MomMD.com founder and mom of two, overcomes obstacles and heads off to medical school aged 33.

It wasn’t until Sethina Edwards was pregnant with her first child that she considered becoming a doctor. But with a young baby, achieving this goal seemed like an impossible dream. Finding little support for her intended career, Edwards founded MomMD (www.mommd.com) to find other mothers in medicine. MomMD now receives 70,000 web visitors per month and is an association of over 7000 women. Now, five years and another baby later, Edwards has been offered a place to study medicine. Through MomMD and her own success, she hopes to inspire others to follow their dreams.

“Many new mothers feel that their life is over after a having a baby,” says Sethina Edwards, president and founder of MomMD, LLC. “When you’re getting up throughout the night and surviving on little sleep, a new mom can’t imagine getting back to normal, let alone becoming a doctor. My story, and those of thousands on MomMD.com, shows that it is possible. It might not be easy, it may take much longer than you intend, but balancing a career in medicine with having a family is already being done by thousands of women.”

When Edwards first told people she wanted to become a doctor, most people told her she was crazy to think of such a grueling career. After contacting several medical schools in her native UK, she was encouraged not to apply because she was too old - she is now 33 years old. Undeterred, she applied and was rejected. Applying for the second time, she was offered two interviews but was unable to attend because her husband was battling cancer. On her third application, she was offered a place on a six-year course in Bristol, England – the birthplace of America’s first woman physician, Elizabeth Blackwell, M.D.

Edwards’s non-traditional path to medical school is typical of many older applicants. With financial, family or professional commitments the older applicant must also juggle life events. One MomMD member’s husband lost a limb while on deployment in Afghanistan, and another 43 year old first year medical student is fighting breast cancer during her first semester of medical school. For women like these, their challenges make them stronger and more focused on achieving their goals. Edwards is now seeking funding to pay for her degree and she hopes to sell MomMD to pay her fees. She intends to begin her studies in September 2004.

For more information on MomMD visit – www.mommd.com