Every doctor begins with a dream.
But for some, that dream is born in uncertainty — shaped by fear, driven by determination, and clarified through experience.
During his first year of medical school in Africa, Saleh Bahati had no clear path of what kind of doctor he would become.
He just knew one thing:
He was going to become a doctor.
How he would do it — and what specialty awaited him — was a mystery he would discover step by step.
The First Year: Fear, Pressure, and Possibility
The first year of medical school was a storm of ideas.
Saleh imagined himself as:
• a surgeon
• a cardiologist
• a gynecologist
Those were the roles that lived in his mind — titles that felt big and bold.
But the truth was, that first year didn’t reveal the path.
It revealed the challenge.
Sitting in an auditorium with more than 1,000 students created a constant question:
“How am I going to stand out in this crowd?”
Every day, he looked around and saw two kinds of students:
the ones who were there casually, passing time…
and the ones who were serious, focused, committed.
Being surrounded by both created a tension inside him:
he felt the fear of failing — and the fire of ambition.
He knew he would become a doctor.
But he didn’t know yet who he would become as a doctor.
The Strategy: Find the Smartest Minds
To survive that environment, Saleh made a simple decision:
find the smartest people in the room — and learn with them.
He started with the friends he came with from high school.
Then he searched the auditorium for students who asked brave questions, answered the professor clearly, and showed sharp reasoning.
He approached them — humbly and directly.
“Where are you from?”
“What did you study before this?”
“What do you want to become?”
Those conversations built study groups.
Small circles formed.
They met during the two-hour break between 12 PM and 2 PM.
That time became transformative.
They exchanged notes.
They explored difficult concepts.
They pushed each other.
Medical school became less like a competition — and more like a shared mission.
How Medical Training Works in Saleh’s Country
In the United States, medical school begins after a bachelor’s degree.
That isn’t how it worked where Saleh studied.
There, medicine was one continuous journey from Year 1 to Year 6, combining:
• mathematics
• physics
• chemistry
• biochemistry
• medical terminology
• English
• foundational sciences
Those early years felt like an extension of high school — familiar subjects, just deeper and faster.
But everything changed in Year 2.
The Moment the Passion Took Over
The second year was the shift — the moment he truly felt like a medical student.
That’s when he began learning:
• anatomy
• physiology
• pathology
• radiology
• embryology
He remembers studying how a human being forms inside the uterus — cell by cell, moment by moment — and realizing the miracle happening in front of him.
The science wasn’t abstract anymore.
It was life.
And something inside him clicked:
“This is where I’m meant to be.”
As he and his friends studied, medical terminology slipped naturally into their conversations.
They laughed using new vocabulary, tested each other, and began to think like future doctors.
He felt not just the pressure — but the passion.
Those hours, those books, those difficult concepts — they created the shift from dreaming to knowing.
That is when Saleh understood:
“I am going to become a doctor.”
Not because the path was easy.
But because the purpose was clear.
How This Journey Shapes His Care Today
The anxiety of sitting in a room with 1,000 future doctors taught Saleh something he carries into psychiatry today:
everyone needs the right environment to grow.
The students who succeeded weren’t always the smartest — they were the most determined.
They asked for help.
They studied in groups.
They shared knowledge.
They built community.
That same philosophy guides Amicus Health & Wellness today:
people don’t need to be fixed — they need support, clarity, and partnership.
Psychiatry isn’t just treating symptoms.
It’s walking beside someone as they discover who they can become.
It’s what Saleh learned in that crowded auditorium:
growth happens together.
From Dreams to Purpose
Saleh began medical school with visions of surgery, cardiology, and gynecology.
But what he found was something deeper:
the passion to understand the human mind, the human story, and the human struggle.
His journey didn’t end with one specialty — it became a calling:
to help people find their strength, their voice, and their future.
That calling led him to psychiatry.
That calling led him to Tempe.
That calling led him to build Amicus Health & Wellness — a place where patients are not judged by their symptoms, but understood by their story.
Visit Us
Amicus Health & Wellness
2111 East Baseline Road, Ste C8
Tempe, AZ 85283
Phone: (480) 809-1765
Email: info@amicushw.com
Office Hours: Monday – Saturday
8:30 AM – 5:30 PM
If you’re ready to begin your own journey, we’re here to walk it with you.