Spotlight on spectacular students
of the Medical School (continued)

By Darla Brown

Nadia Hernandez, 4th Year
Brownsville, TX (hometown)

FYI about Nadia: A first-generation college student, the youngest of 13 children

Award received: Physicians of Tomorrow Scholarship from the American Medical Association Foundation

Why is this award important to you? When I got the e-mail that I had won their $10,000 tuition assistance award, I literally jumped and yelled at the top of my lungs! I ran a couple of laps around the Learning Resource Center to calm down and I called my fiancé to yell some more. I was so excited and surprised. I could not believe it! All the long hours I have put in for the past three years are finally starting to pay off ... literally! I feel so honored to have been chosen from medical students all over the country as someone who the AMA Foundation deemed worthy of all of this money. It truly is a blessing. My parents combined income for 2007 was less than this scholarship, so I really just cannot explain the feeling I got when I told my mother. She is so proud of me.

What will it help you to achieve? It will definitely help relieve the financial burden of student loans from the past eight years. It can be overwhelming without financial support from parents. Scholarships like these will make a significant dent in my six-figure debt.

Why do you think you won it? Because I had the help of others; I could not have done it without help from the Office of Student Affairs and Dr. Ebony Williams (the pediatrics attending who recommended me for the award). Even some of my fellow medical students helped me revise my personal statement for this scholarship. I am very grateful for all their help.

How competitive was this award? I was one of 15 in the nation to receive this scholarship.

What has been the most challenging part of medical school? The most challenging part of medical school has definitely been trying to balance my personal life with academic excellence and leadership in school. At times, students get caught up trying to conquer every obstacle that gets thrown in our direction and devote the majority of our time to our studies. As a result of hard work and dedication, personal relationships suffer. Although we achieve our educational goals, we can still feel like something is missing when everything is said and done. I’ve improved over the years, but I still have some work to do.

What are your plans after medical school? I would like to leave this world knowing that I made a difference. My ultimate goals are to set up free clinics along the Mexico/U.S. border to serve the indigent illegal patients who are afraid to seek medical attention due to fear of being deported. Through volunteer work in these clinics, I want to expose underprivileged students to great mentors and hopefully impact their lives in a positive manner.