Dr. Phillip Zazove has bean deaf for most of his life, but that never stopped him from chasing his dreams of becoming a doctor! Dr. Zazove graduated from Washington University as the third deaf American physician, knows sign language, and mostly caters to deaf and hard-of-hearing patients. His studies were hard, but he kept at it: “My clinical years there were hard, because I depend on lipreading. It was especially difficult during rounds where people didn’t face me or when I was in an operating room where everyone wore masks. I learned the material by preparing ahead of time and asking many questions after.”
But wait- there’s more! Dr. Zazove is also the Department Chair of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan, and runs a non-profit that gives scholarships to students with severe hearing loss. He credits his success to his parents: “My life has been a wonderful journey. My parents made all the difference by refusing to believe my hearing loss was an insurmountable barrier.”
Way to go, Dr. Zazove! Keep doing what you love!