Ola Hadaya: A 21-year-old physician

Ola Hadaya has always been the youngest. She started high school at 11, graduated at 15, and got her undergraduate degree from Rutgers before she turned 18. So when Hadaya graduated from medical school and became a physician at 21, entering the obstetrics and gynecology residency program at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School before turning 22 was not a big deal.

“Becoming a physician is a grueling challenge no matter what your age," said Hadaya, who grew up in Princeton and is among the youngest physicians in USA. “Being able to achieve that is my biggest accomplishment. I often forget that I am younger – skimming off a few years is just a little twist in the journey.”

The man behind the steadfast determination to propel Hadaya into a career in medicine, she said, is her Syrian-born father, a physician himself, who fostered his daughter’s passion for medicine from a young age – allowing her access to his suture kit to patch up stuffed animals she had torn during play.

While her mother, a stay-at-home mom with a mechanical engineering degree, would spend time after school teaching Hadaya advanced math and science skills and how to think analytically from the time she was about 8, it was her father who convinced school officials to allow her to skip grades and take advanced courses.

Hadaya skipped third, fifth and seventh grade and started in high school at 11. She describes herself at that time as very bookish. 

When it was time to go to college, Hadaya decided she wanted to learn more about her Syrian roots, so she majored in Middle Eastern studies and minored in biology. Since she took numerous advanced placement courses in high school, Hadaya received a year’s worth of college credits before she even started in the honors program at Rutgers.

The youngest in her class, Hadaya said she ploughed forward with her medical studies and didn’t give age much thought. Neither did those she worked with, many of whom she said were unaware of her age.

All Hadaya knew for sure, from watching throughout her childhood as her father balanced his passion for medicine with the love he had for his family, was that she couldn’t imagine pursuing any other career.

“You should never commit your life to something you aren’t passionate about because you will never be truly happy,” said Hadaya, who is fluent in both Spanish and Arabic and has a keen interest in women’s health issues.

Adapted from Rutgers Today