Dr. Noela Mogga speaks to students at South Sudan Unite 2019 Conference about her path to medicine

Hello everyone. I am Dr. Noela Mogga.  I am a physician specializing in Anesthesiology. I live and practice in San Antonio for the past 5 years.

I knew I wanted to be a doctor since the age of 8. My mother is a nurse and at that time she worked at the Juba University Clinic. I would listen with rapture to the stories she would tell my father, and my interest further peaked when I would accompany her to the clinic. My first contact with doctors was the two different times when I dislocated my elbows, and that was when I made the decision.

I was blessed with educated parents who, upon hearing of my interest, supported me and pushed me to do my best. They saw my intelligence, and that I would always get to be among the top 5 students in primary school, and from then on always expected the best from me. When my family moved to Khartoum to escape the civil war, they placed me in Unity High School, of higher academic standard. I did not always have the discipline to study, but at that time, my father separated me from my siblings every afternoon, sending me to study.  They would check my grades, and if less than stellar, expressed disappointment.

After finishing high school a colleague of my father secured a full scholarship for me to study at the College of New Rochelle in New York. I told my counselor first that I am here to study medicine. She told me in America, students first have to go to College for 4 years, then take an exam to qualify for Medical School. I was not to be deterred. I studied hard and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a 4.2 GPA. As I mentioned in my Bio, one of the happiest days of my life was during our Awards Ceremony when I received multiple honors. Each time my mothers’ ululations filled the hall, and inside I was filled with Joy.

So getting into medical school is long and complicated, but there is a formula. You need desire, and passion. It has to come from you. You need intelligence, there are multiple exams along the way, in the end one needs the knowledge to care for patients. To clarify, it is not the genius, nor the most intelligent that succeed. Rather the ones willing to put in hard work, such as spending 8 hours a day studying for weeks leading to an exam. You need commitment. 4 years of College, 4 years of Medical School, min of 4 years of Residency :- all these add up. Lastly you need mentors. A mentor can allow you to visualize and realize your dream into reality.

I have a mentor. Dr. Velma Scantlebury is the first African American female transplant surgeon. I spent 3 summers of college in her house. Our relationship helped solidify that my dream was possible. Because I can see someone who looked like me, in that position.

I am going to take a moment and talk about my company Taste of South Sudan. In 2016 I created Taste of South Sudan in order to put in written form our stories, our recipes, our cultures. It is up to us to represent ourselves positively in the media, online, on youtube, on blogs. I want our children to be able to go to a book called Taste of South Sudan Cookbook and look up foods from their home country. That book is coming out the next year 2020.

Thank you for listening.