First Year
From Physicist to Physician: Meet M1 Halina Tran
Jan. 24, 2025—By Kyra Letsinger Following your dreams is a phrase so often repeated it can lose its impact. It seems simple: you listen to your heart and pursue the path to get there. In reality, achieving one’s dreams is not for the faint of heart. It is for those who are strong in their convictions, confident...
Finding Purpose in a Passion for People: Meet M1 Abhi Manda
Sep. 5, 2023—By: Kyra Letsinger As a high schooler, Abhi Manda had no plans of becoming a doctor. That is not to say he knew exactly what he wanted to do – in fact, the opposite seemed to be true. There was so much he wanted to do that by the time he completed his first year...
Sylvie Muhimpundu (MPH ’19, MD ’26) applies a degree of experience
Oct. 4, 2022—Rwanda native Sylvie Muhimpundu wanted to be a physician well before she ever came to the United States. Now, she’s working on her second degree from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. By: Lexie Little Shuffling past bustling cars along 21st Avenue in Nashville, Sylvie Muhimpundu reviewed they day’s tasks ahead in her mind as she...
Moving ever forward: M1 Russell Stewart envisions medical future
Oct. 3, 2022—Though his family has a long history at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Russell O. Stewart Jr. keeps his focus on the future in an ever-changing field By: Lexie Little In 1920, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine sat at the intersection of present-day Fifth Avenue and Elm Street in Nashville, now a forgotten lot adjacent...
Diagnosing problems, providing solutions
Sep. 6, 2022—M1 Darryl Delsoin joins the Medical Innovator Development Program (MIDP) with an entrepreneurial mission By: Lexie Little Darryl Delsoin peered through the white smoke cloud. He watched as local Haitian women and men cooked over ash-riddled round stoves fueled by charcoal. Nearby wooden doorways, some stained with soot, stood as the divide between fresh air...
Annual Anatomical Donation Program service honors donors, families
Aug. 26, 2022—By: Lexie Little Each year, the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine community gathers to honor the memories of those who donated to the Anatomical Donation Program, which allows medical students to explore the intricacies of the human body. Families, friends, students, faculty, and staff gathered in Langford Auditorium on Friday, Aug. 26, to remember the...
Computations, conversations keep James Yang at Vanderbilt
Nov. 11, 2021—M1 James Yang remains at Vanderbilt for medical school after working on cancer research by Lexie Little In Murfreesboro, Tennessee, a Jack Russell terrier named Sadie scampers and plays in the mild plateau breeze. Leaves crunch under her feet as she anxiously paws at the ground, waiting on her human to come. He knows how...
M1 Starina D’Souza champions cultural care
Oct. 26, 2021—Vanderbilt University School of Medicine offers a path to fulfilling dreams in her own backyard by Lexie Little Walking between the columns of University School of Nashville as a high school senior, Starina D’Souza looked back at the building established in 1925. Peabody College students had ventured over to what was then the Peabody Demonstration...
M1 Samuel WiseCarver finds purpose at VUSM
Oct. 13, 2021—When a high school injury derailed his future plans, Sam WiseCarver found a path to Vanderbilt by Lexie Little Standing in his biology classroom at Science Hill High School in Johnson City, Tennessee, a 17-year-old Samuel WiseCarver thought more about soccer practice after school than the Punnett squares in his textbook. He took rigorous classes...
Field of His Dreams: Derek Riffert returns to VUSM
Oct. 5, 2021—An undergraduate experience through Vanderbilt’s Summer Science Academy prompted M1 Derek Riffert to return for medical school by Lexie Little M1 Derek Riffert shares a first name with his hero, Derek Jeter. As a kid in West Lafayette, Indiana, he watched the five-time World Series champion lead the New York Yankees to win after win....