Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/220800
"I've always wanted to be a physician. The support system at the College of Medicine, especially in the Urban Health Program, helped me achieve this goal. I also participated in the Urban Medicine Program, which is dedicated to helping underserved communities. We had special lessons on diversity and issues specific to underserved populations to prepare us to work in those environments. I plan to go into underserved medicine eventually. It is a passion of mine." Heather Belcher, MD '13 (Chicago) Family Medicine Residency Program at Kaiser Permanente in Woodland Hills, California D e s t i n at i o n : "It's gratifying to be at the end of a long road, the culmination of four years of hard work. The diversity at UIC was one of the things that drew me here. I got to see so many things that medical students at other schools wouldn't see. The rotations at different hospitals, from Christ on the South Side, to Cook County in the heart of the city, to Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston, and the different patients I encountered gave me such a broad education. I know this will serve me well when I start my residency in July." Bryan Rea, MD '13 (Chicago) Pathology Residency Program at the University of Pennsylvania D e s t i n at i o n : University of Illinois President Robert Easter addresses COM graduates as Rockford Interim Dean Mitchell King listens. Rockford students celebrate their graduation convocation on May 4. "Today is not only the end of our formal education with the college, but also the commencement of a lifetime of scholarship. As a young physician, I know that I have the responsibility to myself and patients to keep learning and building upon the foundations of medicine. As I begin residency, I look forward to being a lifelong student of medicine." Kimberly R. Jerdan (Rockford) Dermatology residency program, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois; (P r e l i m i n a r y p l a c e m e n t: Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois) D e s t i n at i o n : 28 | Fa l l 2 013