King’s Academy invited alumnus Walid Salah ’13 back to school last week to share with students his educational and professional journey since graduating from King’s and lessons he has learned along the way. Salah was invited as the first in a series of 15 guest speakers and panel discussions lined up this year to mark the 15^th anniversary of King’s Academy.

Salah graduated from Duke University in 2017, having majored in politics, philosophy and economics, after which he worked as a researcher, dedicating much of his work to health care policy development and investigating novel pharmacotherapy and interventions for treatment resistant depression and smoking cessation. He is currently a 4^th year medical student at the University of Utah School of Medicine and plans to specialize in neurosurgery and complete a fellowship in neuropsychiatric/functional neurosurgery.

Addressing the student body, Salah shared details about his work and his passion for functional neurosurgery and how he ended up on this career path after starting out as a “fairly average student.” He also explained how being at King’s Academy, surrounded by intelligent and ambitious classmates and devoted faculty, motivated him to want to achieve more.  

“People are often surprised when they learn that I didn’t get into medical school the first time I applied,” said Salah. “Due to that failure, I found ways to improve my application and was eventually granted admission into a top medical school in the United States.”

“My accomplishments have been the result of hard work and the many failures that I encountered on the way,” said Salah. “The skillsets to accomplish these things came from the lessons I started to learn when I was sitting in the very seats you sit in today. The only limitations you have on what you can accomplish are the limitations you place on yourself. Anything and everything else can be overcome if you set your mind to it and believe in yourself.”