal where Eman will continue her training in internal medicine and dermatology. “I fell in love with two specialties throughout my medical school career and felt as though I could not pick just one by the time it came to interview. Therefore, I dual applied in internal medicine, dermatology and to some combined internal medicine-dermatology residency training programs,” she says. During Match Day Eman learned she matched at Duke in dermatology.

“I’d feel honored and lucky to match at any one of these places. I would be honored if I could stay at Emory, not just because it is a prestigious academic program, but because my mentors have transformed into lifelong friendships that have supported me throughout adversities I’ve faced during my time here,” says Eman.

The specialty or program will not be the most important part of Eman’s Match Day. “What is most important to me is that my parents are proud – both my mother who will be in attendance and who has been my role model and a steadfast pillar of strength for our family and my father who unexpectedly and suddenly passed away a few weeks ago. I pray he is looking over his little girl on Match Day and smiling down from above. I also hope for myself that when I look at the words on that piece of paper, I can hold my head high and be proud of myself not only for continually persevering in the face of adversity but for trying my best to represent Pakistani Muslim Americans in a very positive light. Working hard is my way to say thank you to my beautiful family – especially to my mom whose last name I took in 2014 to honor and cherish her – to commemorate the sacrifices my family made to afford me a life of opportunities. Therefore, Match Day isn’t just a celebration of me but it’s a celebration of all those that supported me along the way – including Emory – without whom, I truly wouldn’t have been able to make it this far,” says Eman.

During her time at Emory Eman’s most memorable experience has been serving for four-years as class president. She initially sought out to be class president because as a Pakistani Muslim American, she admittedly felt a bit out of place amongst her colleagues and wanted a platform where she could foster and promote unity. Being in this elected role has allowed her to facilitate meaningful relationships with both her peers and deans and taught her the importance of building trust within relationships. “Students often reached out with academic and mental health issues, and it felt humbling to be a valuable resource and of comfort to them. My classmates and deans were also there to support me, and I feel honored to have come to know them at such a meaningful level,” says Eman.

Eman received the Umoja Kwanzaa Award her first year as class president by her peers for demonstrating leadership and fostering unity. She helped pass the "Anti-Racism in Medicine" proposal which is now a MD curricular thread at Emory and has elected student representatives from each class to further promote diversity, equity and inclusion. Eman has been heavily involved in medical education and it has grown into a passion during her time in the MD program. “I got to lead a Grand Rounds on the use of ultrasound within dermatology, lead another Grand Rounds on cultural humility as part of my Discovery Phase research project, revised the first-year dermatology curriculum to include greater skin of color patient representation, was an Internal Medicine Peer Mentor and helped build a pediatric dermatology curriculum for my peers on third year rotations,” explains Eman.

Her favorite memory during clinicals was delivering a baby during Gynecology and Obstetrics rotation. “It felt empowering to know that medical students at Emory have a role to play during one of life’s most important moments. I was deeply moved by that experience. There were numerous times on other clinical rotations where I found these same sentiments holding true,” says Eman.

Eman enjoys binge watching Netflix/TV shows, playing board games (Settlers of Catan is a favorite), and writing. Her essay, “Not all heroes wear PPE: masking our unmasked heroes” was awarded a third-place prize in an essay contest by Emory’s Healthcare Innovation Program and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

Eman reflects on experiencing medical school during a pandemic. “I think COVID impacted medical education throughout the world, but I’m proud that Emory was innovative and offered electives for us to take during the height of the pandemic to minimize the impact on our education. Perhaps the most challenging part of the pandemic for us all were the sacrifices each of us made to avoid hanging out with friends or traveling to see family to minimize the spread of COVID. It was an honor to provide care to COVID patients and their families and I’m thankful that Emory afforded us numerous opportunities to be able to do so,” she says.