Q: What helped you decide to keep going?
There wasn’t anything else I wanted to do with my life. I couldn’t see myself being any other kind of doctor. I could only see myself doing surgery. So, after a long discussion, I went into Dr. Efron’s lab, to focus on sepsis and critical illness research. I worked on a T32 grant. I published several papers and worked very hard. Dr. Efron is probably one of the best mentors out there. He really helped me add more to my CV, and help it reflect my clinical interests. At the end of the two years of the T32, I was able to match into UF.
They made a spot for me here, and I’m super grateful for that. They believed I could do this and be a great surgeon, and appealed on my behalf.
To review Dr. Darden’s full Q & A, please visit:
https://surgery.med.ufl.edu/2023/04/21/qa-dj-darden-general-surgery-resident/