“I’m Christian and I believe that God places us in different phases of our lives for different reasons, and the biggest dream I have is to be able to meet my calling or my purpose.” – Dr. Nina Lum
At a very young age, Dr. Nina Lum was exposed to how life changing a career in medicine could be. Her mother is a paediatrician in her native Cameroon. Growing up Nina was familiar with the late-night knocks on their door from frantic parents with a sick child. She’d watch as her mother tended to the child, and then marvel when a few days later that child was fully back to health.
Inspired by her mother’s example, Nina decided to pursue medicine as a career. But with only one medical school in the whole country, Nina soon came face to face with crushing disappointment – she was not accepted into the Cameroonian medical school.
“You will meet and encounter difficulties. You will be restricted, and to a certain degree succumb to it, but never be oppressed by it.” – Dr. Nina Lum
Undeterred, she pursued a Plan B, and then a Plan C, and was contemplating a Plan D when she was finally accepted into medical school in the Caribbean.
Nina talks about the many challenges, but also triumphs, of her journey to becoming ‘Dr Nina’. She also shares the big dreams she has for the future, and her plans to give back to her home country.
“Coming out of residency, I made a conscious decision that I was going to prioritize my health and wellness as much as my clinical practice, because I’ve had to learn the hard way that if I didn’t take care of myself, I was never going to be able to take care of other people.” – Dr. Nina Lum
Dr. Nina also hosts a podcast called The IMG Roadmap. Her podcast is dedicated to guiding International Medical Graduates (IMGs) with success blueprints for this unique pathway, offering practical tools equipping IMGs with applicable strategies to achieve their “US doctor goals”.
