Former Olympian Pursues New Dream of Being a Physician at Fort Worth Medical School

FORT WORTH – Getting accepted into medical school is something that most people would consider as beating the odds.

For Isabella Amado, a first-year medical student at TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine, getting accepted into medical school was actually the second time she beat the odds to do something most people dream of doing.

“It was very surreal to be competing on the biggest sporting stage in the world at the 2016 Olympics in Rio,” Amado said. “That’s what I had been dreaming of since (I was) 5 years old when I started the sport. Before me, there had not been a gymnast from Panama at the Olympics. I was so excited to be there and be a part of history for Panama.”

Amado, native of Panama, moved with her family to Virginia Beach, Va., when she started high school in 2011 and began training at Excalibur Gymnastics. In 2014, as a senior in high school, she had her best meet at the Medellin World Cup. Amado took home the bronze medal in vault and earned gold on beam. Her performance helped her land a spot on at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio where she represented Panama as a part of the women’s gymnastics team.

“At one point, I didn’t think I was going to make it because it is very difficult,” Amado said. “To see that I accomplished that little girls’ dream is still surreal.”

On her road to the world’s biggest sporting stage, she competed against some of the best gymnasts in the world including one of the most decorated gymnasts of all time with a combined total of 30 Olympic and World Championship medals, Simone Biles.

She first met Biles in April 2014 during the Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships in Canada. The meet was one of the precursor events for the 2014 World Gymnastics Championships that would take place later that Fall.

“It really opened my eyes to what I was doing,” said Amado. “Just seeing her being this amazing world champion and just being her amazing self and getting ready so she can be in peak form in October for the world championships was pretty cool for me to watch.”

Following the 2016 Olympics in Rio, she returned home to Panama along with the other Olympians who represented the country to much fanfare.

“The first year after the Olympics there was so much hype around us so it was a big deal,” Amado said. “I felt a little famous which was weird for me because I always just felt like Isabella. Now, I’m like this Olympian girl that little girls know. There’s so many girls doing gymnastics now and I opened that road for them and they feel like they can make it now.”

After the Olympics, she started college and enrolled in Boise State University. During her time as a part of their gymnastics team, she was named to the Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference (MRGC) All-Academic Team and WCGA Scholastic All-American as a freshman, sophomore and junior. As a junior in 2019, she led Boise State to their fifth-straight Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference Championship and won a conference title on the beam posting a score of 9.90.

As a senior in 2020, she was named to the All-Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference Second Team where she won three titles on beam and one title on floor exercises. Her final season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, life is a bit different for Admado after graduating from Boise State in May 2021, she decided to give up gymnastics and pursue a career in medicine.

“It’s been a little difficult to adjust to not having four hours of your day to just gymnastics and just trying to find my new thing,” Amado said.

Ultimately, finding her new passion to study medicine at TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine wasn’t too hard to pinpoint for two reasons.

First, Amado’s great grandmother, Hermelinda Cambra, graduated from Tulane University School of Medicine in the early 1940s. She returned home to Panama and broke down barriers in medicine becoming the second female physician in Panama and the country’s first female Pediatrician.

Cambra passed away before Amado was born, but the stories about her that have been passed down from her grandmother and mother show how determined Cambra was to make an impact in Panama.

“She was definitely a woman ahead of her time and she didn’t settle,” Amado said. “She continued to make her mark in the country. I’ve followed in her footsteps in being the first person to do something historic in Panama and add to the country’s history and now I’m following my dream of becoming a physician.”

Her second reason is connected to gymnastics and her passion for sports.

While competing, her and her teammates dealt with various injuries throughout their careers. She added that she owes the success she’s had in gymnastics and making it to the Olympics to the physicians that treated her throughout her career.

“I loved seeing the doctors interact with us. Without my doctors I wouldn’t have been able to pursue my dreams,” Amado said. “I owe a huge part of that accomplishment to them and I want to be that person for someone else now.”

While she begins her new journey in medicine, her advice to future Olympians is a simple one.

“I would say enjoy the moment,” Amado said. “You’re already there it’s the biggest stage in the world and it happens every four years. Just take it all in and enjoy it and live in the present.”