Education

In an old family farmhouse outside small Delavan, Minnesota, Mike Hoffman is getting to know his mom a bit better. She died nearly 40 years ago, but through a stack of yellowed letters, Mike and his wife, Tami, are delving into a part of her life that they didn't previously know much about -- her life built upon her nursing studies at Mayo Clinic.

Yonghun Kim grew up in North Carolina, half a world away from his grandfather in South Korea. When his grandfather was diagnosed with terminal gallbladder cancer, Yonghun felt helpless. He decided to change that feeling following the death of his grandfather by becoming a physician.

Emergency departments can be chaotic. Nurses and doctors moving quickly to meet patient needs, the wheels of gurneys rolling along hard floors, and monitoring equipment beeping to draw the attention of care providers. It was there that Fatima Islam discovered something was missing from her career.

Larry Connor will be one of four civilians from around the world to take part in the flight.

As a pathologist, Melanie Bois, M.D., doesn't see her patients face-to-face. She doesn't hear the struggle or fear in their voice as they talk about how they are feeling. Yet, she's critical to their care. The information Dr. Bois garners looking at samples of body tissue is often what allows care teams to unlock patients' medical mysteries and start treatments.

Growing up in the Dominican Republic, Johanny Lopez Dominguez remembers her grandfather's health struggle. He lived in a remote part of the country, and it was challenging to get the care he needed for his diabetes and cardiovascular disease, resulting in many complications. A spot of hope was a physician who periodically traveled several miles to care for her grandfather.

Darcy Reed's Mayo Clinic journey started 25 years ago, and she remembers well the first time she walked through the door as a student at Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine.

Shannon T.N. Coombs has faced her share of adversity well before this year. So, managing — and thriving as a medical student — through a global pandemic is just another step toward her ultimate goal.

The term "fourth-year medical student" feels like a misnomer for Nicolas Rubel, who is finishing his final year at the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine in Florida.

According to family legend, Joan Arndt was 3 years old when she declared to her parents that she was going to be a “book lady.” With a life lived in service of reading, it is easy to understand Joan's concern when she was diagnosed with a rare eye condition.