Growing up as first-generation Americans in a small Mississippi town, the Patel siblings weren’t steered toward medicine from the start. Their parents—immigrants who overcame adversity and rebuilt their lives through hard work and humility—instilled a deep value for education, resilience, and giving back. When it came time to choose their own careers, medicine emerged as a natural fit, but not an inevitable path.
Today, Avani Patel, MD, is a practicing psychiatrist who owns a practice in Mississippi; Niki Patel, MD, is a fourth-year plastic surgery resident in West Virginia; and Shiv Patel, MD, a second-year internal medicine resident in Mississippi. How did these three siblings, raised under the same roof, find their way to such distinct specialties?
Each took their own path shaped not by competition, but by mutual support, honest self-reflection and, in some instances, unexpected pivots. For medical students approaching the career-shaping decision of choosing a specialty, the siblings offered five essential tips.
Make the decision your own
With the Patels all entering medicine within a 10-year window. It would have been easy to simply look at what their other siblings pursued and follow suit.
“We didn’t choose our specialties based on each other but watching each other grow and succeed definitely gave us the confidence to trust our own paths,” Dr. Niki Patel said.
There’s also the reality that what is expected of you by others may not align with your passion.
“I actually knew I wanted to do psychiatry, but I was worried about the stigma,” Dr. Avani Patel said. “If I’m being honest, a lot of my mentors and people in my life said, ‘Oh, I don’t know about that,’ especially since I live in the South. There’s this perception that if you pursue psychiatry, it says something about your stability or your mental health, and there’s concern about how respected you’ll be in the community. Honestly, the best thing someone can tell me is, “You can’t,” because then I will.”
Consider patient relationships
Dr. Shiv Patel entered medical school with an open mind about specialty paths. At different points he was considering radiology, vascular surgery and anesthesiology.
His move toward internal medicine was guided by the specialty’s focus on longitudinal patient relationships.
“You have to be able to make connections with patients because if they don’t trust you, you’re not going to get anywhere with them,” Dr. Shiv Patel said. “Another part of what makes internal medicine so special is the patients themselves. You get to talk to them, see them longitudinally, witness them at their worst and their best, and help them through that process. I think that’s what drew me to it.”
Procedural specialties can be personal
The stereotype that surgical fields are less patient-centric is one that Dr. Niki Patel has found to be misguided.
“Plastic surgery brings together everything I love about medicine: precision, creativity and the ability to make a lasting impact on someone's quality of life. Whether it’s reconstructive or aesthetic, the goal is always to restore both function and confidence. What I love most is how deeply personal and detailed the work is. It forces you to see the whole patient, not just the procedure, and to treat both their physical and emotional outcomes with equal care.”
Tough days are a key data point
In selecting a specialty, the Patel siblings discovered—often by observing each other after shifts during clerkship rotations-that real fulfillment often shows itself in how you feel after the hardest days.
For Dr. Niki Patel, the long hours and demanding surgical schedule still left her energized and satisfied—her passion for surgery was undeniable. Meanwhile, as Dr. Avani Patel debated the right path for her, her siblings couldn’t help but notice her demeanor after a psychiatry rotation.
“I never saw her coming back happier than when she came off for a psych rotation,” Dr. Shiv Patel said.…she was like, ‘I had a great day today.’” For anyone facing a specialty decision, paying attention to what leaves you fulfilled after even the toughest days can point toward your true calling.
