For new ACEP Fellow Dr. Hina Ghory, life is a balance between family time, work, and hobbies. When she’s not in the emergency department (ED), you can find her serving at the free health clinic at her community mosque or as a volunteer physician at Camp Nejeda, a summer camp for children with Type 1 diabetes (her daughter was diagnosed when she was 13 months old).

Dr. Ghory discovered a knack for drawing and painting as a middle school student in Pakistan–a hobby that continues to bring her joy and life-balance. A realistic artist who specializes in drawing animals with chalk pastels and charcoal, Dr. Ghory likes to dedicate her artwork to her kids because, “they like to feel like they’re part of my art.” She often gifts her drawings to friends and family.

How has working on your art helped you feel more balanced during the pandemic?

I’m in my happy place when I have time to work on my art. During the pandemic, I was able to set up a better, more user-friendly space for me to do my art. I learned of some stressful information over the weekend and the best way to deal with that was to work on an art project. For me, art is a way to de-stress.

A high school teacher once told me that, those of us who like to do realistic art are not satisfied until we see whatever we‘re working on ‘take a breath.’ And that‘s something that rings very true with me. If I start a new art project, it‘s almost like I‘m really driven. I get very focused on that piece of work and I push it and push it until I actually see it really come to life. That‘s what really is very satisfying for me.

5 Fun Things with Dr. Ghory

Listening to: Bollywood music.

Reading: “How to Hug a Porcupine” by Julie Ross. It’s a book about parenting tweens.

Watching: Our whole family is watching “Merlin” these days. It‘s really nice that now that [our kids] are at an age where they are interested in watching more than just cartoons.

Treating myself with: I like to have two pieces of Godiva chocolate with chai. I make a really good chai!

Excited about: I’m really excited about my new job as medical director and getting to work with the whole hospital on different issues. Personally, we’re taking the kids to Disney World, so that’s going to be fun.