As a teen, Rosanne Henry, president of the Miller School's Student National Medical Association, considered a handful of careers but leaned toward professions already held by the people around her.
"Doing hair," as her aunt did, seemed exotic and the life of a hair stylist sounded appealing. Becoming a baker like her father also ranked near the top. And though she didn't know any architects, her high school in Titusville, Florida, had an architecture program and somehow becoming one seemed like a good plan.
But her parents, who immigrated from Antigua, advised her to think very carefully about what she'd be doing for most of her life. They encouraged her to broaden her horizons, then find a "good college" that would help her be all she could be.
Her parents proved prescient. While at the University of Central Florida, Henry became a pre-med major but was unsure of a career in medicine. That is, until she shadowed an OB/GYN, Kantilal Bhalani, M.D., - the same one who delivered her.
"I watched him perform surgeries. I watched him with his patients and he had great relationships. I wanted exactly that."
As a member of the Miller School's Class of 2012, Henry is pursuing her dream. She wants to become a first-rate physician who has time for outreach, especially in minority communities where access to decent health care is often sporadic, and where many people are unaware of small preventative measures they can take to allay serious illness.
That point was driven home even more clearly when, in her first year, Henry began volunteering at the medical student-run Mitchell Wolfson Sr. Department of Community Service (DOCS) health fairs. Henry also joined the Miller School's Student National Medical Association (SNMA), the medical student arm of the National Medical Association, and embraced the group's mission to support current and future underrepresented minority medical students.
After she and fellow member, second-year student Josh Moore, attended the SNMA annual conference in New Orleans last April, Henry returned determined to revitalize the campus branch. Today, the group is working on several projects, including MCAT assistance for college students, with the hope that more African-American students will apply to the Miller School to study medicine.
Under Henry's leadership, the Miller School SNMA just finished organizing a successful celebration of Black History Month, which included a "spoken-word" poetry night, "diversity diners" recognizing cultures of the African diaspora, a bone marrow drive and a Thursday lecture series featuring notable faculty members and speakers, such as CNN hero Andrea Ivory.
"While the goal of the SNMA celebration was to increase cultural awareness and bring more recognition to the importance of diversity, we also took time to honor the contributions of minorities who were pioneers in medicine,'' Henry said. "It was thrilling to see students and faculty of all ethnic backgrounds participating and supporting the group's efforts."
While her SNMA activities consume much of her spare time, Henry still manages to captain the women's football and track teams for the Dean's Cup, as well as bowl, lift weights and play on the women's intramural basketball team with fellow medical school students. At graduations, she can be heard singing with MEEM, the Music Ensemble for the Enrichment of Medicine. And, once in a while, when she visits home, she'll "do" her mother's hair to keep her stylist's fingers working.
"There are things I'm considering, like doing a fellowship in women's health and specializing in high-risk pregnancies," said Henry. "But there are other things I am sure I have to do, such as taking on some kind of leadership role in health care and helping others who also want to become doctors. I want to be a well-rounded person and it's never too early to reach out."
