Girls Become Doctors and Much More: Lessons from Dr. Olapeju Simoyan
Girls Can Become Doctors and Much More: Lessons from Dr. Olapeju Simoyan
The Multidimensional Doctor
That philosophy sits at the heart of her new book a collection of stories and reflections that expands what it means to imagine a life in healthcare. The book brings together the voices of more than sixty women physicians from around the world—clinicians who are also artists, writers, global health leaders, educators, and innovators. It is not a manifesto so much as an invitation: to think more generously about possibility.
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The Physician's Journey
A legacy of education, addiction medicine, and humanism.
About Dr. Simoyan
Dr. Simoyan knows the terrain well. An addiction medicine physician and full professor of psychiatry at Drexel University College of Medicine, she has helped build fellowship programs, served as founding faculty at new medical schools, and shaped national conversations around medical education. Along the way, she has earned recognition not only for clinical and academic excellence, but for leadership grounded in compassion and humanism—from the Arnold P. Gold Foundation’s Humanism in Medicine Award to honors from the American Association of Medical Colleges and the Family Medicine Education Consortium.
Yet her influence has never been confined to classrooms or clinics. As Founding Editor-in-Chief of Black Diamonds and Silver Linings, literary journals created within academic medical institutions, Dr. Simoyan carved out space for physicians to process their experiences through writing and art. She has long believed that reflection is not ancillary to medicine, but essential to it—and that the arts are not distractions from science, but tools for deeper understanding.
Reflecting on the Book
Girls Become Doctors and Much More reflects that belief on every page. Interwoven with Dr. Simoyan’s own journey in academic medicine are profiles of women who have built careers that resist easy categorization. Together, their stories underscore the importance of mentorship, professional networks, and global perspective. The message is both reassuring and quietly radical, especially for students standing at the edge of pre-health pathways: there is no single blueprint for becoming a doctor. There is no requirement to compress one’s interests, identities, or aspirations into a narrow mold.
Mentorship as Obligation
That same message is why Dr. Simoyan’s work aligns so naturally with Pre-Health Shadowing. When asked what drew her to participate as a PHS professional, her answer was simple and deeply intentional. She spoke about mentorship—not as an abstract ideal, but as an obligation to the next generation.
Permission to be Nonlinear
She hopes students walk away from her story feeling inspired rather than intimidated. The title of her book is not aspirational rhetoric, she explains, but a statement of fact: you can be a doctor and much more. Virtual shadowing plays a critical role in making that reality visible.
A Source of Resilience
Dr. Simoyan’s Pre-Health Shadowing session brings these ideas to life. In it, she speaks candidly about the moments that required courage and reinvention. For students wondering whether their interests are “too many,” the conversation offers something rare in pre-health spaces: permission.
Girls Become Doctors and Much More arrives at a moment when many in medicine are questioning sustainability, burnout, and the cost of rigidity. Rather than offering easy solutions, the book reframes the conversation. It suggests that creativity, reflection, and multidimensional identities are not luxuries, but sources of resilience and innovation. The future of medicine, it implies, will depend on professionals who are allowed to be whole.
For pre-health students, educators, and advisors alike, Dr. Olapeju Simoyan’s work offers a steady, affirming voice—one that insists medicine does not have to shrink you to accept you. It can, instead, grow with you.
“I hope students will be inspired and motivated to pursue their dreams and goals, and that they will realize that there is no single pathway to being a doctor or healthcare professional. As the title of my book states, you can be a 'doctor and much more!'”
Dr. Olapeju Simoyan, MD, MPH, BDS
Addiction Medicine Physician & Professor
