COVER STORY
Who am I to do this? I’m a family medicine physician, a doctor who trained at Wayne State University School of Medicine. I’ve always had a big heart for the underserved community as I have been volunteering at different medical clinics since age 17. When I was a junior in High School, I began volunteering on Saturday mornings at the Cass Clinic in Detroit.
Under the guidance of Wayne State medical students and a wise attending physician, we cared for the most vulnerable residents of Cass Corridor. These were the homeless, the folks living in halfway houses and drug rehabilitation centers, senior citizens with mobility issues, and the working poor who couldn’t otherwise afford health insurance.
"....and I am proud to be serving a community
of people that
can benefit the most
from these services."
We would pack up enough supplies and medications to make “Street Runs” and we would meet folks where they were at, taking vital signs and histories and giving refills of blood pressure medications and diabetic supplies in order to keep folks healthy and out of the hospital. These experiences were transformative and have molded me into the physician that I am today.
Once I began volunteering in this setting, I knew that I wanted to be a Family Medicine doctor and I knew that I wanted to attend medical school at Wayne State University. While at Wayne State, I continued to volunteer through organizations like the Student Run Free Clinic on the East Side. I also helped a group of students start Street Medicine Detroit, which provided care for folks living in homeless shelters and on the street.
" I’ve always had
a big heart for the underserved community..."