09/09/2020
From Chicago State to Meharry Medical College
Written by Tamara Prather
We’ll always remember May 25, 2020. That was the day George Floyd’s last breath was taken at the knee of an officer of the state. He struggled to breath under that knee for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. The event came on the heels of the nation watching a video of an unarmed, unsuspecting Ahmaud Arbery being shot and killed while jogging down a Georgia road in broad daylight, and reports of a 26-year old Breonna Taylor being shot and killed in her home in the middle of the night by Louisville, KY police officers. George Floyd’s death was the last straw for many in the nation and around the world, and sparked widespread protests and an outcry for revolution that continues to today. In Chicago, the protests reached a climax on the Saturday following George Floyd’s murder, and while the fight for justice on the streets was a balm to the pain and trauma of racial oppression in many ways, it was not without complexity and pain, itself. The pain of young people being harmed in the streets, the pain of seeing many in our city value protecting property over people, and the pain of seeing others risk their health traveling through the broken glass of store windows to secure basic needs. This all intersecting with the pain of a devastating global health pandemic that disproportionately impacts Black and Brown communities.
Fighting was necessary. It was also painful. And, as hopeful as I was, I was also heartbroken and scared.
So, on Monday, June 1, when I received an e-mail from our Provident Scholar, Eric Madu, with the subject line, “I got accepted into Meharry Medical College... Thanks to the Provident Foundation!!!!!,” it brought tears of joy to my eyes, and a dose of light in the darkness.
Eric was awarded a Provident Scholarship in 2016, while a senior at Chicago State University, and has been an incredibly engaged and treasured member of the Provident Foundation family since then. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to catch-up with Eric and hear about his recent news and his inspiring journey along the way.
You see, the path from Chicago State to medical school is not traveled. Chicago State has not had a student graduate and continue on to medical school in recent history, so Eric’s journey is unique. It is one that speaks to the power of faith, persistence, hard work, and having a community of supporters that you are intentional about tapping into and maximizing. Eric and I spoke for almost an hour, and here is a sample of our conversation. I hope you enjoy it.
Tamara: Since this is the first time we’ve caught up in a while, I would love to hear about the process of applying to Meharry and getting in. What was that like, and how do you feel about it?
Eric: It’s a journey... it’s a journey that comes with being persistent. A journey that comes with being focused. It’s a journey... which... your heart cries for. It’s a journey that you know is not just for you, it’s for the people that have been left behind. It’s not just for you… it’s for the next generation that is coming behind you that needs to be affected. I graduated from Chicago State in 2017. That day of the graduation, I knew that the walk ahead of me was much bigger. After the graduation, I worked as a molecular biologist contractor doing gene sequencing. From there, I transitioned to Abbot Labs to work as a technical product support personnel. I was doing a lot of data analysis for virus testing. I worked there for about 10 months, and it was a good experience. But I knew the dream still lied ahead of me. I had taken the MCAT three times. There were men and women who supported me financially, academically. I received a scholarship of $3K from the Provident Foundation. I shadowed a general surgeon at the University of Chicago, [a connection made] through Dr. James Woodruff and the Provident Foundation's mentoring program. I also volunteered at the University of Chicago ER and logged 200 hours. All those experiences helped me [to remain focused] and know that I couldn’t leave all this investment behind. What is the next generation that I need to empower going to say? They need someone to see that this journey is achievable. So, I applied to Meharry Medical College and was routed to their masters of health science’s program. I did that program for 12 months, and it helped me to get into the medical school. That’s a transition not everyone can go through because it takes a lot of focus to go from leaving undergrad in 2017, working for two years, doing a master’s program, and still seeing the promised land. It’s amazing.
Remind me why a career in medicine is so important to you, personally.
I was born and raised in Nigeria, and migrated to the states in 2013. Before migrating to the states, living in a country in West Africa opened my eyes to healthcare inequality. My sister had Hepatitis C, which was very rough on my mother because she was a single mother. She was doing a lot to make sure my sister felt better. There was also a lot of malaria and parasite disease. The closest healthcare center was far away from the population. I knew that if there needed to be a change, I would have to step up to be the change. I decided to study biology and pursue medicine to be able to correct some healthcare inequalities, not just in West Africa, but also in the United States. You see the healthcare inequalities that COVID-19 exposed us to in this country. Now think about what is going on in African, if this is what the U.S. is experiencing. Think about India, Pakistan. Think about what is going on in Haiti, in Jamaica. Just think about that for a minute. I know that the change is within me to step up and [help] address it.
When you think about starting medical school, what do you hope your experience will be? What do you hope to learn and gain? What are you expecting and preparing yourself for?
I’m a very open person. I hope for the good, the bad, and the ugly because life will give you the three of them. I’m not hoping for medical school to be a bed of roses. I’m hoping to work through it. I’m hoping to be educated and to know how to provide the best and adequate healthcare to patients in the future. To know how to be able to care for them and to provide for them to make sure that they are well, that they are doing amazing. I’m hoping that in these four years, I will become the physician I dream of becoming. The physician that serves the underserved.
As we think about upcoming and current Provident Scholars, what advice would you give to them? Provident focuses on young scholars of color who may not have the clearest path forward to medical school. They may have some hurdles or challenges – it may be GPA, it may be the school they’re attending, they may have financial struggles. What advice would you give anyone coming up who may have a more difficult road ahead.
One of the things I would say to them is, “never feel that you are inadequate.” Each of us come to points in our lives where we question things that have happened in the past, but believing that the next step might be the right step is what you need to do. Number two is maximize all resources. You live life just once. You’re going to get a lot of things from the Provident Foundation - maximize it, hunger for it, run after it like never before. Maximize the connections they give to you. Maximize the fact that you’re able to reach out to people who are going to be able to send your name and speak good for you to people who can help you. Dr. James [Woodruff] reached out to me after receiving a scholarship saying we don’t just want to give you a scholarship, we want to mentor you. I was able to log hours at University of Chicago ER because I reached out to them. All of these things helped differentiate me in my medical school application. The third one I want to say is share your failures with [Provident]. The second time I took the MCAT, I sent it to Dr. James and said I got this low score and I don’t know what to do. He encouraged me to try again. Also, share your success stories – this is what encourages the next generation. Number four, make sure that you reach back to the next generation. It is very important. At the end of life, it is not what you have in your bank account, it is how much life you have impacted.
