Newswriting + Reporting

By Mara Gonzalez

On Call Since Four

The Dream Begins

     Although there were all sorts of reasons while she was growing up that it should have been almost impossible to answer “the call” or act on her dream, at the age of five Gillian Noel was determined to be a doctor. 

Gillian doesn’t remember exactly why she came to that conclusion, but she is clear that this dream began in 1985 when her mother made the decision to come to the United States.  Her mother believed in the dream of so many immigrants, “Come to America for a better life.

With only a small brown suitcase and her two little daughters, Gillian’s mother was almost certain that leaving Kingston, Jamaica was the best choice she could make.  A small apartment full of rats in The Bronx, New York became their new home.  Her daughters didn’t think their new home compared to the two-bedroom house where they used to live because there were no more chickens to chase, no more sunshine and warm weather to enjoy all day, but her mother believed there were more dreams to be found in America and so they came. 

Now at age thirty-one, Gillian Noel is one of 16,083 black women physicians in the United States.  According to the last available statistics of the American Medical Association in 2008, there are 954,224 doctors in this country and 276,417are women. 1.75% of the total number of doctors are black and female.

Gillian is about to finish her second year as a pediatric resident at Children’s Hospital in Denver, Colorado.  She finds each day challenging, exciting, and often exhausting. Gillian works around 80 hours a week and is “On Call” every fourth day.  She is the mother of two smart, beautiful and active boys, Kiserian 7, and Nasir 4.  Gillian’s life is focused on being a good doctor but she is also an incredible mother, wife and daughter.  She and her husband work hard to be good parents and still have time for each other.

“Gillian is the only person I know that has accomplished all of her dreams,” says her proud husband Peter.  She is also one of the few people he has ever met who knew what she wanted to be from a very young age and never once veered from that course.

Going to School in The Bronx

     While Gillian and her sister were attending public school in the Bronx, her mother worked three jobs and also went to school.  She too wanted to be educated to be able to reach her own goals.  

“My mom taught me to have a dream and that dreams are achievable for the most part.”  But Gillian knew that it wasn’t always easy to follow those dreams.  

Gillian’s first experiences in school were terrible, she was only in kindergarten and she already had to deal with dead rats.  “A big ugly room full of kids and rat traps was what I called a classroom at that time.  It didn’t have any animal pictures, or posters of the alphabet, or anything that should be in a real classroom.”

At elementary school it wasn’t only rats that she had to deal, there were also cockroaches running underneath her desk.  

In spite of these creatures, Gillian always loved going to school.  She loved to learn, to do homework and to study. “I ‘ve always had good grades throughout school; my mom was always on top of checking my homework.  She made time to take care my sister and me, and always had a warm meal home cooked for us.”

Turning point

     Within three years Gillian’s mother had saved enough money so they could move to a better home. “Nothing fancy at all, still in the Bronx, but at least a clean place where rats weren’t so popular.”  Moving to a different neighborhood also meant changing schools.  Holy Rosary, a Catholic School, is where

Gillian found a better educational setting and an incredible opportunity. 

When she was in 7^th grade a friend of her mother’s made the comment, “Hey, so you said your kid is smart right? There is a program for smart kids she should apply to.”  Gillian’s mother didn’t know about scholarships or anything like that at the time, but somehow she had faith that this would be a great chance for her daughter.

Gillian explained the life-changing experience,  “Prep for Prep is a program for gifted and talented minorities. I applied for it. I filled out the application, wrote my essay, and did the PSAT.  Then they interviewed my mother, and after I got my PSAT scores I took an IQ test to get in the program.” Prep for Prep is an extremely competitive, about 700 kids apply, and only 60 have the opportunity to take advantage of the program. 

“Fortunately I was accepted, I had to attend regular school and also Prep for Prep. During the summer before 8^th grade I went to school every day from 9am to 5pm. I started reading Shakespeare and I remember how much I loved it.  In the fall I went to school on Saturday from 9am to 5pm and I began to learn advanced algebra.”

 It is clear that Gillian didn’t have any free time to play and hang out with kids her age. She was thirteen and books were her focus.  She was getting herself ready to go to a very prestigious and challenging prep school.

 “Andover was beautiful, the perfect place you could go to high school.  It has beautiful old buildings, all very well maintained.  The grass was perfectly manicured. The library was full of old and new books; I loved that smell. I loved to be surrounded by people who were nice and smart. What else could I have asked for?”  

Gillian feels blessed and lucky to have had the opportunity to go to a top school and have a great education.  She even went to Mexico to study Spanish for two months when she was in her second year of high school. Gillian didn’t have to pay for anything, and all of these opportunities happened because of her dedication and commitment to learning and to her dream of becoming a doctor.

After finishing high school she went to the University of Pennsylvania and majored in Spanish. Penn, a part of the Ivy League, is one of the best and most rigorous universities in the country.

Because of her great performance during high school and her socio-economic status, Gillian earned a scholarship for 90 percent of her tuition.  

She went to Mexico for the second time for a summer of community service.  Gillian finished a Post-Baccalaureate program in a year and a half to go to medical school.  This Post-Baccalaureate program usually takes three years to finish, but because Gillian’s dream to be a doctor was getting closer, she decided to finish faster.  

In the fall of 2005 Gillian began her first year of medical school at the University of Colorado Health Science Center.  Her dream was now closer to reality.

The Dream Realized

      It has been a long hard road, particularly these last six years of medical school and residency, raising two boys and learning to live in a new city, making all new friends. Gillian seldom complains and is still dedicated to her goal of being a doctor. 

Although she is now officially Dr. Noel, she has applied to extend her medical studies and has been accepted to a three-year fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology, which will begin in July of 2013.  She has four more years of classes and being “on call” but this is all part of her dream. 

Gillian wants to take care of children and has a special place in her heart for those little ones who have dreams of their own. While her youngest son hopes to become a movie star or a Jedi warrior, or both, her first-born has dreams of also being a doctor, although he would like to be a veterinarian, or maybe a songwriter.

Both boys are very proud of their mother and seemed to understand the importance of what she does although they miss her.  Gillian is “on call” every fourth day and she is away from home for thirty-six hours.  She works hard with her sons, together and individually on learning and teaching the importance of earning an education.  She never forgets where she came from and is grateful for all the opportunities that she has found in America.

“Prep for Prep program gave me so much that I could not explain how thankful I am to have been part of that community.” It was certainly a program that changed her life in so many different ways.  But of course this couldn’t have been possible if she didn’t have the passion and the desire to learn.  Gillian’s dedication and courage to achieve her goals is a great example that success is something real and possible for those who believe in themselves and their dreams.