Our Interview With Dr. Ashwin K. Sabbani

Dr. Ashwin K. Sabbani is the medical director and founder of Nüvo You. He is a board-certified emergency medicine doctor.

What motivated you to pursue a career in medicine?

Job security, it’s intellectually challenging, offers good pay, and I enjoy working with people. I always had in the back of my mind I wanted to pursue business as well and am working alongside my goal of integrating business as well as medicine into my career.

What do you wish you had known about the medical school application process before you applied?

While I was in the process, a radiologist I shadowed described the process as “jumping through a series of hoops,” and once you make it through one stage, people are not looking at your previous steps nearly as much. That being said, every step is important and must be passed to proceed. While I didn’t run into too many “trick questions” during my interviews, it happens. Be prepared for them.

What was the biggest challenge that caught you off guard when you sat down to write the MCAT?

I felt this way with practice MCATs as well but the time goes very fast and the emphasis is really on reading and comprehension more so than an actual understanding of science (although a basic understanding of science concepts helps). That being said, I think the MCAT is different now than when I took it in 2008/2009.

How much work experience did you gain before applying to medical school? What opportunities did you pursue, and what helped you the most during the application process?

I probably had less than average; my job experience was primarily research-based with one or two volunteering gigs in the hospital. I also taught an MCAT class.

However, I did spend a summer working with and shadowing my aunt, who was in Anesthesia and pain management; that was very helpful to get an idea of what to expect with clinical practice. I shadowed a few different family friends, many only for one or a few days but even one-day experiences were very helpful in providing different perspectives on medicine. Overall, I would say shadowing the different specialties was very helpful in preparing myself for medical school and beyond. 

Did you have any setbacks or rejections during the med school admissions process, and what did you learn from those experiences?

I had good scores: an MCAT score of 35 and a GPA of around 3.5. However, I only had two interviews, one with Wayne State and one with the University of Michigan. I was surprised to not receive an interview with my undergrad alma mater and am still not exactly sure why. I did emphasize I had an interest in pursuing a business career and recall that Michigan State said they are focused on Primary Care. I would have applied to more schools and also modified my applications for different schools to better fit what they were looking for.

What led you to specialize in Emergency Medicine? What advice would you give to someone looking to pursue your specialty? 

I initially had my eye on the ER when I started first year because of the flexible scheduling and short residency. When I started my third year of medical school, I kept an open mind through rotations, but I still came back to the ER because of the breadth of knowledge, shift work, and collegiality between doctors as well as other ER staff. I like that you are able to treat all kinds of conditions rather than being super specialized in one area.

If someone wants to start their own practice, what does that path look like after finishing medical school?

My path was more of a hybrid path. I still work shifts in the ER in addition to overseeing the operations of our MedSpa. I only worked ER shifts for two years and then opened my Medical Spa, Nuvo You. This was interesting because it required me to learn more about alternative/nontraditional medicine and was not within my primary scope of practice (although a lot of services aligned well with ER skills). I was able to save some money and then use that to open the MedSpa, and as a result, reduce my ER shift load. I have found myself feeling less burnt out without the pressure of full-time shifts as well as having a more rewarding experience from owning my own business.

What advice would you give to someone who’s looking to start their practice today?

Opening a practice requires a lot of business acumen and knowledge that you don’t learn in med school. If possible, I would recommend trying to take some business classes while in undergrad, such as accounting, HR, finance, or marketing. I would say that marketing and HR/employee management have been the hardest parts of owning my own clinic.

My situation is somewhat different, as our MedSpa/Clinic is entirely cash pay. It streamlines the process for payment processing and clinic certification but, of course, is significantly different than a traditional clinic.

Inspira Advantage is proud to interview experts like Dr. Sabbani to help future doctors understand the challenges and rewards of a medical career. Learn more about how our experts can help you get into medical school today.