Fourth year student and Laredo, Texas native Raul Madrigal has served as Clinical Student Government Association (CSGA) representative for Florida since August 2017. Earlier this year, Raul was offered and accepted a pre-Match position in Psychiatry at Metropolitan Hospital, which is affiliated with New York Medical College in New York City. In this article, Raul discusses the factors that led him to psychiatry and shares advice for medical students as they approach clinicals.

Spend just a few moments with Dr. Sophia Stone and it is easy to see why women and families trust her with their pregnancies. Intelligent, courteous, soft-spoken while still self-assured, she has the kind of presence that women often look for in an obstetrician or gynecologist. They are also qualities that make her a valuable mentor for AUC medical students.

Fellowships offer a pathway for physicians to hone their skills in a subspecialty through structured training and research, and the options continue to expand. Among the new additions to the National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP®) Fellowship Match for 2018 is gynecologic oncology, which focuses on the study and treatment of malignancies arising in the female reproductive tract.

According to the American Association of Medical Colleges, there are more than 120 specialties and sub-specialties in medicine today. For medical students in their clinical years, deciding on a medical specialty can feel overwhelming, especially as the residency application period looms. AUC’s Office of Student Professional Development works with students to develop a roadmap for the future and collaborates with each individual to understand career goals and values, and position students for the Match.

Unlike many of my classmates, I entered medical school without a clue as to what type of physician I wanted to be. It wasn’t until my third year that my experiences began to have an enormous influence on my decision. My first clerkship was Internal Medicine. I loved the long-term patient relationships but craved something more fast-paced. My next core clerkship was General Surgery. I enjoyed the drama and satisfaction of immediate results but missed my patients once their post-op care was complete. Pediatrics and Psychiatry were interesting but didn’t inspire me.

More than 240 students, staff, and family from AUC spent their Saturday volunteering across Sint Maarten.

Kanchan Tiwari, MD ’16 had never pictured leaving her home state to pursue medicine, much less going international. But today, this AUC grad is an internal medicine resident at MedStar Health in Baltimore, and couldn’t be happier with the path she took.

While plenty of physicians have dreamed of being a doctor since childhood, many take a little longer to decide that medicine is their calling. Here, several AUC graduates reflect on their own unconventional paths to medical school and their career journeys since graduation.

Alumna Shannon Stegall, MD '16 talks about what it's like to be a nontraditional medical student, the benefits of the Medical Education Readiness Program (MERP), and her experience completing clinical rotations in England.

Natacha Pierre’s journey to become a physician has taken her around the world—from Europe to Africa, Asia to the Caribbean. It hasn’t been an easy journey by any means. But now, as a pediatrics resident who’s presented at symposiums, earned grants for her work in global health, and uses her diverse experience every day at the hospital, Dr. Pierre says it was worth every minute.