Page 7 - Scholarship Report 2020

Scholarship Impact

Making Student Dreams A Reality

Kamron Robinson was exposed to a lot of life’s who come from under-
served communities, can
challenges and disparities.
St. Louis, MO As a child and teenager, I become a barrier to enter-
4th-year M.D. student did not understand how the ing medical school due to
same street in neighboring not being able to afford the
What first interested you in your
program of medicine? From June zip codes had different re- materials needed to do well
on the exam.
sources and how it affected
2008 to October 2008, I spent count- the community. I knew that It is important to ad-
less hours in the ICU of St. Louis in order to combat these dress this shortage because
Children’s Hospital looking over my social determinants of the health of the Black
seven-year-old cousin, Karee, while health as a professional, I would need community depends on it. According
she battled Idiopathic Pulmonary to be at an institution that prides to different studies, patients respond
Hemosiderosis. themselves on making physicians better to physicians who look like
Roaming those halls, I saw that not only heal patients, but doc- them. Better response leads to better
everything that could happen to a tor the community as well. compliance by patients and this leads
kid -- from gunshot wounds to first to better health outcomes.
degree burns on 90 percent of their Please share how scholarship
small frame. I grasped the fact that support helps you — academically, What do you hope to accomplish
near-death experiences can happen professionally, and personally? This in your career after graduation/
to anyone. I watched how the physi- scholarship helped me in many ways. residency? I hope to practice in an
cians used their tools and knowledge I became motivated and reinvigo- underserved community where I
to repair the body to restore them to rated because I knew that people am also an active member of the
full health and mobility. believed in me, my dreams and my community. I also hope to create and
Then something seemingly small goals so much that they were willing change policies that help margin-
changed in how I viewed the physi- to give me such an amazing gift. Pro- alized populations close the health,
cian-patient relationship. Before the fessionally, this allows me to focus wealth, and educational gap. I believe
physician would leave, the patient on my career without the stress of that my education at Morehouse
would curve the corner of their having a huge debt burden. I will be School of Medicine equipped me
mouth outwards, upward, exposing able to serve the community and of- with the knowledge and skill to make
their teeth, expressing their joy. Even fer free services to those who cannot my hopes into reality.
when Karee passed from complica- afford it.
tions of her illness, I remembered the If you could say or do one thing
smile she always had for her physi- What is your take on the nation- to thank your scholarship donors
cians. wide shortage of minority doctors? what would it be? Thank you so
That bond of affection and trust, I believe that there needs to be new much for this amazing gift. You have
despite the sometimes-insurmount- ways to gauge interest in the medical inspired generations of physicians
able challenge of her disease, sparked profession while also revamping how that will practice in communities that
something inside of me. Her courage we assess a candidate’s potential in need doctors and advocates. Your gift
and fearlessness and their determina- becoming a physician. will continue to be multiplied by the
tion to heal her are what inspired me The standardize test, to many many lives we will touch and help.
to want to become a physician.

Was the institution’s mission You have inspired generations of physicians that
important to you, when you were “ will practice in communities that need doctors
choosing a medical school? This insti- and advocates. Your gift will continue to be
tution’s mission was my main reason multiplied by the many lives we will touch and
of coming to Morehouse School of
Medicine. Being from St. Louis, I help.