Road to graduation 2017
Medical students prepare to take the next step in their careers
Spring 2017 — Each spring in Gainesville when the azaleas bloom and the temperature starts to climb, fourth-year students of the UF College of Medicine begin the last leg of their journey toward becoming doctors. From March’s Match Day ceremony to the senior awards banquet to commencement in May, graduating students have many chances to reflect on their past experiences, the relationships they’ve built and the bright futures that await them.
Jonathan Berry
From playing Scar in a UF College of Medicine White Coat Company production of “The Lion King” to spending five weeks at Kapsowar Hospital in Kenya treating patients, Jonathan Berry, M.D., who graduated May 20, considers his memories from the UF College of Medicine life-shaping experiences. When he moves to Boston this summer to begin an internal medicine residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, he says he’ll remember the lessons instilled in him of humanism, community and achieving a work-life balance.
Hazel Asumu
Hazel Asumu looks back on her four years at the UF College of Medicine, where she took part in creating a cultural competence workshop for first-year medical students and made lasting relationships with faculty, staff and peers. After completing a residency in radiology, Asumu looks forward to a career in academic medicine.
Kimi Swartz
Fourth-year medical student Kimi Swartz, J.D. ’16, not only dreams big — she sees her goals through to completion. With passions ranging from emergency medicine to health policy to jazz piano, Swartz is the first UF student to complete the combined juris doctor and medical degree program. Soon, she’ll move to Indianapolis to reunite with her fiancé and begin a residency in emergency medicine.
Adam Chadwick
Fourth-year UF College of Medicine student Adam Chadwick describes the experiences that shaped him, including growing up on a farm in Georgia and working for a decade as an auto mechanic, and reflects on how they led him to a future as an anesthesiology resident at UF.
Alice Abernathy
After working in a neuroimmunology lab in Spain, UF College of Medicine fourth-year student Alice Abernathy knew her passion was for obstetrics and gynecology, specifically the impact of reproductive illnesses on women’s freedoms and choices. On March 17 at the annual Match Day ceremony, Alice will learn which program and location holds her future.
