Study Story: Lieke van Gils

Watching the doctors on TV

Lieke grew up in Dongen, a small town near Breda. Several times a week she can be found in the dance school, and she also likes playing with friends in the neighbourhood. Together with her mother, she always watches series like ’24 uur in de ER’ on television, which fascinates her immensely, nothing scary about it, although her mother sometimes thought otherwise. Consequently, she has been shouting that she wants to become a doctor ever since she was little. She actually just always knew it. Her parents have always supported her in this but also looked at it step by step, very real. They kept Lieke with both feet on the ground.

 The road to Maastricht

The first step was to go to secondary school, which she succeeded in but Lieke really had to work for it; it was very different from the carefree primary school days. All the more valuable that diploma felt. Afterwards, it was a challenge on two levels; on the one hand getting enrolled and on the other hand getting the financial means together. Lieke enrolled to study medicine and immediately afterwards received an e-mail about the UM First Generation Students (FGS) Scholarship. She did not hesitate for a moment and immediately applied for the scholarship. Soon after, she received notification that she was eligible for the scholarship. She will never forget that moment, she was just making cupcakes with her best friend and college mate, which immediately came in handy. However, by then she was not (yet) accepted for medicine. So Lieke decides to study biomedical sciences for a year ‘then’. So that she can still build up her life in Maastricht and increase her chances of getting accepted next year. Fortunately, she doesn’t have to wait that long. Miraculously, someone stops in the first week of the course and Lieke can start after all. With a few detours, she ends up on the right path after all, a dream come true!

In practice

One more exam and then she finishes her Bachelor. She explains that the first two years of the study are mainly in school, but from the third year onwards students are also starting to work in the hospital. Lieke loves that and really wants more. Now she is preparing for her internships from the third year onwards. As a part-time job during her Bachelor, Lieke worked at Maastro, a top specialist radiotherapy centre for cancer patients. Here, Lieke worked as a triage operator, speaking to patients and learning to listen carefully and ask the right questions. She then provided feedback from doctor to patient. Very instructive and interesting, and the extra earnings were also welcome. During their internships, students receive a rather limited remuneration, leaving little or no time for a side job.

The real work

Lieke is eager to start her internships. She is not yet pinning down which specialism she eventually wants to focus on, but so far she has found the block on abdominal medicine (a specialism that focuses on the diagnosis, treatment and surgery of disorders in the abdominal cavity, including organs such as the stomach, intestines, liver, gallbladder, and abdominal wall) the most interesting. What she already knows for sure is that she would like to make a case for students like herself:

“I often hear; my father is also a doctor, or the sibling…but it doesn’t have to be that way. Don’t be put off, you too can become the first doctor within your family.“