Page 16 - FINAL-MSM1907-OVERVIEW_BROCHURE_V10 -1
P. 16
SAM SHEIKALI, M.D.
The sticky note, affixed to a check to Morehouse School of Medicine, seemed
innocuous enough. But a closer look revealed this message: “MSM believed in
me and saw my potential when no other schools did. As a small gesture of my
appreciation for all MSM has done for me, I would like to donate my first paycheck
to the school that got me to where I am.”
The note was signed by Sam Sheikali, a graduate of MSM’s MD program and
an emergency medicine resident. He credits MSM with helping him to achieve a
goal he set when he was just 15 years old, stranded during a trip with his family in
Lebanon, listening to the sound of missiles hitting nearby towns. He saw people
who had been burned from blasts, people whose limbs had been crushed by
collapsed buildings. They could not get adequate healthcare, because they were
poor and lived too far from a major hospital.
"I became very focused on the idea of providing healthcare to the underserved,"
Sheikali says.
So he chose MSM.
"A lot of schools say they're here to serve," he says. "MSM truly puts its money
where its mouth is."
Sheikali decided to follow suit with his gift to the institution.
"I treat my patients as if they are my own family, the way human beings deserve
to be treated,” he says. “These are the principles that MSM instills in its students,
and we get to carry that forward."