Student spotlight: Akshay Patel

Akshay Patel began his journey to medicine very early. “I have a yearbook from when I was in elementary school where they asked us what we wanted to be when we were older,” he said. “Next to my name, it says ‘surgeon.’ I think I was drawn to medicine because at my doctor’s appointments, every conversation I had with him was always so caring, in a way that seemed almost parental.”

Now a member of the class of 2025, Patel plans to apply to general surgery residencies, with an eye on trauma critical care or cardiothoracic surgery. Besides his childhood dreams, his parents’ own determination helped pave his way. His father, now a business owner in Tampa, began his career selling tea on train platforms in India. From there, the family moved to Kenya, where Patel was born, and finally to the U.S. “Just seeing their perseverance and grit, I gained those characteristics myself and learned to persevere through tough times,” he said.

Patel first tested that grit when he was working as a medical scribe in 2020, just as the COVID pandemic hit. “I lived out of my car for a bit because I was scared to go back home,” he said. “After a few weeks, we all got more comfortable, but those early weeks were a rough patch. I just couldn’t find it in me to quit. I couldn’t leave them when it felt like they needed me the most.”

In looking at medical schools, Patel was interested in the Northeast. “I wanted to experience a different population,” he said. “I love the community connection that Geisinger has and how early we started being involved in the life of the community.”

His Geisinger education has had many standout moments, but his Family and Community-Centered Experience (FCCE) and his first surgical rotation made the deepest impressions.

During his FCCE, Patel was immersed in the family experience of a man with ALS. “Some of the most valuable things I’ve learned I got from being in my FCCE family’s living room eating pizza,” he said. “I was just absorbing the information, and I didn’t even need to try because it’s just so different from reading a textbook. Talking to a family and learning how a particular disease impacted them — somehow you just walk out immediately knowing how that disease works,” he said.

As for surgery, Patel is glad his 10-year-old self knew what he wanted. “When I had my first surgery rotation, it was very early on in my third year, and I was truly fascinated. I was like, ‘This is exactly what I want to do.’ Oddly, I’m very scatterbrained. I like to work on three or four things at once, and it’s only certain moments that I focus and put all my effort into just one thing. But in the OR I found, as soon as the incision was made, I was just lasered in on the patient. I was focused on and interested in the next step. Performing surgery is such a privilege. It’s something that grounds me and keeps me focused.”

His advice to incoming and current students who haven’t decided on a specialty: “Find something that encapsulates you, something that will make you look up at the clock and say, ‘Wow, it’s already lunchtime.’”