Who am I?

Je m'appelle Stephanie.

I am a Rush Medical College rising M2 and former Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV).  

From 2011 to 2013, I lived and taught in rural Tanzania at a local secondary school.  Teaching classrooms of anywhere from 50-80 students high school level Biology and some introductory English in both Swahili and English. 

As a PCV, I also worked closely with my school and counterparts to establish a school library through the renovation of an abandoned classroom, purchase of updated textbooks and developed of a modified Dewey Decimal system.  This was funded through both a Peace Corps Partnership Program (PCPP) grant and donations from the NGO, Tanzania Reads.

After finishing my service, I backpacked for several months throughout Southern Africa (much to the dismay of my mother) before returning home to study for the MCAT and apply to medical school.  After choosing Rush for my MD, I spent a month in Japan backpacking with my sister and best friend before strapping down to study the next year away.  

While my ambition is to become a dedicated, inventive doctor, I heart truly lives in the countries outside my home and I hope one day to practice medicine in these settings.  I'm ecstatic to be returning to East Africa and learn about serving vulnerable communities through healthcare initiatives.  The NGO that I'll be working under, WE-ACTx is doing phenomenal work in Kigali with HIV positive Rwandans.  While I have much to learn, I'm excited to be dedicating my time between M1 and M2 years soaking up Rwandan culture, experiencing how healthcare clinics are serving HIV patients and contributing some of my skills and expertise to analyzing a Family Needs Assessment that was performed in the past year to look for trends and brainstorm ideas of catering services to our patients.  

Me!