FORT WORTH – TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine student Charna Kinard will serve as a member of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Organization of Student Representatives for the 2021-2022 academic year.

In this role, Kinard, a third-year medical student, will be the liaison for the Fort Worth medical school and provide input to the AAMC on behalf of the students at the medical school.

“It just really hits all the things I’m passionate about,” Kinard said. “As a non-traditional student, I truly believe in the holistic process and review of an applicant for medical school and for residency. I also feel like our medical school embodies that and taking that holistic process into account for a candidate.”

The students selected by the OSR serve as the primary link between the OSR Administrative Board and committee. OSR liaison appointments are one-year terms that are renewable yearly by the OSR until the medical student graduates from their institution.

The OSR is divided into seven different committees:

• Advancing Holistic Principles Advisory Committee (HRPAC)
• Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS®)
• Careers in Medicine Advisory Committee
• Group on Institutional Planning Steering Committee
• Group on Student Affairs – Committee on Admissions (GSA-COA)
• Student Surveys Advisory Committee
• Visiting Student Learning Opportunities (VSLO) Advisory Committee

“Charna’s role as a part of the Advancing Holistic Principles Advisory Committee within the AAMC is well suited for her strengths as a powerful and passionate leader as well as her love for supporting fellow students,” said Danika Franks, M.D., assistant dean for Student Affairs at the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine. “As our medical school grows, these connections contribute to the knowledge of our program both nationally and internationally, and most specifically illuminates how the training that develops Empathetic Scholars® is transforming healthcare.”

The OSR collectively looks at ways to address disparities in the pre-medical, medical and graduate medical application process.

“The committee is at a point where they have collected a lot of data and now they can begin to consider doing more pilot programs that can help increase transparency,” Kinard said. “We’re addressing the disparities as far as representation.”

The AAMC leads and serves the academic medicine community to improve the health of people everywhere. Founded in 1876 and based in Washington, D.C., the AAMC is a not-for-profit association dedicated to transforming health through medical education, health care, medical research, and community collaborations, according to the AAMC website.

The AAMC also houses the American Medical College Application Service® (AMCAS®), which is a centralized medical school application processing service. Most U.S. medical schools use AMCAS as the primary application method for their first-year entering classes.

Medical students are the individuals who are most impacted by any changes made by the AAMC, Dr. Franks added.

“As medical education evolves, the transition from undergraduate medical education to graduate medical graduation and the processes that are involved are changing at a rapid pace,” Dr. Franks said. “Medical students should have a significant voice at the table to share their perspectives, experiences, concerns and ideas for all processes that govern this transition.”

FORT WORTH – Two TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine students are featured in a bold, new TCU television commercial.

The TV spot entitled “This Is for the Leaders,” premiered August 22 during the TCU women’s soccer match vs. Texas A&M University and aired again on September 4 during the opening TCU football game.

The new 30-second television commercial features two medical students: Edmundo Esparza, MS-3, and Kevin Chao, MS-1.

“So many higher education commercials look the same,” Megan Murphey-Jones, TCU director of marketing, said. “You can watch an entire spot and not be able to identify the college until the logo hits the screen. We wanted this commercial to be definitively TCU.”

Third-year medical student at the TCU & UNTHSC School of Medicine

Hometown: El Paso, Texas

A member of the inaugural class of the TCU & UNTHSC School of Medicine, known as Dorman Scholars, Edmundo received his undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at El Paso in biological sciences with a biomedical concentration and holds an MBA in healthcare operations management. In medical school, Edmundo has been actively involved with both curricular and para-curricular activities, including helping design a medical Spanish class for third-year electives and organizing and implementing the annual back-to-school supplies drive for Fort Worth-area students. Edmundo is interested in pursuing a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in critical care, and because of his passion for teaching, he eventually sees a future in academia.

Major: Biology ’21; first-year at the TCU & UNTHSC School of Medicine

Hometown: Irvine, Calif.

Before graduating in May 2021, Kevin climbed TCU’s all-time record books for his performances in the pool and served as captain of the men’s swimming team for two seasons. His professors praised him for leadership, both in the pool and in the classroom, and said he “embodies everything collegiate athletic programs strive to achieve—someone who attains both academic and athletic success and also uses his athletic experiences to develop and grow as an individual.” Kevin is now in his first year of medical school and set to graduate in 2025.

FORT WORTH – As a fourth-grader, Sophie Wix knew she wanted to be a Fulbright Scholar.

She was inspired by her cousin who studied ballet in Germany as a part of the program.

“I was so drawn to it I knew it was something I wanted to pursue,” Wix said.

Wix, a third-year medical student at TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine, became at Fulbright Scholar when she received the Fulbright Open Study Award in the United Kingdom while finishing up her senior year at University of Southern California in 2018.

“I remember getting the call and I was on the phone with my mom walking home and I saw this strange number calling me,” Wix said. “I just stopped and sat down on a bench and started to cry. I was so excited. I had no idea that it would really happen.”

TCU is celebrating the 75^thanniversary of the Fulbright Program by highlighting current and past Fulbright Scholars that are a part of the TCU Horned Frog family.

Wix was the first graduate of USC to receive the prestigious, and coveted, Fulbright Open Study Award in the United Kingdom. Fulbright only selects two students for that award each year.

Her path to becoming a Fulbright Scholar ended up being through medicine, specifically research. She got her first opportunity to delve into research at 16 when she was an intern at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) in Phoenix, Arizona.

When she arrived at USC two years later, she got the opportunity to work in the Convergent Science Institute in Cancer at USC alongside research professors Peter Kuhn and James Hicks. She studied and helped in developing the proteomics of circulating tumor cells. Those types of tumor cells are key in helping scientists analyze cancer cells at their protein levels. It helps scientists better understand how a tumor interacts with the entire human body over time.

While at USC she had the opportunity to hear Carlos Caldas, Professor of Cancer Medicine at Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute at University of Cambridge give a presentation at an American Association for Cancer Research conference.

She was amazed by his presentation, but little did she know that she would soon be working alongside him at his research lab in Cambridge as a Fulbright Scholar.

“I’ve been really fortunate to work on some cutting-edge research,” Wix said. “He hosted me for a project related to molecularly characterizing patient-derived xenografts as part of a larger clinical trial.”

In Professor Caldas’s lab, she worked with breast cancer patient tumors that were taken out of the primary cancer patient and implanted into mice. They would try different drug treatments on the mice to see which one had a better response at treating the tumor.

“It’s helpful for physicians because once we’ve identified through tests that the treatment the patient is on didn’t work but the treatment that mouse X was on worked to treat the same tumor then a physician would be able to use the molecular characterization data that we collected,” Wix said. “It would show that the patient would have a better response to a certain treatment which could also be useful in treating future patients with similar tumors.”

As a part of receiving her Master of Philosophy in Medical Science at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute under Professor Caldas, she was given an opportunity to present her work at the 65^th International Berlin Seminar for Fulbright Scholars in March 2019.

The event brought together more than 550 Fulbright Scholars along with their family and friends.

“It was a huge honor to present our work from the Caldas lab at the Berlin conference,” Wix said. “I was able to share my work with thousands of other Fulbright Scholars from all over Europe.”

Now, she is training to become an Empathetic Scholar ® at the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine, where the approach to medical education is patient-centered and communication is embedded into every part of the curriculum.

The novel approach to medical education resonates with Wix and the values she learned as a Fulbright Scholar.

“Something that we all (Fulbright Scholars) shared was a sense of community, empathy, sensitivity for your fellow man,” Wix said. “Then moving to Texas to come to this school I felt right at home. We’re getting a significant amount of stimulation in the intellectual sense but in addition to that we are being trained to be good humans and genuine empathetic physicians.”

FORT WORTH– There’s an old saying in business that goes, “there is no time like the present to get your idea off the ground,” and that’s exactly what Coltin Gerhart did recently.

Gerhart, a second-year medical student at TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine, received a $1,500 grant from the TCU Neeley School of Business Create Opportunity powered by Shaddock Seed Fund, a part of their Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

“It’s cool because I had been sitting on this idea for a year and a half before I got accepted into medical school,” Gerhart said.

The Create fund launched during the 2019-2020 academic year at TCU and has already funded 53 ideas from all eight schools and colleges across the TCU Campus. Participants could pitch their idea through a video submission explaining their idea and its usefulness in any field for a chance to receive up to $25,000 in funding.

Two days before the submission deadline back in March, Gerhart decided to clean up his email inbox where he stumbled upon the Create fund email.

“I was eating dinner while I was scrolling through my email and I looked at the date and it said I only had 36 hours left to submit,” Gerhart said. “I was sitting there thinking what am I going to do.”

Gerhart had a Clinical Skills session coming up the following day and knew that he wouldn’t get back home until late that night. Instead of waiting until the last minute, before class began the next morning, he pulled out his smartphone and recorded a video pitch of his idea.

“I had it in this little black folder I had been carrying around,” Gerhart said. “I just took a chance and recorded myself talking about the idea and where I thought it could fit and what problems I thought it would solve.”

That spontaneous video submission is exactly what the Create fund is about. The flyer that was emailed to students across the TCU campus urged students, “Don’t overthink it, just do it.”

The video pitch needed to be 5-7 minutes long, present a problem and a solution, identify the competition and size of the market, explain how it differs from what’s already available and give a ballpark figure of how much it may cost to make the idea a reality.

The Create fund is designed to give seed money to grow the selected ideas into the next successful venture without any equity or strings attached.

Gerhart wasn’t sure his idea would make the cut, but two weeks later he received an email from TCU Neeley congratulating him for having his idea selected.

“I was excited,” Gerhart said. “They laid out all the instructions of what steps to take next and that I had been awarded $1,500 to use toward looking into the intellectual property, exploring different mechanism for the design and to make a working prototype.”

However, this was only the beginning of this journey for Gerhart. He was advised to keep his idea for the medical device under wraps until the prototype was completed and patented.

He decided to reach out to Michael Bernas, director of Scholarly Pursuit and Thesis at TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine.

“What’s interesting is that right before this I had talked to (Professor) Bernas to see if he knew any biomedical engineers in the community I could talk to and get to know,” Gerhart said. “I had already kind of planted the seed about exploring this idea before it had been selected so my next conversation with him just kind of flowed naturally.”

Bernas put Gerhart in touch with Robert Benkowski, MBA, an assistant professor at the medical school and the CEO of DesignPlex Biomedical.

Benkowski’s Fort Worth-based company specializes in the design and manufacture of medical devices.

“I knew Mr. Benkowski was the right person to connect him with because he is one of our mentors who is very experienced in private biomedical research,” Bernas said. “We are fortunate to have wonderful faculty members who can support students with ideas like Coltin’s which is outside of his traditional medical education.”

The connection led to Coltin visiting Benkowski at his company where he was able to see the facility, meet the team and come up with a few ideas for creating a prototype.

“I wanted something that could adapt to the way providers already use devices similar to this one,” Gerhart said. “Talking to the DesignPlex team was extremely enlightening; they taught me a lot about how to turn rotational motion into translational motion. Afterwards, I basically spent the entire time researching what that even meant. But I’ve been able to use that guidance and start to draw up prototypes and look for flaws and keep building.”

Gerhart has been spending his spare time working on the project with the help of one of his classmates and continuing to receive guidance from Bernas.

“Ultimately, we are here to support the whole student from medical education to help with projects like this which are not in the curriculum,” Bernas said. “We strive to encourage curiosity, questioning, and lifelong learning skills to all students to help develop the next generation of physicians.”

Being able to make these kinds of connections and have the support of the faculty in pursuing these kinds of endeavors is a huge benefit of attending the school of medicine, Gerhart added.

“I had this idea for a year and a half and I didn’t have anybody to talk to about it or ask questions about it,” Gerhart said. “Having the ability to reach out to anybody and everybody and they make you feel comfortable, I think that’s definitely a strong point of our school.”

MMI Raters Needed

FORT WORTH – The newest medical students at TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine were lauded by school officials and community members as they received their first white coats.

Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker along with council members, community supporters, medical school donors, faculty and staff welcomed the class of 2025 at a White Coat Celebration inside the TCU Legends Club at Amon G. Carter Stadium, on Saturday August 7.

Mayor Parker said she was impressed with the students and how the medical school continues to support the Fort Worth community through its mission of training Empathetic Scholars®.

“This school is truly reflective of what we want to become,” Mayor Parker said. “You are training the next generation of Empathetic Scholars® and doctors that will provide a wide range of responsibilities and health care for our community. It’s truly tremendous the students that are reflective of this class. They are rock stars all in their own right.”

As Christopher Corona, a first-year medical student, and his wife Cristina looked around the exquisitely decorated concourse inside the Legends Club, they couldn’t help but smile.

“We’ve been working toward this as a family for 10-plus years,” Christopher Corona said. “It just brings out an ocean of emotions out for her and myself.”

The traditional White Coat Ceremony, known as a rite of passage for medical students, was started in 1993 at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. The congratulatory event is currently practiced by 99 percent of medical schools across the United States accredited by the Association of American Medical Colleges.

At the unconventional Fort Worth medical school, the event is thoughtfully presented as an intimate celebration for medical students and their loved ones.

First-year medical school student Alejandra Gutierrez beamed with pride as she showed her family around.

“With my dad being from Colombia and my mom being from the Virgin Islands, I have a blended family and I’m like the representation of the American dream,” said Gutierrez, who is a first-generation college student and the first medical student in her family.

During the celebration, the students’ family and friends met faculty, staff, community members and donors. Each student’s white coat came with a special message inside the pocket with a note from the donor who sponsored their coat, along with other gifts.

As the crowd began to grow inside the Legends Club, the celebration began with remarks from Erin Nelson Psy.D., the assistant dean of admissions and enrollment services.

“What an exciting day for our school of medicine,” Dr. Nelson said. “It was just a few weeks ago we got to see you all in person for the first time during Welcome Week.”

Stuart D. Flynn, M.D., founding dean of the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine, spoke about an introductory conversation he had with the class of 2025. Dean Flynn said that he asked them to come up with one word that they would like their patients to use to describe them 10 to 20 years from now.

“Compassionate, caring, empathetic, kind and trustworthy,” Dean Flynn said. “Not only do I love how they see their future but I think the hands of medicine are in good shape with these young people.”

TCU Chancellor Victor J. Boschini, Jr., offered words of encouragement to the new class of medical students.

“You’re going to become physicians and you’re going to help others,” Chancellor Boschini said. “That’s really a privilege and a gift.”

Quietly holding his 4-year-old son a few feet away from the podium, Christopher got a quick pep talk from Cristina before giving his speech.

“I told him he could do it,” Cristina said. “He practiced it and I was his audience at home, but here it hit differently. I had to fight back tears. I’m going to remember today forever.”

Christopher was chosen by his classmates to speak at the celebration. He told the crowd how diverse and how wide-ranging in thought and skills his classmates are.

“We’re first-generation college graduates. We’re musicians, artist and dancers,” Christopher said. “We’re Olympic athletes as well as collegiate athletes. We’re parents, we’re spouses, we represent the LGBTQ+ community, but we’re also members of the military, both members and reserves.”

More than a dozen large TV screens played a 10-second video countdown to open the white boxes with white coats inside. Gutierrez’s mother, Vrranica Dolphin, could barely contain her excitement as she bounced in her seat to the countdown music.

Once Gutierrez opened the box, Dolphin rushed over with a huge smile to put the white coat on her daughter.

“I felt so blessed and honored to be able to place the white coat on that establishes a future for my daughter,” Dolphin said. “I felt empowered as a mom.”

In the mist of the cheers and loud celebrations, James Okpamen, a first-year medical student, whose family is from Nigeria, had a happy and quiet spiritual moment with his father Osas Michael Okapmen.

“I reminded him of the sacrifice and the effort in the pursuit of this journey,” Osas said. “I let him know that this is not the end, it is only the beginning.”

James bowed his head and nodded, heeding his father’s advice before giving him a hug and posing for pictures.

“My dad has consistently been there and (has been) a model of hard work by just being faithful and a leader,” James said. “My dad is just a major support system and I’m glad that he’s here today to witness this moment.”

About the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine

The TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine, Fort Worth’s M.D. school, opened with a class of 60 students in July 2019. TCU and UNTHSC joined together in July 2015 to form this new allopathic medical school. The School of Medicine’s focus on communication, a first-of-its-kind curriculum and the development of Empathetic Scholars^® uniquely positions the organization to radically transform medical education, improving care for future generations. To make this new school possible, the greater North Texas community stepped up to help, providing philanthropic support. The school’s current Founding Donors include Alcon, Amon G. Carter Foundation, Anita and Kelly Cox, Baylor Scott & White, The Burnett Foundation, Cook Children’s, Texas Health Resources, Mr. H. Paul Dorman, Mr. Arnold and Mrs. Harriette Gachman, Dr. John and Mrs. Priscilla Geesbreght, Sid W. Richardson Foundation, Rebecca and Jon Brumley, The Morris Foundation, Martha Sue Parr Trust, Tartaglino Richards Family Foundation, Thomas M., Helen McKee, & John P. Ryan Foundation, as well as three Anonymous donors.

FORT WORTH – After a year of mostly virtual learning during a pandemic, second-year medical students at the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine were able to embrace loved ones during a belated White Coat Celebration.

“This means something. It means something to be able to share this moment right here, right now with our families,” said Antonio Igbokidi, a second-year medical student at the Fort Worth medical school.

The joyous and emotional celebration came to fruition inside the TCU Legends Club at Amon G. Carter Stadium, on Saturday, August 7.

The medical students had received white coats when they arrived in Summer 2020, but the formal White Coat Celebration was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The traditional White Coat Ceremony, known as a rite of passage for medical students, was started in 1993 at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. The congratulatory event is currently practiced by 99 percent of medical schools across the United States accredited by the Association of American Medical Colleges.

This year, the Fort Worth medical students were “re-coated” with family and friends by their sides.

“My wife is here and my parents are here and I could not have gotten through this year without them,” said Lauren Moore, a second-year medical student.

Kyle Simon, a second-year medical student, and his grandmother Rebecca Graham were among the first guests to arrive. As Simon walked along the concourse looking at the tables and all of the detailed balloon decorations, he stood quietly to take a moment to let it all soak in.

“After we’ve had that difficult year, all of this just gives more heft and more weight to the coat that I wear on my shoulders now,” Simon said.

During the celebration, the students’ family and friends met with the medical school’s faculty, staff and founding donors. Each student’s white coat came with a special message inside the pocket with a note from the donor who sponsored their coat, along with other special gifts. For the class of 2024, each note came from Mr. and Mrs. Ben and Barbara Loughry who donated all of the new white coats for the class. The couple had also donated the initial stethoscopes the class had previously received. In March, it was announced that an anonymous donor couple funded tuition for the 2021-22 academic year for the entire class of students. 

As the crowd began to grow inside the Legends Club, the celebration began with remarks from Erin Nelson Psy.D., assistant dean of admissions and enrollment services.

“Myself and my team get the opportunity to get to know all of you from the moment you submit your application all the way to the moment you land on our campus,” said Dr. Nelson. “That’s such an honor and a privilege.”

Stuart D. Flynn, M.D., the medical school’s Founding Dean, told the class that the first year of medical school is hard on its own merit. But to see how the class responded to completing their first year of medical school, almost all virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic, he expressed how proud he was of their achievements.

“I cannot thank you all enough for the class, professionalism, the can-do spirit and the immense resolve you all have displayed this past year,” Dean Flynn said.

That can-do spirit and attitude is also something that TCU Chancellor Victor J. Boschini, Jr., said he admired about the class during his remarks.

“That’s what I love the most about this medical school is that we’re creating Empathetic Scholars® who will be much more than scientists you’ll be true doctors in the true form of the word,” Chancellor Boschini said.

Waiting in the wings a few feet away from the podium was Sam Sayed, a second-year medical student, who was chosen by his classmates to speak at the celebration. With his family, friends and classmates watching Sayed delivered a pertinent message about his fellow classmates to the crowd.

“In a way, this ceremony means so much more to me than it would have this time last year,” Sayed said. “Today, we know each other’s story. We know each other’s heart. We know each other’s reason for being here. That’s simply because we struggled together and class I’m fired up to continue this journey together.”

As more than a dozen large TV screens played a 10-second video countdown to open the boxes with their white coats inside following Sayed’s speech, his fellow classmate Lauren Moore glanced at a photo of her grandparents she had placed on her table.

Moore lost her grandfather, a pathologist, and her grandmother, a nurse, in 2020 to COVID-19. Her wife, mother and father, comforted her as tears ran down her face after opening her box and putting on her white coat.

“I wanted my grandparents to be here and they couldn’t because they passed away due to COVID,” Moore said. “To have this experience and not have them be here was a little difficult but it was also a good experience to be with my classmates and to really celebrate the end of a difficult year.”

While Moore was comforted by her family and classmates, a few feet away there were more tears of joy flowing down the face of Linda Bailey as she put the white coat over her son, Antonio Igbokidi’s shoulders.

“I’m super proud, just super proud,” Bailey said. “It was a proud moment. It was like we made it.”

Igbokidi smiled and adjusted his coat to take pictures with mom, sister and fiancé.

“It kind of felt like this warm nostalgic moment where we get to share this with our family our friends,” said Igbokidi. “It was good for her to put that white coat on me and for us to celebrate this moment together.”

About the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine

The TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine, Fort Worth’s M.D. school, opened with a class of 60 students in July 2019. TCU and UNTHSC joined together in July 2015 to form this new allopathic medical school. The School of Medicine’s focus on communication, a first-of-its-kind curriculum and the development of Empathetic Scholars® uniquely positions the organization to radically transform medical education, improving care for future generations. To make this new school possible, the greater North Texas community stepped up to help, providing philanthropic support. The school’s current Founding Donors include Alcon, Amon G. Carter Foundation, Anita and Kelly Cox, Baylor Scott & White, The Burnett Foundation, Cook Children’s, Texas Health Resources, Mr. H. Paul Dorman, Mr. Arnold and Mrs. Harriette Gachman, Dr. John and Mrs. Priscilla Geesbreght, Sid W. Richardson Foundation, Rebecca and Jon Brumley, The Morris Foundation, Martha Sue Parr Trust, Tartaglino Richards Family Foundation, Thomas M., Helen McKee, & John P. Ryan Foundation, as well as three Anonymous donors.

FORT WORTH – For his exceptional communication skills and award-winning work, the Fort Worth Business Press named Prescotte Stokes III one of its “40 Under 40” recipients for 2021.

“Prescotte is an exceptional communicator and role model for our School of Medicine, our city and community and our region,” said his nominator Judy Bernas, Associate Dean and Chief Communication and Strategy Officer for the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine. “He deserves this award as a leader who has propelled our medical school to national prominence.”

Stokes, 38, who is the Integrated Content and Marketing Manager for the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine, was honored during a dinner at the Ridglea Country Club in Fort Worth on July 28. Medical school colleagues, his wife Mya and daughter Monica attended the event along with new Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker, who was honored with a “40 Under 40” alumni award. Tracy Williams, current president of the TCU National Alumni Board, was also honored as a 40 Under 40 award recipient.

The 40 Under 40 Awards recognize the accomplishments of rising stars of the community, all under the age of 40, all emerging as current and future leaders in business and public service, according to the Fort Worth Business Press.

Stokes was a part of the medical school’s Strategy and Communications team that received the Gold award for “Best Social Media Campaign” in the American Association of Medical Colleges’ (AAMC) 2021 GIA Awards for Excellence. The award was for FWMD LIVE, a video series on Facebook that Stokes hosts and moderates.

“As a brand-new medical school, it is unexpected for a new school to win the Gold award when competing against more than 150 other medical schools, some that have been around for more than 100 years and have teams three to four times the size of ours,” Bernas told the Fort Worth Business Press.

During the awards ceremony, the Fort Worth Business Press highlighted Stokes’ most influential person in his life – his 15-year-old daughter Monica.

“I know it should probably be the opposite way around, but I believe that I would not be in the position that I am in right now if she didn’t exist,” Stokes said.

In 2005, Stokes and his family were displaced from New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. They had no home and ended up in Nacogdoches, Texas. At the time, Stokes said he struggled and didn’t really have much direction in his life.

“From the moment I knew she existed in September 2005, I made a conscious effort to finish my college education and really push myself to create a better life for her, no matter what it took,” Stokes said about his daughter.

Stokes received his bachelor’s degree with honors from Dillard University-HBCU in New Orleans in 2010 and a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University in 2012. He joined the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine in 2019.

“As I look at my life now, and my future, I know that her life is what it took for me to realize how important it was for me to make the most of my own life,” Stokes said. “I knew that in the end she would directly benefit from it. It helped me break out of the cycle of poverty that had plagued my family and many others I know for generations. She is a blessing beyond measure for me and continues to be my guiding light.”

FORT WORTH – The TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine has added six new students from the Class of 2025 to participate in its Brand Ambassadors Program.

“If you have passion and you apply to this school for a reason, this is the best way to show it,” said Juhi Shah, a third-year medical school student at the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine.

The 29 SOM Brand Ambassadors represent the Fort Worth medical school in media interviews as well as marketing and social media campaigns. They may also be asked to attend special events and functions and give reports or speeches about the school.

The program “really brings out your social skills and public speaking skills, and really helps with the anxiety you used to have because everyone on the team is so great,” said Edmundo Esparza, a third-year medical student.

The students are initially recommended and selected by the Office of Admissions and Enrollment. The medical school’s senior leadership team has also helped choose students for special projects such as the TCU Magazine four-year narrative reports. The program, which is voluntary, is run by the Strategy and Communications team.

“The medical students do an excellent job of telling the story of our unconventional medical school and novel approach to medical education,” said Maricar Estrella, Director of Digital Development and Content Strategy. “They bring such honesty and enthusiasm to every project that we assign to them.”

 Here is what is expected of the newest SOM Brand Ambassadors: 

• Serve during the 2021-2022 Academic Year, which begins in July 2021 and ends June 2022.
• Attend at least one of the SOM Brand Ambassadors Media training sessions.
• Host at least one Instagram Takeover during the academic year or participate in a FWMD Live or social media campaign.
• Participate in at least one media interview request, SOM interview request, marketing request, advancement request, video request, photo request or social media request during the academic year.

The 2021-22 SOM Brand Ambassadors are (in alphabetical order by last name):

Isabella Amado, MS-1

McKenna Chalman, MS-3

Kevin Chao, MS-1

Briana Collins, MS-3

Christopher Corona, MS-1

Shanice Cox, MS-3

Mei Mei Edwards, MS-3

Edmundo Esparza, MS-3

Sam Evans, MS-3

Alejandra Gutierrez, MS-1

Toni Igbokidi, MS-2

Kav Kaur, MS-3

Charna Kinard, MS-3

Jonas Kruse, MS-3

Quinn Losefsky, MS-3

Sarah Lyon, MS-3

Brandon Mallory, MS-3

Lauren Moore, MS-2

Ive Mota Avila, MS-3

James Okpamen, MS-1

Connor Rodriguez, MS-3

Danielle Sader, MS-2

Sam Sayed, MS-2

Nathalie Scherer, MS-3

Dilan Shah, MS-3

Juhi Shah, MS-3

Kyle Simon, MS-2

Ilana Zago, MS-2

Lindsay Zumwalt, MS-1