June 27, 2018
Meron Meshesha describes herself as “kind of a nomad.” She was born in Ethiopia and has lived in Toronto, Las Vegas, Oakland, Los Angeles, New York and now Flint, where she is finishing her third year in the College of Human Medicine.
Her goal of completing her fourth year of medical school and caring for underserved patients received a boost recently when the American Medical Association Foundation awarded her a 2018 Physicians of Tomorrow Underrepresented in Medicine scholarship. The scholarship rewards academic achievement by “extraordinary medical students” entering their fourth year.
“The selection committee was extremely impressed by your scholastic, personal and professional accomplishments” Tiffany Seay, senior program officer for the AMA Foundation, said in an email notifying Meshesha that she would receive the scholarship.
Meshesha, who also is pursuing a master’s of business administration degree, said she plans on caring for underserved patients while more broadly working to improve the quality of care while controlling medical costs. That includes setting up a practice in the United States, while occasionally traveling back to Ethiopia.
Meshesha had applied to many medical schools before choosing the College of Human Medicine.
“When I interviewed here, I fell in love with the program, the culture, the character,” she said, adding that she particularly felt drawn to the Flint campus.
“One thing I’ve seen in Flint is the resiliency of the community,” she said, as well as “the diversity of the doctors.
“The population is underserved. That’s why I picked Flint. There’s definitely more work that can be done. I want to make sure that wherever I do my residency is in a community like Flint.”