Victoria Azarov
BIO
Medical student and researcher in cancer biology at Semmelweis University (Hungary). Mother of four.
Victoria Azarov
“I was advised to hide my motherhood from the admissions committee, lest even the slightest hope of acceptance be lost.”
I come from a multicultural and multilingual Russian/English/Irish family of teachers who traveled a lot for their jobs during my childhood, so I ended up calling many places home, including China and Vietnam. I always felt like I belonged everywhere and nowhere at once, switching countries, cultures, and whole education systems every couple of years.
Those early experiences meant learning to adapt to anything and everything and approach life with an open mind, while constantly staying curious and hungry for knowledge and understanding of my ever-changing surroundings and the people within them.
Being a kind and caring soul who excelled in science in middle school, I remember being inspired by the dream of a medical education and extensively researching my options. Unfortunately, due to our nomadic lifestyle and a lack of financial support, I had to give up on that dream when graduating from high school in China, leaving me heartbroken.
Years later, I found myself living in Hungary, where I moved to be with my expat husband. For a long while, I did other things like teaching, running a business, raising our family, looking after my husband’s elderly grandparents, and completing a long-distance business degree.
It took many years and events to rebuild myself and to decide one day to uproot my family's life, jump into the unknown, and go after the dreams I always had. The few people who eventually heard about this decision did not seem to believe something like this was possible.
It took a lot of effort and courage to prepare myself for entry to Semmelweis Medical University, while still working and parenting my children in a culture I was not native to.
I was advised to hide my motherhood from the admissions committee, lest even the slightest hope of acceptance be lost.. I vowed to do no such thing. I was proud of my motherhood and spoke about it in every letter of intent and interview since.
I was also proud to be what I believed was one of the most hardworking and driven people any institution would see.
Being a mother, a natural part and a precious privilege of being a woman, cannot be a disadvantage or something to be ashamed of. If my motherhood status was going to be an obstacle in their eyes, then I did not believe it would have been the place for me anyway.
Fast forward to 2024. You’re looking at a mom of four young kids and a top-performing third-year medical student who made one of the best, most difficult, and courageous decisions of her life. Besides that, I am a dedicated student researcher from my very first year in med school, an advocate for women in STEMM, and the creator and host of a women-in-STEM interview. I am an ardent supporter of women’s roles and achievements in medicine and research, and I am always happy to offer a helping hand and some encouragement to anyone scared of pursuing their dreams.
Every day, I push the boundaries of the possibilities and roles that the world seems to assign to mothers. Every day, I do my best to prove to myself, my son, daughters, and the world that if you genuinely believe in something and put the necessary work and passion into your dreams, many seemingly impossible things become possible.
As I reflect on my journey, the most important piece of wisdom I wish to pass along to anyone needing encouragement to pursue their seemingly impossible dreams or to deal with seemingly impossible challenges is this:
If you’re scared – good, do it anyway, do it scared. Never let anyone define the limits of what you can do or who you can become. If you fall today and there are tears rolling down your cheeks, get up and try again tomorrow with a smile and a strengthened belief in yourself and your dreams. You are the creator of your own story!
Looking back on the journey from “If I don't pursue my dreams now, I will continue to forever carry the heavy burden of regret” to everything I have achieved since, I feel pride, gratitude, and hope. I couldn’t have pursued any of it without the support of my amazing family and a few very good friends. I especially owe a lot to my wonderful husband and mother-in-law who always believed in me no matter what.