Steven Kelsey spent 12 years on active duty with the U.S. Navy and flew 142-passenger aircraft for Delta Airlines before applying to medical school.
Jessica Clemons reaffirmed her dream of becoming a doctor after working with underprivileged patients and selling pharmaceuticals for nearly three years.
Dan Garcia discovered a passion for medicine while earning a doctorate in biomedical engineering, for which he worked to harness technology that would allow physicians to test specimens in their own offices.
As members of Weill Cornell Medical College's Class of 2015, Kelsey, Clemons and Garcia all share a fascination with and enthusiasm for medicine. But they all embraced their passions in unique ways, using their life experiences to guide them along diverse paths to a common goal.
"By having a diverse student population, you gain a diverse sense of personalities through which everyone can offer different perspectives," said Kelsey, 39, a Virginia native. "In many ways, that enriches my experience."
The Medical College strives year after year to recruit students from assorted backgrounds that represent a snapshot of America.
Jessica Clemons discusses her interest in medicine inside a Weill Cornell Medical College classroom. Now a first-year medical student, Clemons reaffirmed her calling after spending three years working in the health care industry.
"Students who have learned from the diverse experiences of their classmates will likely be more skilled in caring for a diverse patient population as physicians," said Dr. Charles Bardes, professor of clinical medicine and associate dean of admissions for Weill Cornell Medical College.
The Class of 2015 is comprised of 101 students, selected from 5,722 applicants. The students – 18 percent of whom are from groups under-represented in medicine – hail from 23 different states and Puerto Rico and speak 18 different languages.
Studying at 59 different undergraduate institutions, 58 students earned degrees in science, 31 in non-science and 12 in science and non-science (as double majors). Ten students have graduate degrees, nine of which are master's degrees. Some took at least a year off from school, while others went directly from undergraduate studies.
As a pilot for the Navy, Kelsey spent a tour in Iraq calling in air support for Navy SEALs. But it was watching corpsmen treat shrapnel wounds on the battlefield that made him realize that medicine is one of the greatest forms of service to the American men and women in uniform, he said.
Dan Garcia, a first-year medical student at Weill Cornell Medical College, in a laboratory. Garcia discovered a passion for medicine while completing his doctorate in biomedical engineering.
Clemons always wanted to be a doctor, but before she returned to the world of all-nighters and marathon study sessions, she joined the workforce to see if health care was truly her calling. Working at a community health center serving patients insured by Medicare, Medicaid or those who had no insurance at all was a turning point for her. That experience instilled in her the importance of health literacy.
"The most important part of being a doctor," Clemons, 27, of Alabama said, "is being able to relate to my patients or use terms they can understand so they can get better and buy into changing their lifestyles."
Physicians can practice clinically, conduct research in a lab, teach, or devise new medical technologies. That aspect is of particular interest to Garcia, whose attraction to medicine, much like biomedical engineering, is rooted in its interdisciplinary nature.
"Physicians have the opportunity to affect people in a variety of ways," said Garcia, 31, of California. "In many ways, that's based on an individual physician's background and experience."
"Cornell University has been committed to diversity from its very founding, and the Medical College upholds that commitment," said Dr. Bardes. "Our students reflect all that is positive about this policy."
Photography by Weill Cornell Art & Photography.