Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State
Jobs in the medical field have always been known as extremely hard professions no matter the sect; however, it is in high demand. Ohio State University has taken it upon themselves to make this profession more attainable for their students by making expansions to the Wexner hospital, allowing for more acceptance to students applying. This week The Ravine interviewed Safa Salem about her experience going to medical school at Ohio State.
A Little Bit About Safa Salem
Safa was diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma when she was five years old. She shared, “I got a life saving surgery called a thoracotomy, which is one of the largest and most invasive surgeries a person can go through, in addition to chemotherapy and immunotherapy, and so my childhood was really me in the hospital.” Safa later got her bachelors at Harvard University where she completed all her prerequisites, and went on to finish at Ohio State University’s medical school. While her own experience contributed greatly to her chosen career path, it’s not only her own experience that has pushed her to pursue medicine. She told us, “At the same time that I was being treated multiple members of my family had passed away to cancer either in Palestine or in the United States, and that was due to inadequate access to medical care. In Palestine, you can’t have access to radiation or chemo because it’s barred by the Israeli government.” The hardships both she and her family had to go through led to her wanting to give back through the medicine. She now says her job is the most rewarding one she could have chosen.
Everything Leading up to medical school
Safa explains “In order to apply[to medical school] usually you have to complete all of your pre-requirements. That’s about one year of math, one year of biology with lab, one year of biochem, one year of physics. And so you end up doing multiple of them at the same time. And you also have to take the MCAT, and then you apply and submit your entire primary essay as your primary application. And then later medical schools are able to offer you ‘secondaries’ which is another essay that you write specific to those medical schools. Then you are given interviews.” This rigorous process is something all med students have to undergo. When Safa got into Ohio State, the choice for her was obvious. “I choose to go to Ohio State for two reasons: The first that I always though I’d come back to Ohio and do my medical schooling because Ohio was where I first developed my passion for medicine. And Ohio State ended up actually giving me a really nice scholarship. So I was able to attend Ohio State for a very affordable price and medical school is extremely expensive.”
The Wexner Expansion
Ohio State has now announced the almost doubling of their Nursing program in hopes of staffing the new additions to the Wexner Hospital. The current cap on the Nursing Program is 176 students a year and will soon become 320 students each year. When the tower opens in spring of 2026 they need over 1000 employees in staff and over 100 doctors. Ohio State already has the number 1 Nursing program and they are only investing more and more.
Medicine is needed by so many, opening up jobs to help more and more patients everyday worldwide. Hopefully, Ohio State’s expansion to their hospital and programs in the medical field will help all who are in need of medicine worldwide.