When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, Emran Hassanzada’s parents fled the country. Like so many refugees, they left everything behind—careers, a home, friends and family—for a shot at a better life. They were chasing the American Dream.
It was January 1, 2016. After an 8-hour flight from Detroit, Michigan, I landed in St. Maarten for my very first semester at American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine (AUC).
Growing up, Meredith Harrison would do extra chores to help sponsor a child through World Vision, a nonprofit that fights poverty and injustice. In her spare time, she fostered rabbits for the Michigan Rabbit Rescue, taking them in after their original owners weren’t able to care for them.
After deciding to take a gap year between undergraduate and medical school, Caitlyn Gottwald was anxious that it might hinder her goal to become a physician. But she used that year to help strengthen her application through work experience, and in doing so, made an invaluable connection.
While he was in junior high, Matthew Lew went on a medical mission trip to Tijuana with his dad (a Los Angeles family medicine physician), his family, and some of his father’s colleagues. The goal: provide quality medical care to the area’s underserved populations.