With a diverse range of backgrounds, talents and interests, the School of Medicine's newest cohort of M.D. students has arrived on the MCV Campus.
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By School of Medicine
August 6, 2021
In the Class of 2025, you’ll find...
A fashion model, a phlebotomist, a farmer and a physical therapist.
A public health worker, a medical device developer and a molecular genetics researcher who studied coronary artery disease.
A first-generation college graduate and a soon-to-be first author on a research paper.
An artist who drew caricatures and another who does chalk murals.
An immigrant from Bulgaria and interns from NASA and the U.S. House of Representatives.
Baristas, bartenders and ballerinas who danced the Nutcracker and Swan Lake.
Volunteers who staffed a suicide hotline, hurricane relief and the security team for Kevin Hart’s Irresponsible tour.
On their way to medical school, they…
Served as EMTs in Seattle during the pandemic, as head scribe in the UVA emergency department, as a COVID-19 case investigator and on L.A. County’s Skid Row providing wellness checks and COVID-19 tests.
Created a charcuterie and luxury picnic company, watched every Harry Potter movie in one day and turned at least one apartment into a mini-jungle with more than 40 houseplants.
Survived the bite of an Australian paralysis tick, an encounter with grizzly bears and Ewing’s sarcoma of the pancreas. Flew on a flying trapeze, rode an ostrich in Aruba and a camel in the desert.
Performed with a sketch comedy group, played the flute at Carnegie Hall and traveled the country as a science rapper.
Jumped out of planes over the Caribbean, off cliffs in Cancun and into a 32-degree Lake Michigan.
Swam with sharks and through seven million jellyfish, fostered kittens and trained a wild horse.
Hiked the Grand Canyon, trekked through the mountains of Nepal, solo backpacked in Thailand and climbed the highest peak in the Rocky Mountains.
Lived nearby in Richmond, far away in West Africa and on a boat in the South Pacific.
In four years …
Several will be the first physicians in their family.
And at least one will have mastered the ukulele.
In the Class of 2025, you’ll find...
A fashion model, a phlebotomist, a farmer and a physical therapist.
A public health worker, a medical device developer and a molecular genetics researcher who studied coronary artery disease.
A first-generation college graduate and a soon-to-be first author on a research paper.
An artist who drew caricatures and another who does chalk murals.
An immigrant from Bulgaria and interns from NASA and the U.S. House of Representatives.
Baristas, bartenders and ballerinas who danced the Nutcracker and Swan Lake.
Volunteers who staffed a suicide hotline, hurricane relief and the security team for Kevin Hart’s Irresponsible tour.
On their way to medical school, they…
Served as EMTs in Seattle during the pandemic, as head scribe in the UVA emergency department, as a COVID-19 case investigator and on L.A. County’s Skid Row providing wellness checks and COVID-19 tests.
Created a charcuterie and luxury picnic company, watched every Harry Potter movie in one day and turned at least one apartment into a mini-jungle with more than 40 houseplants.
Survived the bite of an Australian paralysis tick, an encounter with grizzly bears and Ewing’s sarcoma of the pancreas. Flew on a flying trapeze, rode an ostrich in Aruba and a camel in the desert.
Performed with a sketch comedy group, played the flute at Carnegie Hall and traveled the country as a science rapper.
Jumped out of planes over the Caribbean, off cliffs in Cancun and into a 32-degree Lake Michigan.
Swam with sharks and through seven million jellyfish, fostered kittens and trained a wild horse.
Hiked the Grand Canyon, trekked through the mountains of Nepal, solo backpacked in Thailand and climbed the highest peak in the Rocky Mountains.
Lived nearby in Richmond, far away in West Africa and on a boat in the South Pacific.
In four years …
Several will be the first physicians in their family.
And at least one will have mastered the ukulele.
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The talents and hobbies of the Class of 2025
Amy Doody danced in the Richmond Ballet’s “The Nutcracker” over four years in five different roles.Anneliese Boczek performed Swan Lake alongside New York City Ballet dancers.Ashley Parkhurst competed as a gymnast for nearly 10 years.Brett Huckstep backpacked the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, coming within 50 yards of grizzly bears.Carolyn Pollack (right) with her fiance and border collie Jed, who she takes (almost) everywhere she goes.Charles Reiter, at VCU Health Operating Room Family Day in 2004, remembers applying surgical staples to close a banana peel.Chase Nelson swam with whale sharks in the Philippines.Christia Aspili served as a symphony orchestra conductor during college.Cody McIntire played football in college, where he also participated in eating competitions.Divya Shan has taken pictures at more than 85 events through her photography business.Elyse Nguyen hiked to the top of Dalsnibba in Norway above the Geirangerfjord.Helen Query rode an ostrich in Aruba as a child; during COVID-19, she served as head scribe in an ED.Hiba Vohra and her husband, an incoming School of Dentistry student, married in June. Photo by The Wedding Laddu.Jamal Khan joined a competitive Bhangra team in college.Janet Atere worked at a U.S. Department of Agriculture honeybee research lab.Jason Hung paints mini-figures and once primed, painted and varnished over 400 pieces in a week.Jewel Washington jumped off a 21-foot cliff into a natural lagoon in Cancun, Mexico.Julia Smith interned at NASA and performed an experiment on a zero-gravity plane.Kayla Ervin volunteered at a National Health Service hospital in London.Kayla Harley (far left) threw varsity shot put, discus, hammer and weight throw in college.Kevin Han, pictured in Mount Rainier National Park, traveled through Asia as a freelance photographer.Jote Limeneh conducted research and taught elementary students about dental health in Ethiopia.Mariam Samuel, pictured in Bali, is trilingual and has visited 12 countries in five years.Matthew Jones competes in Olympic weightlifting and placed fourth in a national competition.Mehtab Khara, who has performed Bhangra since age 5, also competed in college.Michael Costa is an identical twin; brother Jimmy serves in the Marine Corps.Morgan Villa helped birth a Clydesdale and cared for 12 foals while working at an equine vet.Peter Daniels completed a decathlon on a dare, opening the door to competing in pole vault and javelin in college.Polina Bukina founded Picnic RVA, a charcuterie and luxury picnic company, during the pandemic.Rebecca Xu, a former fashion model, is a classically trained ballerina who once played the flute at Carnegie Hall.Rianna Banerjee created a mini jungle during the pandemic, adding more than 40 houseplants to her apartment.Sriya Kolli plays four instruments and sings with an a cappella group.Sarah Edwards (standing) has performed in theater productions along the East Coast, including as Squeaky Fromme in “Assassins” (her favorite role).Sheel Shah, pictured in Yosemite Valley, loves traveling and has visited 20 countries to date.Taylor Harrold and her husband met at her first job — drawing caricatures.Terry Everett (left) and his identical twin travel the country performing science raps.Tucker Smith spent his gap year performing with the Flying Royals trapeze troupe.Vanessa Lin (left) traveled to Puerto Rico to volunteer with hurricane relief work and rainforest restoration.Zhelia Arif is a rock climber and became the first Kurdish woman to climb a sport route in Iraqi Kurdistan.
