Page 38 - MSM Bloomberg Scholarship

Bloomberg Scholarship Impact

Making Student Dreams A Reality

Katie Peagler servant-leader. There was stresses of the finances
involved with medical
no better option than to at-
Lithonia, GA tend the #1 ranked medical school. I can focus more
3rd-year Peagler school for social mission. on learning every day and
not as much on the loan
Why did you choose Morehouse money I am receiving that
Can you tell me a story
School of Medicine? It has always felt about something that has will have to be paid back.
like home for me. I participated in happened during medical It positively affects not only
pipeline programs from 8th grade school that would illustrate me, but my future family.
until I graduated from high school. what the MSM experience
MSM groomed me into the student is really like? Our professor offered What is your take on the nation-
doctor I am now. I knew that MSM to have a review session for class. wide shortage of Black doctors? We
was a place I could continue to grow Sunday worked best for everyone, so urgently need more Black physi-
as a future physician and servant he came to campus and stayed with cians. Our nation’s dark history has
leader. us for hours. Following the review led to explicit and implicit biases
The institution has a proven
track record of producing compas- session, he ordered Popeyes for the that have placed black people in
disproportionately unfair circum-
sionate and competent doctors and class. This may seem minuscule, stances medically, socio-economi-
I wanted to be included in that num- but it illustrates the compassion and cally, and educationally. Statistics
ber. I also wanted to learn and serve family atmosphere that are charac- show that doctors are more likely to
right in my backyard, the communi- teristics of MSM. take care of patients who look like
ties I spent my childhood in.
Has the financial burden of them. More black physicians means
medical school been particularly dif- that more black communities will be
What first interested you in your
program of study or medicine? My ficult for you? Medical school is ex- taken care of to help alleviate some
of the health disparities that we face.
great-great grandmother was a mid- pensive and the idea of the amount
wife in rural south Alabama. I lis- of debt I have is troubling. However, If you could say or do one thing
tened to countless stories about her I know that my passion is to serve to thank the Bloomberg Philanthro-
and had the opportunity to read her the underserved. I come from an pies’ Greenwood Initiative, what
notes and look through her bag of underserved community. Simply would it be? This donation has
put, there is no amount of money
instruments. From that experience, that will steer me away from helping further instilled in me the impor-
combined with my love for biology underserved communities. tance of investing in the future. As
and helping others, I knew that I an established physician, I will pay it
wanted to become an OB/GYN.
Please share how scholarship forward by investing in medical stu-
Was the institution’s mission support helps you — academical- dents’ education, just as Bloomberg
important to you, when you were ly, professionally, and personally? Philanthropies has invested in me
choosing a medical school? Yes. I Scholarship support alleviates the and my peers.
come from an underserved com-
munity. My family hails from
rural south Alabama, which is also More black physicians means that more black
underserved. I have seen, firsthand, communities will be taken care of to help alleviate
the effects of living in areas where “ some of the health disparities ... As an established
access to quality food, healthcare, physician, I will pay it forward by investing in medical
infrastructure are disparate. My students’ education, just as Bloomberg Philanthropies
personal experiences play a big role has invested in me and my peers.
in why I want to be a physician and