McGovern, the Next Generation: Dina Nurdil
For a long time, Dina Nurdil’s life followed the same pattern. She went to work at her corporate job, came home, found barely enough time to cook dinner or exercise, and did it all again the next day.
Nothing was dramatically wrong, and that was part of the problem.
“I felt like I did not make any difference at all,” she said.
There was no single moment when she decided she should not continue. The feeling built slowly. Then something clicked.
“This is my life,” she remembered thinking. “I can take control of it.”
And she did.
Nurdil left the corporate world, returned to school for the prerequisite courses she needed to apply to medical school, and began working in a clinic as a medical assistant. The contrast was almost immediate.
“Being in the room with patients, even in a small role, I felt like I was actually helping someone directly instead of just moving numbers around on a spreadsheet,” she said. “Even if I don’t change the world, I can make a difference in one patient’s life, and that’s enough for me.”
Now a first-year student at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, Nurdil is studying for the career she chose after deciding not to settle for the one she already had.
The decision to change direction was significant, but it was not the first time she had found herself building a new life.
Nurdil moved from Azerbaijan to the United States in 2020. She arrived alone, away from her family and friends, and began adjusting to a country that felt very different from the one she had left.
Moving from Azerbaijan to Texas meant even everyday communication required an adjustment. Nurdil grew up speaking Russian and Azerbaijani and believed she already knew English when she arrived.
“Apparently, I didn’t, especially with the Texan accent,” she joked.
She found a full-time job and split her days between work and classes. Staying busy helped, but being so far from the people and places she knew was difficult.
“It was pretty hard to adjust to being by myself versus being with my family and friends,” Nurdil said.
Years later, that experience helped her recognize some of the frustration patients can feel when they are sick, uncertain, and unable to easily communicate with the people responsible for their care.
Nurdil spent time interpreting and translating for immigrant and refugee patients, including members of the Ukrainian community in Dallas. She understood what it was like to struggle to make yourself understood in an unfamiliar place.
“I was in those shoes before,” she said. “I’m sick. I don’t know what’s going on. I need somebody to help me understand. Speak my language, and if they don’t speak my language, maybe spend some time trying to understand what’s wrong.”
Those encounters gave Nurdil another reason to pursue medicine. She wants patients navigating an unfamiliar healthcare system to feel that someone is taking the time to understand them.
In total, Nurdil speaks five languages. She grew up speaking four and learned English as her fifth. Moving among them has taught her that communication involves more than translating words from one language to another.
“I think people who speak multiple languages can relate that when you speak a different language, your personality shifts a bit,” she said.
Sometimes it is her humor. Sometimes it is her tone. A comment that sounds overly direct in English may be completely ordinary in Russian. Recognizing those differences can help a physician better understand what a patient is trying to communicate.
“It’s perfectly normal to say something very straightforwardly in Russian, versus in English, you may have to be a little softer,” Nurdil said.
She hopes that awareness will help her listen without making quick assumptions. Her goal is to become a physician patients trust enough to speak honestly with, knowing she is interested in more than the diagnosis listed in their chart.
Beginning medical school has brought excitement and some fear about the work ahead. Nurdil came from a different field and knows the next few years will be demanding. This time, however, the work feels connected to something she cares about.
“On hard days, I think back to how unfulfilled I felt in my old career,” Nurdil said. “That’s usually all it takes to get me going again.”
The routine she once followed made her wonder whether the rest of her life would look the same. Deciding that it did not have to eventually brought her to medical school.
“Here I am,” she said. “At McGovern.”