As a Black woman growing up in the South, there were few role models for how to become a physician. However, seeing my grandmother’s struggles with Lupus and my mom’s experiences during her abusive relationship with my father gave me plenty of exposure to what it is like to be a patient of color: A vulnerable experience of facing difficult circumstances and fearing for your health. I still often wonder whether a more attentive healthcare provider would have diagnosed the sepsis that ultimately killed my grandmother during her final year of life. Her death gave me a bleak look at how our healthcare system often fails older people--especially those who look like I do. Though I have wanted to be a physician since I was young, that experience reinforced the important role physicians of color play in promoting health equity in vulnerable communities and continues to motivate me to pursue a career in medicine. I aspire to facilitate improvements in the health of our society by starting at the individual level because I can make direct connections with people and see tangible results. I believe firmly that my commitment to excellence, high moral standard, leadership, and community involvement will enable me to become a competent and caring physician. After college, I became an AmeriCorps service member at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Working at Grady felt like a full-circle moment—it was the hospital where my grandmother was treated for lupus flares and the looming landmark that I passed every day on my way home from school. My personal and AmeriCorps experience at Grady has molded me into a patient advocate that manages emergent situations with empathy. It has informed how I address patients, family members, and healthcare providers. Most importantly, it reinforced how important healthcare workforce diversity is to the progress of underserved individuals within our healthcare system. As a physician, I aim to help break the cycle of poor health outcomes that plague marginalized individuals. By using my future expertise in medicine and emotional intelligence, I will help facilitate my patients’ involvement in the management of their own health conditions. Though this will be challenging, I remain excited by the prospect of promoting advancements in communities that have been ignored historically. My personal, educational, and professional experiences make me confident in my ability to be a dynamic healthcare provider. Over the next ten years, my career goal is to break down the barriers to health equity that impact underserved individuals. In the future, I want to remain in academic medicine as a teaching physician, in order to mentor students of color and provide colleagues and institutions with opportunities for improvement. I will also be there to support my peers if I notice that they are having a tough time. As a physician, I will understand that my patients are more than just their medical record numbers, that they are people first and that they deserve respect. Though I know it will not always be easy, I am excited to continue to make a difference and become the person that people, like my mom and Granny, can depend on to ensure that they leave the hospital with their health, identity, and dignity intact.

As a Black woman growing up in the South, there were few role models for how to become a physician. However, seeing my grandmother’s struggles with Lupus and my mom’s experiences during her abusive relationship with my father gave me plenty of exposure to what it is like to be a patient of color: A vulnerable experience of facing difficult circumstances and fearing for your health. I still often wonder whether a more attentive healthcare provider would have diagnosed the sepsis that ultimately killed my grandmother during her final year of life. Her death gave me a bleak look at how our healthcare system often fails older people--especially those who look like I do. Though I have wanted to be a physician since I was young, that experience reinforced the important role physicians of color play in promoting health equity in vulnerable communities and continues to motivate me to pursue a career in medicine. I aspire to facilitate improvements in the health of our society by starting at the individual level because I can make direct connections with people and see tangible results. From 2019 to 2020, I served on the front lines as an AmeriCorps Service Member and discovered my passion for addressing the health inequities that disproportionately affect elderly, underserved communities. Before the pandemic, I served as a Community Care Coordinator at Grady Memorial Hospital and interviewed uninsured patients about how their discharge processes could be improved. Further, I collaborated with social workers to create a food delivery program for diabetic patients to reduce their emergency department utilization. Additionally, I passed out fresh groceries to food-insecure patients in a Spanish-speaking community in Atlanta. Throughout the pandemic, I worked as the Hospital-to-Home Program Liaison at Grady and connected homeless individuals with stable housing resources. I also worked as a Service Coordinator for senior citizens at the Lakewood Christian Manor Senior Community, where I successfully planned a community-wide COVID-19 testing event that serviced 320 people and a virtual town hall event that featured a physician for the community. After my AmeriCorps contract concluded in August 2020, I started to work as the Service Coordinator for an affordable housing community in the metro-Atlanta area where I helped senior citizens cope with social isolation during the pandemic. Through this role I created 85 care packages for the senior citizens in the community and I created a budget to allocate funds toward free meal deliveries for the community. I know the stakes are high and I am committed to the fight to eliminate the health disparities within our society. Through my innovative ideas and commitment to excellence, I can influence generations of individuals and open doors that would be closed to them because of chronic illnesses on families. I want to use my role as a physician to help level the playing field and provide under-resourced communities with the opportunity to be as successful as possible. Through my experiences with public health and social advocacy, I have developed the drive and determination needed to be a physician that is ready to break the cycle of poor health outcomes that plague underserved communities.  My career goal is to break down the barriers to health equity that impact underserved individuals by pursuing a career as a physician. Though I know it will not always be easy, I am excited to continue to make a difference and become the person that people can depend on to ensure that they leave the hospital with their health, identity, and dignity intact.

As the service coordinator for the Lakewood Christian Manor community, I work to connect seniors with resources to help them cope while social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. While conducting outreach calls, many of the residents expressed to me that they wished to be tested for the virus and that they felt mistreated by the manager of the site. I contacted my supervisor (who is not the manager) and conveyed the residents’ concerns. She immediately scheduled a meeting to discuss the matter with me and the manager. During the call, the manager became very defensive and opposed my ideas about ways to improve the residents’ experiences—such as hosting a testing event and a virtual town hall featuring a physician. After the conversation, I spent time reflecting on what I could have done differently--perhaps if I approached her directly with my concerns and understood what her barriers and constraints were, we could have found common ground and decided on a course of action together. I needed help on navigating my way forward: How could I advocate for the residents but also avoid further offending the manager? I reached out to my mentors for advice about what I should do next. They supported my approach and offered guidance on the best way to communicate my ideas. I started to observe the working style of the manager and learned how to collaborate with her more effectively. In the end, I facilitated the development of both of the events, and we ended up servicing 320 people. These experiences taught me how to manage up: Sometimes I will work with a team where I am a junior member, so it will be important to share my ideas in a way that promotes mutual respect and team cohesion in order to achieve the best outcome.

As the service coordinator for the Lakewood Christian Manor community, I work to connect seniors with resources to help them cope while social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. While conducting outreach calls, many of the residents expressed to me that they wished to be tested for the virus and that they felt mistreated by the manager of the site. I contacted my supervisor (who is not the manager) and conveyed the residents’ concerns. She immediately scheduled a meeting to discuss the matter with me and the manager. During the call, the manager became very defensive and opposed my ideas about ways to improve the residents’ experiences—such as hosting a testing event and a virtual town hall featuring a physician. After the conversation, I spent time reflecting on what I could have done differently--perhaps if I approached her directly with my concerns and understood what her barriers and constraints were, we could have found common ground and decided on a course of action together. I needed help on navigating my way forward: How could I advocate for the residents but also avoid further offending the manager? I reached out to my mentors for advice about what I should do next. They supported my approach and offered guidance on the best way to communicate my ideas. I started to observe the working style of the manager and learned how to collaborate with her more effectively. In the end, I facilitated the development of both of the events, and we ended up servicing 320 people. These experiences taught me how to manage up: Sometimes I will work with a team where I am a junior member, so it will be important to share my ideas in a way that promotes mutual respect and team cohesion in order to achieve the best outcome.

As a Black woman growing up in the South, there were few role models for how to become a physician. However, seeing my grandmother’s struggles with Lupus and my mom’s experiences during her abusive relationship with my father gave me plenty of exposure to what it is like to be a patient of color: A vulnerable experience of facing difficult circumstances and fearing for your health. I still often wonder whether a more attentive healthcare provider would have diagnosed the sepsis that ultimately killed my grandmother during her final year of life. Her death gave me a bleak look at how our healthcare system often fails older people--especially those who look like I do. Though I have wanted to be a physician since I was young, that experience reinforced the important role physicians of color play in promoting health equity in vulnerable communities and continues to motivate me to pursue a career in medicine. I aspire to facilitate improvements in the health of our society by starting at the individual level because I can make direct connections with people and see tangible results. I believe firmly that my commitment to excellence, high moral standard, leadership, and community involvement will enable me to become a competent and caring physician. But, in order to see what it would take to become a physician, I had to actively seek out a social network that would help propel me toward my goals. Winning the Posse Foundation Scholarship for students with leadership potential during my senior year of high school changed my life because it gave me a phenomenal mentor and exposed me to invaluable character-developing workshops. This program motivated me to step out of my comfort zone and take on many roles throughout my college years that facilitated the development of my passion for medicine. My newfound network of peers and mentors encouraged me to apply to research programs that I didn’t think would accept me, but they did. These programs allowed me to develop creativity and problem-solving skills as well as the courage that is essential to persevere from uncomfortable failures. After college, I became an AmeriCorps service member at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Working at Grady felt like a full-circle moment—it was the hospital where my grandmother was treated for lupus flares and the looming landmark that I passed every day on my way home from school. My personal and AmeriCorps experience at Grady has molded me into a patient advocate that manages emergent situations with empathy. It has informed how I address patients, family members, and healthcare providers. Most importantly, it reinforced how important healthcare workforce diversity is to the progress of underserved individuals within our healthcare system. As a physician, I aim to help break the cycle of poor health outcomes that plague marginalized individuals. By using my future expertise in medicine and emotional intelligence, I will help facilitate my patients’ involvement in the management of their own health conditions. Though this will be challenging, I remain excited by the prospect of promoting advancements in communities that have been ignored historically. My personal, educational, and professional experiences make me confident in my ability to be a dynamic healthcare provider. My career goal is to break down the barriers to health equity that impact underserved individuals. In the future, I want to remain in academic medicine as a teaching physician, in order to mentor students of color and provide colleagues and institutions with opportunities for improvement. I will also be there to support my peers if I notice that they are having a tough time. As a physician, I will understand that my patients are more than just their medical record numbers, that they are people first and that they deserve respect. Though I know it will not always be easy, I am excited to continue to make a difference and become the person that people, like my mom and Granny, can depend on to ensure that they leave the hospital with their health, identity, and dignity intact.

As a Black woman growing up in the South, there were few role models for how to become a physician. However, seeing my grandmother’s struggles with Lupus and my mom’s experiences during her abusive relationship with my father gave me plenty of exposure to what it is like to be a patient of color: A vulnerable experience of facing difficult circumstances and fearing for your health. I still often wonder whether a more attentive healthcare provider would have diagnosed the sepsis that ultimately killed my grandmother during her final year of life. Her death gave me a bleak look at how our healthcare system often fails older people--especially those who look like I do. Though I have wanted to be a physician since I was young, that experience reinforced the important role physicians of color play in promoting health equity in vulnerable communities and continues to motivate me to pursue a career in medicine. I aspire to facilitate improvements in the health of our society by starting at the individual level because I can make direct connections with people and see tangible results. I believe firmly that my commitment to excellence, high moral standard, leadership, and community involvement will enable me to become a competent and caring physician. After college, I became an AmeriCorps service member at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Working at Grady felt like a full-circle moment—it was the hospital where my grandmother was treated for lupus flares and the looming landmark that I passed every day on my way home from school. My personal and AmeriCorps experience at Grady has molded me into a patient advocate that manages emergent situations with empathy. It has informed how I address patients, family members, and healthcare providers. Most importantly, it reinforced how important healthcare workforce diversity is to the progress of underserved individuals within our healthcare system. As a physician, I aim to help break the cycle of poor health outcomes that plague marginalized individuals. By using my future expertise in medicine and emotional intelligence, I will help facilitate my patients’ involvement in the management of their own health conditions. Though this will be challenging, I remain excited by the prospect of promoting advancements in communities that have been ignored historically. My personal, educational, and professional experiences make me confident in my ability to be a dynamic healthcare provider. My career goal is to break down the barriers to health equity that impact underserved individuals. In the future, I want to remain in academic medicine as a teaching physician, in order to mentor students of color and provide colleagues and institutions with opportunities for improvement. I will also be there to support my peers if I notice that they are having a tough time. As a physician, I will understand that my patients are more than just their medical record numbers, that they are people first and that they deserve respect. Though I know it will not always be easy, I am excited to continue to make a difference and become the person that people, like my mom and Granny, can depend on to ensure that they leave the hospital with their health, identity, and dignity intact.

As the service coordinator for the Lakewood Christian Manor community, I work to connect seniors with resources to help them cope while social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. While conducting outreach calls, many of the residents expressed to me that they wished to be tested for the virus and that they felt mistreated by the manager of the site. I contacted my supervisor (who is not the manager) and conveyed the residents’ concerns. She immediately scheduled a meeting to discuss the matter with me and the manager. During the call, the manager became very defensive and opposed my ideas about ways to improve the residents’ experiences—such as hosting a testing event and a virtual town hall featuring a physician. After the conversation, I spent time reflecting on what I could have done differently. I realized that she likely became defensive because she was caught off guard--perhaps if I approached her directly with my concerns and understood what her barriers and constraints were, we could have found common ground and decided on a course of action together. I needed help on navigating my way forward: How could I advocate for the residents but also avoid further offending the manager? I reached out to my “Board of Directors”--a group of mentors who I have acquired during my education and work experiences. I asked these mentors for advice about what I should do next. They supported my approach and offered guidance on the best way to communicate my ideas. I started to observe the working style of the manager and learned how to collaborate with her more effectively. In the end, I facilitated the development of both of the events, and we ended up servicing 320 people. I was even featured on the local news station. These experiences taught me how to manage up: Sometimes I will work with a team where I am a junior member, so it will be important to share my ideas in a way that promotes mutual respect and team cohesion in order to achieve the best outcome. Additionally, I learned that advocacy requires courage and a willingness to listen. I anticipate that I will undoubtedly be faced with similar circumstances as I continue on this journey to become a physician, where collaboration between physicians, nurses, and social workers is essential to successful patient care.

My thirst for knowledge blossomed from less than ideal circumstances that instilled me with humility. Being born and raised in a predominantly black area in the South, I did not live near the best schools. We settled in Fairburn because it was seven minutes from my Granny’s apartment. Granny battled Lupus for most of the time I knew her and, though she was one of the most independent women I knew, my mom still wanted to be close by just in case there was an emergency. I definitely saw my fair share of them. Throughout my childhood, I saw Granny struggle with Lupus and my father struggle with mental illness and substance abuse—two disparate experiences that gave me a personal look at how a lack of resources can contribute to poor health outcomes among minorities. As I grew older, I learned to recognize that my father was a product of his environment. Due to the stigmatization of mental illnesses within the black community, he never obtained the help he desperately needed. As Granny’s companion throughout her doctor’s visits, I was a fly on the wall observing everything. I could not help but notice the lack of diversity among her healthcare providers. I knew Granny grew up in a rural town in south Alabama and was justifiably apprehensive to the healthcare system, especially given our nation’s history with exploiting black bodies. The Tuskegee Syphilis Trials and the treatment of Henrietta Lacks are just a few of the cases that come to mind. I often used to wonder: if they had taken the time to consider her perspective as a patient, would she have struggled as much as she did? Throughout that time, I developed a “fixer” mentality that inspired me to strive to be great at school because that seemed to be the area over which I had the most control in my life. This passion for knowledge helped me get accepted to prestigious educational institutions and helped me discover my many passions outside of the classroom. My curiosity about the soundtracks of the films that I watched inspired my appreciation for composers like Ennio Morricone and Dario Marianelli, creators of some of the most noteworthy film scores. My curiosity introduced me to the world of club volleyball, a sport that no one in my family had played before. I am convinced that my experiences with volleyball have shaped the way I collaborate with people. My love for knowledge motivated me to learn to speak Spanish. Even today, I continue to challenge myself by watching shows in Spanish each week. With all of this knowledge, I also recognize that there will always be resources and mentors from which I can learn. This understanding has helped me find teachers in the authors of the novels I read and the people I meet. My love for laughter stems from my recognition of the power it has to alleviate the most uncomfortable situations. Throughout my life, I have used my ability to make myself and others laugh as a way to turn the lemons that life gives us into lemonade. I always manage to say something funny to improve people’s moods when I sense they are down. I realize that maintaining this sense of humor enables me to keep life in perspective and remain calm during stressful situations. My understanding of what it means to lead by example developed from my observations of the most influential people in my life and experiences that challenged me to be an advocate for myself and others. Though my mom endured painful experiences with my father, her approach to mothering ingrained in me a commitment to integrity and an understanding of how to persevere. She was not the loudest in my household, but in my eyes her presence and actions always commanded respect. From her, I learned that the best leaders listen to understand, rather than just to respond when people speak. My experiences with mentoring students throughout my college life challenged me to express empathy and to give people the grace to develop into their best selves. Further, coordinating services for seniors at the Lakewood Christian Manor residence this year taught me to think about how coworkers will receive my message when I suggest new ideas. I learned that being adaptable can help me lead while still being a member of a group. During my service year while working at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, I noticed that some of the personal care homes that Grady discharged its patients to were not abiding by the state’s health requirements. I told my supervisor about what I found, and she enlisted me to gather more information from patients and present my findings to the hospital’s administrators. After I voiced my concerns about how the seniors at Lakewood were being treated by the building’s manager, I helped facilitate the development of a community wide testing event at the facility. These experiences taught me that having the courage to be my authentic self and express new ideas can sometimes be a revolutionary act in itself. As I look toward my future as a physician, I realize that this knowledge will play an essential role while I work to serve in the best interest of underserved patients. These values continue to inform the way I approach being a good person to this day. They constantly motivate me to find the beauty in the challenging process of developing into the person that I am destined to be. I am confident that they will continue to ground and support me through the obstacles I will inevitably face in the future. These principles remind me every day that I am more than enough and that I am capable of anything I set my mind.

Working as an Americorps member at Grady Memorial Hospital, the only safety-net hospital in Atlanta, opened my eyes to the importance of nutrition to the health and wellness of patients who battle chronic illnesses. During my service year, I worked on helping to establish the hospital’s ‘Food as Medicine’ Initiatives and saw first-hand the transformational power of consuming natural foods and fresh produce. Furthermore, I worked with a satellite clinic to pass out fresh produce to immigrant families. Here, I saw up close how impactful our food resource was to this community. There were often large families with school aged children who relied on the fresh produce as their last hope. Additionally, I also helped develop a Food delivery program for recently discharged diabetic patients. We aimed to evaluate whether providing this unique patient population with healthy foods would reduce their emergency department utilization. And finally, I also was given the opportunity to listen in on teaching initiatives that informed patients about healthy cooking methods. These experiences taught me that people should view food as fuel. What we consume daily matters and has a huge impact on our health for years to come. During the pandemic, I have started to research healthier ways to eat because I never learned about clean eating during my childhood. Growing up in the South, we often ate very hearty meals throughout the day that often consisted of things like biscuits with gravy for breakfast and fried chicken and macaroni and cheese for dinner. We ate green vegetables for dinner like ‘collard greens’ and broccoli with cheese but there was rarely much deviation from those food staples. Now I often employ social media to learn more about healthy cooking techniques and I maintain an open dialogue with family and friends about ways to eat more naturally. As a black woman, I know all too well about the chronic conditions that often plague members of my community. Conditions such as cardiac disease, diabetes and high blood pressure are just a few that come to mind. Though factors such as the environments in which we live and the stressors that come with daily life play an immense role in the development of poor health outcomes, it has also been proven that people's diets play an immense role as well. Throughout the pandemic, I have realized how certain foods energize me while others make me feel sluggish. Now, whenever I revert to my old ways of eating, my body has a negative reaction to the food. Learning to truly listen to my body has been life changing. As I look toward my future career in medicine, I hope to inspire this same awareness among my future patients. As a physician, I aim to help break the cycle of poor health outcomes that plague marginalized individuals. By using my future expertise in medicine and nutrition, I will help facilitate my patients’ involvement in the management of their own health conditions. Though this will be challenging, I remain excited by the prospect of promoting advancements in communities that have been ignored historically. My career goal is to break down the barriers to health equity that impact underserved individuals. In the future, I want to remain in academic medicine as a teaching physician, in order to mentor students of color and provide colleagues and institutions with opportunities for improvement. Though I know it will not always be easy, I am excited to become the person that people can depend on to ensure that they leave the hospital with their health, identity, and dignity intact.

Throughout my childhood, I saw my granny struggle with Lupus and my father struggle with mental illness and substance abuse—two disparate experiences that gave me a personal look at how a lack of resources can contribute to poor health outcomes among minorities. As I grew older, I learned to recognize that my father was a product of his environment. Due to the stigmatization of mental illnesses within the black community, he never obtained the help he desperately needed. This experience reinforced the important role physicians of color play in promoting health equity in vulnerable communities and continues to motivate me to pursue a career in medicine. I aspire to facilitate improvements in the health of our society by starting at the individual level because I can make direct connections with people and see tangible results. I believe firmly that my commitment to excellence, high moral standard, leadership, and community involvement will enable me to become a competent and caring physician. My career goal is to break down the barriers to health equity that impact underserved individuals. In the future, I want to remain in academic medicine as a teaching physician, in order to mentor students of color and provide colleagues and institutions with opportunities for improvement. I know that black mentors have unique insight about the experiences of people of color as they navigate through academia and higher education. I want to be there to uplift individuals from communities underrepresented in medicine and promote diversity in the healthcare field. I will also be there to support my peers if I notice that they are having a tough time. As a physician, I will understand that my patients are more than just their medical record numbers, that they are people first and that they deserve respect.

As a Black woman growing up in the South, there were few role models for how to become a physician. However, seeing my grandmother’s struggles with Lupus and my mom’s experiences during her abusive relationship with my father gave me plenty of exposure to what it is like to be a patient of color: A vulnerable experience of facing difficult circumstances and fearing for your health. I still often wonder whether a more attentive healthcare provider would have diagnosed the sepsis that ultimately killed my grandmother during her final year of life. Her death gave me a bleak look at how our healthcare system often fails older people--especially those who look like I do. Though I have wanted to be a physician since I was young, that experience reinforced the important role physicians of color play in promoting health equity in vulnerable communities and continues to motivate me to pursue a career in medicine. I aspire to facilitate improvements in the health of our society by starting at the individual level because I can make direct connections with people and see tangible results. I believe firmly that my commitment to excellence, high moral standard, leadership, and community involvement will enable me to become a competent and caring physician. But, in order to see what it would take to become a physician, I had to actively seek out a social network that would help propel me toward my goals. Winning the Posse Foundation Scholarship for students with leadership potential during my senior year of high school changed my life because it gave me a phenomenal mentor and exposed me to invaluable character-developing workshops. This program motivated me to step out of my comfort zone and take on many roles throughout my college years that facilitated the development of my passion for medicine. My newfound network of peers and mentors encouraged me to apply to research programs that I didn’t think would accept me, but they did. These programs allowed me to develop creativity and problem-solving skills as well as the courage that is essential to persevere from uncomfortable failures. After college, I became an AmeriCorps service member at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Working at Grady felt like a full-circle moment—it was the hospital where my grandmother was treated for lupus flares and the looming landmark that I passed every day on my way home from school. My personal and AmeriCorps experience at Grady has molded me into a patient advocate that manages emergent situations with empathy. It has informed how I address patients, family members, and healthcare providers. Most importantly, it reinforced how important healthcare workforce diversity is to the progress of underserved individuals within our healthcare system. As a physician, I aim to help break the cycle of poor health outcomes that plague marginalized individuals. By using my future expertise in medicine and emotional intelligence, I will help facilitate my patients’ involvement in the management of their own health conditions. Though this will be challenging, I remain excited by the prospect of promoting advancements in communities that have been ignored historically. My personal, educational, and professional experiences make me confident in my ability to be a dynamic healthcare provider. My career goal is to break down the barriers to health equity that impact underserved individuals. In the future, I want to remain in academic medicine as a teaching physician, in order to mentor students of color and provide colleagues and institutions with opportunities for improvement. I will also be there to support my peers if I notice that they are having a tough time. As a physician, I will understand that my patients are more than just their medical record numbers, that they are people first and that they deserve respect. Though I know it will not always be easy, I am excited to continue to make a difference and become the person that people, like my mom and Granny, can depend on to ensure that they leave the hospital with their health, identity, and dignity intact.

As a Black woman growing up in the South, there were few role models for how to become a physician. However, seeing my grandmother’s struggles with Lupus and my mom’s experiences during her abusive relationship with my father gave me plenty of exposure to what it is like to be a patient of color: A vulnerable experience of facing difficult circumstances and fearing for your health. I still often wonder whether a more attentive healthcare provider would have diagnosed the sepsis that ultimately killed my grandmother during her final year of life. Her death gave me a bleak look at how our healthcare system often fails older people--especially those who look like I do. Though I have wanted to be a teaching physician since I was young, that experience reinforced the important role physicians of color play in promoting health equity in vulnerable communities and continues to motivate me to pursue a career in medicine. I aspire to facilitate improvements in the health of our society by starting at the individual level because I can make direct connections with people and see tangible results. I believe firmly that my commitment to excellence, high moral standard, leadership, and community involvement will enable me to become a competent and caring teaching physician. My personal, educational, and professional experiences make me confident in my ability to be a dynamic healthcare provider. My career goal is to break down the barriers to health equity that impact underserved individuals. In the future, I want to remain in academic medicine as a teaching physician, in order to mentor students of color and provide colleagues and institutions with opportunities for improvement. I know that black mentors have unique insight about the experiences of people of color as they navigate through academia and higher education. I want to be there to uplift individuals from communities underrepresented in medicine and promote diversity in the healthcare field. I will also be there to support my peers if I notice that they are having a tough time. As a physician, I will understand that my patients are more than just their medical record numbers, that they are people first and that they deserve respect. Though I know it will not always be easy, I am excited to continue to make a difference and become the person that people, like my mom and Granny, can depend on to ensure that they leave the hospital with their health, identity, and dignity intact.

Being the first-born child meant that I was the guinea pig my parents used to set the standard for how they would raise my younger siblings. There was always a fifty percent chance their parenting techniques would work out or fail, so I had to learn to roll with the punches early. I was always a very ambitious child and I set lofty goals for myself—I claimed that I wanted to be a doctor! And, I am proud to say I am still persevering towards that goal today. I am convinced that being the first-born child and the first in my family to pursue a medical degree has shaped who I am to the core. These facts of my life have transformed the way I engage with the world. My birth order inspired my limitless curiosity which has allowed me to develop an open-mindedness to different ways of living life. Further, my inquisitiveness is grounded by my thirst for knowledge and my understanding of how to lead by example. My thirst for knowledge blossomed from less-than-ideal circumstances that instilled me with humility. Being born and raised in a predominantly black area in the South, I did not live near the best schools. We settled in Fairburn because it was seven minutes from my Granny’s apartment. Granny battled Lupus for most of the time I knew her and, though she was one of the most independent women I knew, my mom still wanted to be close by just in case there was an emergency. I definitely saw my fair share of them. Throughout my childhood, I saw Granny struggle with Lupus and my father struggle with mental illness and substance abuse—two disparate experiences that gave me a personal look at how a lack of resources can contribute to poor health outcomes among minorities. As Granny’s companion throughout her doctor’s visits, I was a fly on the wall observing everything. I could not help but notice the lack of diversity among her healthcare providers. I knew Granny grew up in a rural town in south Alabama and was justifiably apprehensive to the healthcare system, especially given our nation’s history with exploiting black bodies. The Tuskegee Syphilis Trials and the treatment of Henrietta Lacks are just a few of the cases that come to mind. I often used to wonder: if they had taken the time to consider her perspective as a patient, would she have struggled as much as she did? Because I was the oldest, I developed a “fixer” mentality that inspired me to strive to be great at school because that seemed to be the area over which I had the most control in my life. This passion for knowledge helped me get accepted to prestigious educational institutions and helped me discover my many passions outside of the classroom. My curiosity introduced me to the world of club volleyball, a sport that no one in my family had played before. I am convinced that my experiences with volleyball and exercising have shaped the way I collaborate with people. My love for knowledge motivated me to learn to speak Spanish. Even today, I continue to challenge myself by watching shows in Spanish each week. With all of this knowledge, I also recognize that there will always be resources and mentors from which I can learn. This understanding has helped me find teachers in the authors of the novels I read and the people I meet. My understanding of what it means to lead by example developed from my observations of the most influential people in my life and experiences that challenged me to be an advocate for myself and others. Though my mom endured painful experiences with my father, her approach to mothering ingrained in me a commitment to integrity and an understanding of how to persevere. She was not the loudest in my household, but in my eyes her presence and actions always commanded respect. From her, I learned that the best leaders listen to understand, rather than just to respond when people speak. My experiences with mentoring students throughout my college life challenged me to express empathy and to give people the grace to develop into their best selves. Further, coordinating services for seniors at the Lakewood Christian Manor residence this year taught me to think about how coworkers will receive my message when I suggest new ideas. I learned that being adaptable can help me lead while still being a member of a group. During my service year while working at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, I noticed that some of the personal care homes that Grady discharged its patients to were not abiding by the state’s health requirements. I told my supervisor about what I found, and she enlisted me to gather more information from patients and present my findings to the hospital’s administrators. After I voiced my concerns about how the seniors at Lakewood were being treated by the building’s manager, I helped facilitate the development of a community wide testing event at the facility. These experiences taught me that having the courage to be my authentic self and express new ideas can sometimes be a revolutionary act in itself. As I look toward my future as a physician, I realize that this knowledge will play an essential role while I work to serve in the best interest of underserved patients. These values continue to inform the way I approach being a good person to this day. They constantly motivate me to find the beauty in the challenging process of developing into the person that I am destined to be. I am confident that they will continue to ground and support me through the obstacles I will inevitably face in the future. These principles remind me every day that I am more than enough and that I am capable of anything I set my mind to.

From August 2019 to August 2020, I served on the front lines as an AmeriCorps service member and discovered my passion for addressing the health inequities that disproportionately affect urban underserved communities. I know that I have what it takes to serve in the best interest of underserved communities because I am passionate about improving the health outcomes of this population. I know the stakes are high and I am committed to the fight to eliminate the health disparities within our society. Through my innovative ideas and my commitment to excellence, I have the potential to influence generations of individuals and open up doors that would be closed to them due to the effects of chronic illnesses on families. Health plays a significant role in determining an individual’s socio-economic status. I want to use my role as a physician to help level the playing field and provide under-resourced communities with the opportunity to be as successful as possible. Through my experiences with public health and social advocacy, I have developed the drive and determination needed to be a physician that is ready to break the cycle of poor health outcomes that plague underserved communities. Before the pandemic, I served as a Community Care Coordinator at Grady Memorial Hospital (the only safety-net hospital in Atlanta) and interviewed uninsured patients about how their discharge processes could be improved. Further, I collaborated with social workers to create a food delivery program for diabetic patients to reduce their emergency department utilization. Additionally, I passed out fresh groceries to food-insecure patients in a Spanish-speaking community in Atlanta. Throughout the pandemic, I worked as the Hospital to Home Program Liaison at Grady and connected homeless individuals with stable housing resources. I also worked as a Service Coordinator for seniors at the Lakewood Christian Manor Senior Community, where I successfully planned a community-wide COVID-19 testing event that serviced 320 people and a virtual town hall event that featured a physician for the community. After my AmeriCorps contract concluded in August 2020, I worked as the Service Coordinator for an affordable housing community in the metro-Atlanta area where I will helped seniors cope with social isolation and created 85 care packages. Furthermore, I currently work for an Emory University Research Study and assist a mobile health unit team with providing free COVID-19 testing resources to the greater Atlanta community. I am confident that these experiences have given me an in-depth look at the factors that negatively impact underserved urban communities, and I know they will inform my approach to delivering healthcare to marginalized populations in the future.

As a Black woman from the South, I have always been aware of the impact music has had on my culture. From slavery to the times of Jim Crow, music empowered my people to persevere when faced with the direst times. And I have always felt the impact of music throughout my life. Music reinvigorates me and completely transports me to the mind of the artist. I honestly believe that music is one of the greatest inventions on earth. One of my favorite past times is listening to artists discuss the purpose behind their projects. For me, music creates an outer body experience and it has the power to completely elevate my mood. I can go from feeling overwhelmed with despair to feeling optimistic after listening to just a four-minute song. I always listen to the song ‘The Question Is’ by the Winans whenever I feel stressed out about life. It’s a gospel song by one of the biggest groups in the gospel music realm and I always feel inspired after I listen to it. It is a song about hope and remembering that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. The song opens with the lyric: 'The question is will I ever leave you? The answer is no, no, no, no, no, no' This song reminds me of my grandmother, who recently passed away two years ago. My grandmother was from the rural south and was the first in her family to go to college. Her fortitude motivated me throughout my life. Her drive to succeed and help others, despite the many setbacks she was faced with, pushed me to think bigger about how to make an impact in the world. She was a phenomenal role model and instilled in me the values that ground me today. This song reminds me of the times I spent with her throughout my childhood and always inspires me to remember that I can succeed through anything. Furthermore, it gives me faith that my ancestors' sacrifices were not made in vain. I am confident that I will lean on this song in the future when I am inevitably faced with arduous times. Currently, I am preparing to attend medical school this fall. Though I do not know which school I will ultimately attend, I do know which songs I will use as the soundtrack to my life. And, I am excited to discover the new songs and tunes that will bring me joy in the future.

As a Black woman growing up in the South, there were few role models for how to become a physician. However, seeing my grandmother’s struggles with Lupus and my mom’s experiences during her abusive relationship with my father gave me plenty of exposure to what it is like to be a patient of color: A vulnerable experience of facing difficult circumstances and fearing for your health. Her death gave me a bleak look at how our healthcare system often fails older people--especially those who look like I do. Though I have wanted to be a physician since I was young, that experience reinforced the important role physicians of color play in promoting health equity in vulnerable communities and continues to motivate me to pursue a career in medicine. I aspire to facilitate improvements in the health of our society by starting at the individual level because I can make direct connections with people and see tangible results. I believe firmly that my commitment to excellence and high moral standard will enable me to become a competent and caring physician. But, in order to see what it would take to become a physician, I had to actively seek out a social network that would help propel me toward my goals. Winning the Posse Foundation Scholarship for students with leadership potential during my senior year of high school changed my life because it gave me a phenomenal mentor and exposed me to invaluable character-developing workshops. This program motivated me to step out of my comfort zone and take on many roles throughout my college years that facilitated the development of my passion for medicine. My newfound network of peers and mentors encouraged me to apply to research programs that I didn’t think would accept me, but they did. These programs allowed me to develop creativity and problem-solving skills as well as the courage that is essential to persevere from uncomfortable failures. After college, I became an AmeriCorps service member at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Working at Grady felt like a full-circle moment—it was the hospital where my grandmother was treated for lupus flares and the looming landmark that I passed every day on my way home from school. My personal and AmeriCorps experience at Grady has molded me into a patient advocate that manages emergent situations with empathy. It has informed how I address patients, family members, and healthcare providers. Most importantly, it reinforced how important healthcare workforce diversity is to the progress of underserved individuals within our healthcare system. As a physician, I aim to help break the cycle of poor health outcomes that plague marginalized individuals. Though this will be challenging, I remain excited by the prospect of promoting advancements in communities that have been ignored historically. My career goal is to break down the barriers to health equity that impact underserved individuals. In the future, I want to remain in academic medicine as a teaching physician, in order to mentor students of color and provide colleagues and institutions with opportunities for improvement. I will also be there to support my peers if I notice that they are having a tough time. As a physician, I will understand that my patients are more than just their medical record numbers, that they are people first and that they deserve respect. Though I know it will not always be easy, I am excited to continue to make a difference and become the person that people, like my mom and Granny, can depend on to ensure that they leave the hospital with their health, identity, and dignity intact.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything about our world. I remember the first day I began my life in quarantine like it was yesterday. It was March 7th, 2020. Prior to this date, I was an avid gym goer. My Pilates and Vinyasa Yoga classes were the highlights of my week and I had been working fulltime as an AmeriCorps member at Grady Memorial Hospital, the only safety-net hospital in Atlanta. As news about the COVID-19 pandemic began to dominate the U.S. news cycle, it was clear to me that the COVID-19 virus would remain with us for a while. But I had no idea what that would mean for the dynamic of our everyday lives. Like many other people, I was initially at a loss about how to move forward through such a challenging time period. I started working from home and found that the pandemic reduced the amount of work that I was assigned. I felt inundated with boredom for weeks. In that moment, I recognized that I enjoy being busy and thrive on being productive. I reached out to my supervisor and asked how I could help the greater Atlanta community through the pandemic. She connected me to community leaders in the field and, after reaching out to a senior citizen facility in Atlanta, I started conducting outreach calls to senior citizens in the Atlanta community. The conversations I had with these individuals gave me so much joy. I felt like I was their granddaughter, constantly attending to their wellbeing and wellness needs. That experience was eye opening because it showed me the significant need for our society to promote mutual understanding and empathy amongst its citizens. If I hadn’t conducted those outreach calls and spoken to residents who were in desperate need of food and transportation resources, how would they have been able to obtain them? Through this experience, it was clear to me that our society must do more to help underserved populations, such as older individuals, because they don’t always have the ability to advocate for themselves. That lesson remained in my mind while I watched the COVID-19 death toll rise. Our world is undeniably connected, and our individual success is inextricably linked to the success of our community. While serving on the front lines as an AmeriCorps Service Member, I discovered my passion for addressing the health inequities that disproportionately affect urban underserved communities. This experience reinvigorated my desire to pursue a medical career. I know that I have what it takes to serve in the best interest of underserved communities because I am passionate about improving the health outcomes of this population. The pandemic has shown me that the stakes are high, and I am committed to the fight to eliminate the health disparities within our society. Through my innovative ideas and commitment to excellence, I have the potential to influence generations of individuals and open up doors that would be closed to them due to the effects of chronic illnesses on families. This pandemic has shown me that health plays a significant role in determining an individual’s socioeconomic status. I want to use my role as a physician to help level the playing field and provide under-resourced communities with the opportunity to be as successful as possible. Through my experiences with public health and social advocacy, I have developed the drive and determination needed to be a physician that is ready to break the cycle of poor health outcomes that plague underserved communities. The COVID-19 pandemic has made it clearer that there is a serious need for more diversity within the healthcare system because the world needs more physicians who are committed to improving the health outcomes of marginalized communities. This pandemic challenged me to step up and search for ways to make an impact where it counts. Throughout the pandemic, I worked as the Hospital-to-Home Program Liaison at Grady Memorial Hospital and connected homeless individuals with stable housing resources. I also worked as a Service Coordinator for seniors at the Lakewood Christian Manor Senior Community, where I successfully planned a community-wide COVID-19 testing event that serviced 320 people and a virtual town hall event that featured a physician for the community. I am confident that these experiences have given me an in-depth look at the factors that negatively impact underserved urban communities, and I know they will inform my approach to delivering healthcare to marginalized populations in the future. Furthermore, this pandemic has shown me that I am ready to advocate for those in need and that I will collaborate with various stakeholders in our healthcare system to work in the best interest of underserved communities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything about our world. I remember the first day I began my life in quarantine like it was yesterday. It was March 7th, 2020. Prior to this date, I was an avid gym goer. My Pilates and Vinyasa Yoga classes were the highlights of my week and I had been working fulltime as an AmeriCorps member at Grady Memorial Hospital, the only safety-net hospital in Atlanta. As news about the COVID-19 pandemic began to dominate the U.S. news cycle, it was clear to me that the COVID-19 virus would remain with us for a while. But I had no idea what that would mean for the dynamic of our everyday lives. Like many other people, I was initially at a loss about how to move forward through such a challenging time period. I started working from home and found that the pandemic reduced the amount of work that I was assigned. I felt inundated with boredom for weeks. In that moment, I recognized that I enjoy being busy and thrive on being productive. I reached out to my supervisor and asked how I could help the greater Atlanta community through the pandemic. She connected me to community leaders in the field and, after reaching out to a senior citizen facility in Atlanta, I started conducting outreach calls to senior citizens in the Atlanta community. The conversations I had with these individuals gave me so much joy. I felt like I was their granddaughter, constantly attending to their wellbeing and wellness needs. That experience was eye opening because it showed me the significant need for our society to promote mutual understanding and empathy amongst its citizens. If I hadn’t conducted those outreach calls and spoken to residents who were in desperate need of food and transportation resources, how would they have been able to obtain them? Through this experience, it was clear to me that our society must do more to help underserved populations, such as older individuals, because they don’t always have the ability to advocate for themselves. That lesson remained in my mind while I watched the COVID-19 death toll rise. Our world is undeniably connected, and our individual success is inextricably linked to the success of our community. While serving on the front lines as an AmeriCorps Service Member, I discovered my passion for addressing the health inequities that disproportionately affect urban underserved communities. This experience reinvigorated my desire to pursue a medical career. I know that I have what it takes to serve in the best interest of underserved communities because I am passionate about improving the health outcomes of this population. The pandemic has shown me that the stakes are high, and I am committed to the fight to eliminate the health disparities within our society. Through my innovative ideas and commitment to excellence, I have the potential to influence generations of individuals and open up doors that would be closed to them due to the effects of chronic illnesses on families. This pandemic has shown me that health plays a significant role in determining an individual’s socioeconomic status. I want to use my role as a physician to help level the playing field and provide under-resourced communities with the opportunity to be as successful as possible. Through my experiences with public health and social advocacy, I have developed the drive and determination needed to be a physician that is ready to break the cycle of poor health outcomes that plague underserved communities. The COVID-19 pandemic has made it clearer that there is a serious need for more diversity within the healthcare system because the world needs more physicians who are committed to improving the health outcomes of marginalized communities. This pandemic challenged me to step up and search for ways to make an impact where it counts. Throughout the pandemic, I worked as the Hospital-to-Home Program Liaison at Grady Memorial Hospital and connected homeless individuals with stable housing resources. I also worked as a Service Coordinator for seniors at the Lakewood Christian Manor Senior Community, where I successfully planned a community-wide COVID-19 testing event that serviced 320 people and a virtual town hall event that featured a physician for the community. I am confident that these experiences have given me an in-depth look at the factors that negatively impact underserved urban communities, and I know they will inform my approach to delivering healthcare to marginalized populations in the future. Though this pandemic has been an extremely arduous time, I believe that this period has motivated us all to evolve and think critically about how we live life. Furthermore, this pandemic has shown me that I am ready to advocate for those in need and that I will collaborate with various stakeholders in our healthcare system to work in the best interest of underserved communities.

As a Black woman growing up in the South, there were few role models for how to become a physician. However, seeing my grandmother’s struggles with Lupus and my mom’s experiences during her abusive relationship with my father gave me plenty of exposure to what it is like to be a patient of color: A vulnerable experience of facing difficult circumstances and fearing for your health. I still often wonder whether a more attentive healthcare provider would have diagnosed the sepsis that ultimately killed my grandmother during her final year of life. Her death gave me a bleak look at how our healthcare system often fails older people--especially those who look like I do. Though I have wanted to be a physician since I was young, that experience reinforced the important role physicians of color play in promoting health equity in vulnerable communities and continues to motivate me to pursue a career in medicine. I aspire to facilitate improvements in the health of our society by starting at the individual level because I can make direct connections with people and see tangible results. I believe firmly that my commitment to excellence, high moral standard, leadership, and community involvement will enable me to become a competent and caring physician. But, in order to see what it would take to become a physician, I had to actively seek out a social network that would help propel me toward my goals. Winning the Posse Foundation Scholarship for students with leadership potential during my senior year of high school changed my life because it gave me a phenomenal mentor and exposed me to invaluable character-developing workshops. This program motivated me to step out of my comfort zone and take on many roles throughout my college years that facilitated the development of my passion for medicine. My newfound network of peers and mentors encouraged me to apply to research programs that I didn’t think would accept me, but they did. These programs allowed me to develop creativity and problem-solving skills as well as the courage that is essential to persevere from uncomfortable failures. After college, I became an AmeriCorps service member at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Working at Grady felt like a full-circle moment—it was the hospital where my grandmother was treated for lupus flares and the looming landmark that I passed every day on my way home from school. My personal and AmeriCorps experience at Grady has molded me into a patient advocate that manages emergent situations with empathy. It has informed how I address patients, family members, and healthcare providers. Most importantly, it reinforced how important healthcare workforce diversity is to the progress of underserved individuals within our healthcare system. As a physician, I aim to help break the cycle of poor health outcomes that plague marginalized individuals. By using my future expertise in medicine and emotional intelligence, I will help facilitate my patients’ involvement in the management of their own health conditions. Though this will be challenging, I remain excited by the prospect of promoting advancements in communities that have been ignored historically. My personal, educational, and professional experiences make me confident in my ability to be a dynamic healthcare provider. My career goal is to break down the barriers to health equity that impact underserved individuals. In the future, I want to remain in academic medicine as a teaching physician, in order to mentor students of color and provide colleagues and institutions with opportunities for improvement. I will also be there to support my peers if I notice that they are having a tough time. As a physician, I will understand that my patients are more than just their medical record numbers, that they are people first and that they deserve respect. Though I know it will not always be easy, I am excited to continue to make a difference and become the person that people, like my mom and Granny, can depend on to ensure that they leave the hospital with their health, identity, and dignity intact.

As a Black woman growing up in the South, there were few role models for how to become a physician. However, seeing my grandmother’s struggles with Lupus and my mom’s experiences during her abusive relationship with my father gave me plenty of exposure to what it is like to be a patient of color: A vulnerable experience of facing difficult circumstances and fearing for your health. I still often wonder whether a more attentive healthcare provider would have diagnosed the sepsis that ultimately killed my grandmother during her final year of life. Her death gave me a bleak look at how our healthcare system often fails older people--especially those who look like I do. Though I have wanted to be a physician since I was young, that experience reinforced the important role physicians of color play in promoting health equity in vulnerable communities and continues to motivate me to pursue a career in medicine. I aspire to facilitate improvements in the health of our society by starting at the individual level because I can make direct connections with people and see tangible results. I believe firmly that my commitment to excellence, high moral standard, leadership, and community involvement will enable me to become a competent and caring physician. But, in order to see what it would take to become a physician, I had to actively seek out a social network that would help propel me toward my goals. Winning the Posse Foundation Scholarship for students with leadership potential during my senior year of high school changed my life because it gave me a phenomenal mentor and exposed me to invaluable character-developing workshops. This program motivated me to step out of my comfort zone and take on many roles throughout my college years that facilitated the development of my passion for medicine. My newfound network of peers and mentors encouraged me to apply to research programs that I didn’t think would accept me, but they did. These programs allowed me to develop creativity and problem-solving skills as well as the courage that is essential to persevere from uncomfortable failures. After college, I became an AmeriCorps service member at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Working at Grady felt like a full-circle moment—it was the hospital where my grandmother was treated for lupus flares and the looming landmark that I passed every day on my way home from school. My personal and AmeriCorps experience at Grady has molded me into a patient advocate that manages emergent situations with empathy. It has informed how I address patients, family members, and healthcare providers. Most importantly, it reinforced how important healthcare workforce diversity is to the progress of underserved individuals within our healthcare system. As a physician, I aim to help break the cycle of poor health outcomes that plague marginalized individuals. By using my future expertise in medicine and emotional intelligence, I will help facilitate my patients’ involvement in the management of their own health conditions. Though this will be challenging, I remain excited by the prospect of promoting advancements in communities that have been ignored historically. My personal, educational, and professional experiences make me confident in my ability to be a dynamic healthcare provider. My career goal is to break down the barriers to health equity that impact underserved individuals. In the future, I want to remain in academic medicine as a teaching physician, in order to mentor students of color and provide colleagues and institutions with opportunities for improvement. I will also be there to support my peers if I notice that they are having a tough time. As a physician, I will understand that my patients are more than just their medical record numbers, that they are people first and that they deserve respect. Though I know it will not always be easy, I am excited to continue to make a difference and become the person that people, like my mom and Granny, can depend on to ensure that they leave the hospital with their health, identity, and dignity intact.

As a Black woman growing up in the South, there were few role models for how to become a physician. However, seeing my grandmother’s struggles with Lupus and my mom’s experiences during her abusive relationship with my father gave me plenty of exposure to what it is like to be a patient of color: A vulnerable experience of facing difficult circumstances and fearing for your health. I still often wonder whether a more attentive healthcare provider would have diagnosed the sepsis that ultimately killed my grandmother during her final year of life. Her death gave me a bleak look at how our healthcare system often fails older people--especially those who look like I do. Though I have wanted to be a physician since I was young, that experience reinforced the important role physicians of color play in promoting health equity in vulnerable communities and continues to motivate me to pursue a career in medicine and public policy. I aspire to facilitate improvements in the health of our society by starting at the individual level because I can make direct connections with people and see tangible results. I believe firmly that my commitment to excellence, high moral standard, leadership, and community involvement will enable me to become a competent and caring physician. But, in order to see what it would take to become a change agent in the health policy field, I had to actively seek out a social network that would help propel me toward my goals. Winning the Posse Foundation Scholarship for students with leadership potential during my senior year of high school changed my life because it gave me a phenomenal mentor and exposed me to invaluable character-developing workshops. This program motivated me to step out of my comfort zone and take on many roles throughout my college years that facilitated the development of my passion for medicine. My newfound network of peers and mentors encouraged me to apply to research programs that I didn’t think would accept me, but they did. These programs allowed me to develop creativity and problem-solving skills as well as the courage that is essential to persevere from uncomfortable failures. After college, I became an AmeriCorps service member at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Working at Grady felt like a full-circle moment—it was the hospital where my grandmother was treated for lupus flares and the looming landmark that I passed every day on my way home from school. My personal and AmeriCorps experience at Grady has molded me into a patient advocate that manages emergent situations with empathy. It has informed how I address patients, family members, and healthcare providers. Most importantly, it reinforced how important healthcare workforce diversity is to the progress of underserved individuals within our healthcare system. As a physician, I aim to help break the cycle of poor health outcomes that plague marginalized individuals. By using my future expertise in medicine and public policy, I will help facilitate my patients’ involvement in the management of their own health conditions. Though this will be challenging, I remain excited by the prospect of promoting advancements in communities that have been ignored historically. My personal, educational, and professional experiences make me confident in my ability to be a dynamic healthcare provider and public policy professional. My career goal is to break down the barriers to health equity that impact underserved individuals. In the future, I want to remain in academic medicine as a teaching physician, in order to mentor students of color and contribute to the field of medicine by helping to set policy involving health care issues of public concern. I will also be there to support my peers if I notice that they are having a tough time. As a physician, I will understand that my patients are more than just their medical record numbers, that they are people first and that they deserve respect. Though I know it will not always be easy, I am excited to continue to make a difference and become the person that people, like my mom and Granny, can depend on to ensure that they leave the hospital with their health, identity, and dignity intact.

As a Black woman growing up in the South, there were few role models for how to become a physician. However, seeing my grandmother’s struggles with Lupus and my mom’s experiences during her abusive relationship with my father gave me plenty of exposure to what it is like to be a patient of color: A vulnerable experience of facing difficult circumstances and fearing for your health. I still often wonder whether a more attentive healthcare provider would have diagnosed the sepsis that ultimately killed my grandmother during her final year of life. Her death gave me a bleak look at how our healthcare system often fails older people--especially those who look like I do. Though I have wanted to be a physician since I was young, that experience reinforced the important role physicians of color play in promoting health equity in vulnerable communities and continues to motivate me to pursue a career in medicine. I aspire to facilitate improvements in the health of our society by starting at the individual level because I can make direct connections with people and see tangible results. I believe firmly that my commitment to excellence, high moral standard, leadership, and community involvement will enable me to become a competent and caring physician. But, in order to see what it would take to become a physician, I had to actively seek out a social network that would help propel me toward my goals. Winning the Posse Foundation Scholarship for students with leadership potential during my senior year of high school changed my life because it gave me a phenomenal mentor and exposed me to invaluable character-developing workshops. This program motivated me to step out of my comfort zone and take on many roles throughout my college years that facilitated the development of my passion for medicine. My newfound network of peers and mentors encouraged me to apply to research programs that I didn’t think would accept me, but they did. These programs allowed me to develop creativity and problem-solving skills as well as the courage that is essential to persevere from uncomfortable failures. After college, I became an AmeriCorps service member at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Working at Grady felt like a full-circle moment—it was the hospital where my grandmother was treated for lupus flares and the looming landmark that I passed every day on my way home from school. My personal and AmeriCorps experience at Grady has molded me into a patient advocate that manages emergent situations with empathy. It has informed how I address patients, family members, and healthcare providers. Most importantly, it reinforced how important healthcare workforce diversity is to the progress of underserved individuals within our healthcare system. As a physician, I aim to help break the cycle of poor health outcomes that plague marginalized individuals. By using my future expertise in medicine and emotional intelligence, I will help facilitate my patients’ involvement in the management of their own health conditions. Though this will be challenging, I remain excited by the prospect of promoting advancements in communities that have been ignored historically. My personal, educational, and professional experiences make me confident in my ability to be a dynamic healthcare provider. My career goal is to break down the barriers to health equity that impact underserved individuals. In the future, I want to remain in academic medicine as a teaching physician, in order to mentor students of color and provide colleagues and institutions with opportunities for improvement. I will also be there to support my peers if I notice that they are having a tough time. As a physician, I will understand that my patients are more than just their medical record numbers, that they are people first and that they deserve respect. Though I know it will not always be easy, I am excited to continue to make a difference and become the person that people, like my mom and Granny, can depend on to ensure that they leave the hospital with their health, identity, and dignity intact.

As a Black woman growing up in the South, there were few role models for how to become a physician. However, seeing my grandmother’s struggles with Lupus and my mom’s experiences during her abusive relationship with my father gave me plenty of exposure to what it is like to be a patient of color: A vulnerable experience of facing difficult circumstances and fearing for your health. I still often wonder whether a more attentive healthcare provider would have diagnosed the sepsis that ultimately killed my grandmother during her final year of life. Her death gave me a bleak look at how our healthcare system often fails older people--especially those who look like I do. Though I have wanted to be a physician since I was young, that experience reinforced the important role physicians of color play in promoting health equity in vulnerable communities and continues to motivate me to pursue a career in medicine. I aspire to facilitate improvements in the health of our society by starting at the individual level because I can make direct connections with people and see tangible results. I believe firmly that my commitment to excellence, high moral standard, leadership, and community involvement will enable me to become a competent and caring physician. But, in order to see what it would take to become a physician, I had to actively seek out a social network that would help propel me toward my goals. Winning the Posse Foundation Scholarship for students with leadership potential during my senior year of high school changed my life because it gave me a phenomenal mentor and exposed me to invaluable character-developing workshops. This program motivated me to step out of my comfort zone and take on many roles throughout my college years that facilitated the development of my passion for medicine. My newfound network of peers and mentors encouraged me to apply to research programs that I didn’t think would accept me, but they did. These programs allowed me to develop creativity and problem-solving skills as well as the courage that is essential to persevere from uncomfortable failures. After college, I became an AmeriCorps service member at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Working at Grady felt like a full-circle moment—it was the hospital where my grandmother was treated for lupus flares and the looming landmark that I passed every day on my way home from school. My personal and AmeriCorps experience at Grady has molded me into a patient advocate that manages emergent situations with empathy. It has informed how I address patients, family members, and healthcare providers. Most importantly, it reinforced how important healthcare workforce diversity is to the progress of underserved individuals within our healthcare system. As a physician, I aim to help break the cycle of poor health outcomes that plague marginalized individuals. By using my future expertise in medicine and emotional intelligence, I will help facilitate my patients’ involvement in the management of their own health conditions. Though this will be challenging, I remain excited by the prospect of promoting advancements in communities that have been ignored historically. My personal, educational, and professional experiences make me confident in my ability to be a dynamic healthcare provider. My career goal is to break down the barriers to health equity that impact underserved individuals. In the future, I want to remain in academic medicine as a teaching physician, in order to mentor students of color and provide colleagues and institutions with opportunities for improvement. I will also be there to support my peers if I notice that they are having a tough time. As a physician, I will understand that my patients are more than just their medical record numbers, that they are people first and that they deserve respect. Though I know it will not always be easy, I am excited to continue to make a difference and become the person that people, like my mom and Granny, can depend on to ensure that they leave the hospital with their health, identity, and dignity intact.