Welcome to the WMed Student Stories page, where we spotlight the voices, achievements, and experiences of our future healthcare leaders. Keep reading to learn how our students are shaping the future of medicine, one story at a time.
For a full list of our latest updates, visit WMed News and connect with WMed on social media.
- WMed M3 Shane Kim puts trauma training to work at crash scene
Shane Kim During his surgery clerkship in July, M3 Shane Kim spent a Friday in the Simulation Center at the W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus participating in trauma training that included several scenarios, including the aftermath of a motor vehicle crash.
“They ran us through that primary survey, reminding us to check A, B, C, D and E—airway, breathing, circulation, disability and exposure,” Kim said of the training led by Drs. Lisa Miller and Sheldon Maltz, both associate professors in the Department of Surgical Sciences at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed), on July 31.
Kim, a native of Long Island, New York, said the simulations that day were a helpful refresher of scenarios he and his classmates in the Class of 2028 encountered during Medical First Responder training in their first year of medical school.
The training also proved critically important the next day—Saturday, August 1—when Kim found himself in a real-life situation in which he had to provide care to a husband and wife, ages 70 and 68, respectively, who were involved in a motor vehicle crash in Portage, Michigan.
- M4 Marina Cox teams up with family, friends to complete 120-mile Au Sable River canoe race in northern Michigan
M4 Marina Cox and members of her team hold up their canoe at finish line of the Consumers Energy AuSable River Challenge 120. Pictured, from left to right, are Matt Dargay; David Ryder: Cameron Winn; Jim Cox; Marina Cox; Alec Ryder; Anthony Nofs, and Mason Cox. The team was sponsored by Blue Star Financial Group in Kalamazoo. Since she was a child, Marina Cox has spent her summers canoeing on the Au Sable River, paddling and navigating the waterway with her parents and her brother and sister not far from the family’s cabin in Mio, Michigan.
And for the last eight years, Cox, a fourth-year student at WMU Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed), and her family have made a point to catch the annual Au Sable River Canoe Marathon, an intense 120-mile canoe race that’s held every July in northern Michigan and stretches from the start in Grayling to the finish line in Oscoda.
“We watch the start every year with friends and family,” she said recently. “I always thought it was so exciting.”
Last year, as the group watched race participants run with their canoes at the start of the race, Cox pondered the idea of trading in her time as a spectator for the chance to actually race, not knowing at the time whether her schedule for her final year at WMed would afford her the opportunity.
“I told my family last year, ‘We have to do this,’” she said. “And, as it turned out, my fourth-year schedule ended up working out in June and July so I realized we could actually do it.’”
Cox, a Kalamazoo native and an alumna of Mattawan High School and Oakland University, took on the challenge with a team of seven other racers that included her father, Jim, her brother, Mason, her boyfriend, Cameron Winn, her sister’s boyfriend, Matt Dargay, her neighbors, Alec and David Ryder, and her brother’s friend, Anthony Nofs.
- First-year medical students learn about the importance of nutrition in improving health outcomes during culinary medicine event at KVCC
The Class of 2030 is the first cohort of WMed students to participate in the culinary medicine experience at KVCC. As an undergraduate student at Purdue University, Yasmin Pirbhai earned a degree in nutrition science, learning all she could about the huge impact nutrition can have on health outcomes and how what we eat affects our bodies.
That knowledge, she knew, would serve her well in the pursuit of her ultimate dream of becoming a physician.
“We spent a lot of time going over not only nutrition but also examining the socioeconomic side of the picture including what access to good food looks like and that proper nutrition isn’t just impacted by your diet,” Pirbhai said recently. “When it came time for medical school, I wasn’t expecting that I would get the chance to take that deep dive again and examine those aspects and how they might impact my future patients.”
That all changed though when Pirbhai, a Kalamazoo native, arrived at WMU Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed) in June as a member of the MD Class of 2030.
Just a few days after the start of medical school, Pirbhai and her classmates received the calendar for their first course – Fundamentals in Biomedical Sciences I – which Pirbhai noticed included a culinary medicine event for the students to attend in late July at the Kalamazoo Valley Community College (KVCC) Marilyn J. Schlack Culinary and Allied Health Building.
“This type of experience isn’t something a lot of medical schools spend time on,” Pirbhai said. “WMed is actually doing it and that’s amazing.”
- WMed medical students, residents, and faculty collaborate on new book: Innovation in Medical Education and Clinical Practice
Innovation in Medical Education and Clinical Practice was crafted over the course of two years and features 44 student authors. A new book authored by WMed medical students, residents, and faculty, and Western Michigan University psychology students, showcases the power of collaboration, scholarship, and shared experiences in medicine.
Blending diverse perspectives from learners and educators alike, Innovation in Medical Education and Clinical Practice: An Exploration of Today’s Revolutionary Concepts, Tools and Applications highlights thoughtful insights, personal reflections, and meaningful contributions to the evolving field of healthcare.
The book, crafted over the course of two years and published this spring, features 44 student authors from across the medical school. Summer Chahin, PhD, Roger Apple, PhD, Cheryl Dickson, MD, and Berrin Ergun-Longmire MD, faculty members in the Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, served as the book’s editors.
“We had this idea of innovation and why not have the new and upcoming physicians and psychologists talk about innovations in these disciplines,” Dr. Apple said. “One of the standout features of the book is that the students are lead authors. They did a lot of hard work; I can’t stress that enough. We didn’t put very many constraints on them. People are really the most creative when you don't have all kinds of guidelines, and I think this book really helps illustrate that.”
Dr. Chahin served as lead editor for the book, developing the entire table of contents and recruiting Drs. Apple, Dickson, and Longmire as additional editors. From there, writers were recruited; each chapter was student-led but also included a faculty author.
- WMed welcomes its 13th class of future physicians and six new students to the Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences degree program
The MD Class of 2030 was chosen from a pool of 6,242 applicants. The group is academically excellent, boasting an average MCAT score of 513 with scores ranging from 497 to 524, along with an average GPA of 3.81. The medical school officially welcomed its newest cohort of future physicians, the MD Class of 2030, for Day One at WMU Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed) in June.
The 86 students who make up WMed’s 13th medical class arrived at the W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus on Monday, June 29, along with six students who are completing a one-year Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences degree.
The MD Class of 2030 was chosen from a pool of 6,242 applicants. At WMed, the admissions process is comprehensive, in-depth, and seeks to select students who possess strong personal attributes and outstanding pre-medical experiences. The group is academically excellent, boasting an average MCAT score of 513 with scores ranging from 497 to 524, along with an average GPA of 3.81.
“Today represents the culmination of years of hard work and preparation for every one of these new medical students, as well as the beginning of a new phase in their journey to become physicians,” Director of Admissions Val Horwath said. “They already bring so many accomplishments, talents, and qualities to medical school, and we are thrilled to welcome each of them to WMed and Kalamazoo and watch them develop into outstanding future physicians.”
- ‘Being a physician is a privilege’: WMed Class of 2026 honored during commencement ceremony at WMU’s Miller Auditorium
Chidambaram Nachiappan, MD As he spoke about the last four years he and his classmates spent at WMU Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed) pursuing their dreams of becoming physicians, M4 Chidambaram Nachiappan couldn’t help but recall all that they had learned during their time in Kalamazoo.
But even more important than the vast knowledge they gained, Nachiappan said, was that the journey was one they went through and experienced together as members of the MD Class of 2026.
“The truth is, any of us could have gone to a different medical school and would still become a great physician,” Nachiappan said to his classmates and their families and friends who gathered on Thursday, May 7, 2026, for commencement at WMU’s Miller Auditorium. “We would have studied hard, taken the exams, and learned how to care for our patients. But it wouldn’t have been like this. It wouldn’t have been with this group of people, this community, and this experience.
“It’s the people here who made this journey what it was,” he added. “It’s the group chats where you can complain and joke about the stresses of the day. It’s staying an extra hour to review for an exam because someone suggested it, and suddenly, you’re all in it together … Those are the things that made medical school more than just something we got through. They’re what made it something we’ll actually miss.”
The commencement ceremony was a celebration for the medical school’s ninth class of new doctors, as well as graduates of the Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences degree program. The event rounded out what was a busy final week for the students as they were honored at a class awards ceremony on Monday, May 4, and at a celebration brunch at WMU’s Heritage Hall on Wednesday, May 6.
- A day in the life of a third-year student at WMed
Yoshi Yamakawa In December, after he completed his final core clerkship as a third-year medical student at WMU Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed), Yoshi Yamakawa turned his attention to preparing and studying for the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 2 CK.
Yamakawa, who hopes to pursue residency training in Medicine-Pediatrics after medical school, said the dedicated study time – which is built into the MD curriculum at WMed during the months of January and February of M3 year – is invaluable and sets him and his fellow classmates up for success for what can be a challenging step in their journey as aspiring physicians.
“Thank goodness we have that dedicated time,” Yamakawa said recently. “I cannot imagine a world where I am doing other things while studying for Step 2.”
In those first two months of 2026, preparing for Step 2 shaped Yamakawa’s days as a third-year student at WMed.
- A day in the life of a first-year student at WMed
Mary Engle Mary Engle enjoys problem-solving and thinking on her feet.
She’s also passionate about helping others.
It’s what led the Kalamazoo native to pursue EMT training at Kalamazoo Valley Community College after high school and, ultimately, what led her to become a licensed paramedic nearly five years ago.
Assessing patients, making quick decisions, and providing emotional support in times of distress is where she thrives. That passion for service, coupled with strong ties to Kalamazoo, has led Mary to pursue medical school at WMU Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed).
- ‘A bigger meaning’: M1 Madeline Shoemaker a fierce advocate for improving accessibility in healthcare for patients with disabilities
Madeline Shoemaker After an unexpected spinal cord injury during surgery left her mother paralyzed in 2020, M1 Madeline Shoemaker says her entire family wrestled endlessly with the tough questions of why.
“She always asks herself, ‘Why did this happen to me, why did this happen to our family?’” Shoemaker recalled recently.
The answer, in some ways, can be found in the events that followed her mother’s surgery, Shoemaker said.
Today, Shoemaker is in medical school and pursuing her MD degree at WMU Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed) because of what happened to her mother. She’s also become a fierce advocate for improving accessibility in healthcare for patients with disabilities, a passion fueled from witnessing her mother’s own struggles over the last five years during regular visits to the hospital and with her physicians.
- Students from the MD Class of 2029 put Medical First Responder skills to the test during capstone event
WMed students responded to a variety of complex medical emergency cases during the MFR capstone event at the Kalamazoo Regional Public Safety Training Center. The medical school’s newest students wrapped up their Medical First Responder (MFR) training course in early October, putting their skills to the test during a capstone event at the Kalamazoo Regional Public Safety Training Center.
The all-day event was held on Thursday, October 2, 2025, and consisted of several emergency scenarios, including a mass-casualty incident, a vehicle extrication, responding to a half dozen complex medical emergency cases, and rappelling down an elevator shaft.
“As first-year students, a lot of our time is dedicated to studying,” M1 Yashmeet Kaur said. “With MFR, it’s been nice to gain hands-on clinical experience working on these cases. Getting to apply that knowledge during capstone, you could really see everyone coming together and for us now, responding to an emergency has really become second nature.“EMS is all about working with what you have, being able to adapt and do whatever is needed in the situation,” Kaur added. “It feels like a lot when you’re going through the course, but I have gained so much from this experience.”
- M1 Nicholas Deleon ‘fell in love with science even more’ through Science Research Enrichment Program
Nicholas Deleon From an early age, Nicholas Deleon knew he wanted to be a doctor.
So, when Deleon learned he could gain hands-on laboratory research experience at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed) during the summer between his freshman and sophomore year at Michigan State University, he jumped at the opportunity.
“It just made me fall in love with the science even more,” Deleon, now a first-year medical student at WMed, said of the eight weeks spent in the Science Research Enrichment Program at the medical school in the summer of 2022. “Being able to understand and work with the fundamental basics of the clinical sciences that eventually lead to the patients made me feel like this is what's right for me.”
The Science Research Enrichment Program is a pathway program that pairs rising second-year, third-year, and senior-year college students with a WMed scientist and their research team. The program provides direct, hands-on laboratory research experience with a focus on learners who have not had an opportunity for a deep dive into top-level research in their previous coursework or job experiences.
- M2 Anjana Krishnan is living out a dream that began in middle school when she attended WMed's grand opening
Anjana Krishnan Anjana Krishnan was a young middle schooler when medical school leaders and the community celebrated the grand opening of the W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus on September 18, 2014.
She tagged along to the event with her father that day and was enamored with the newly renovated facility, especially the Simulation Center on the ground floor and the hands-on technology it boasted for learners at WMU Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed).
“It was so fascinating to me,” Krishnan said. The manikins blinked and talked, I couldn’t believe how realistic it was.”
It was in that moment, Krishnan says, she knew she wanted to be a doctor, to fulfill a dream that took root for her on her third birthday when her parents gave her a toy doctor’s kit as a gift.
- ‘A moment of transformation’: MD Class of 2029 officially welcomed into the medical profession during the White Coat Ceremony
Neil Hughes, MD Looking out at the medical school’s newest students as they anticipated receiving their first white coats, Neil Hughes, MD, was reminded of the day a decade before when he sat in the same seats at the White Coat Ceremony for the MD Class of 2019 at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed).
“When I think back to sitting where you are now, I remember feeling like I had just finished a 27.2-mile marathon only to find myself standing at the starting line of another race,” said Dr. Hughes, the medical school’s assistant dean for Simulation and assistant professor in the Department of Medicine. “It reminds me of the words Dwight D. Eisenhower spoke to the troops before D-Day in 1944: ‘You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you.’
“The eyes of the world are upon you, too,” he added. “From this moment forward, people will be watching you, looking up to you, depending on you, hoping you’ll be the one who can help. You will be their lifeline in moments of fear and uncertainty.”
Dr. Hughes served as the keynote speaker for the Class of 2029 White Coat Ceremony, which was held on Friday, September 5, 2025, at WMU’s Miller Auditorium. The event was also livestreamed, allowing family members and friends who could not attend in-person to tune in to the festivities.
- A Day in the Life: Marina Cox, Class of 2027
Marina Cox Marina Cox has always known she wanted to pursue a career in medicine.
It’s a passion that only grew stronger growing up in Kalamazoo, so when she learned she had been accepted into WMed, she knew, “this is where I’m meant to be.”
Now in her second year at the medical school, a typical day for Marina begins at 6:30 a.m. She wakes up, has some coffee, eats breakfast, packs her lunch and is out the door by 7:30 a.m., embarking on her 20-minute commute to the W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus for morning lectures.
Students have the option to watch lectures remotely from home, but Marina prefers to attend in-person, admitting it’s much easier to focus and it’s great to be among friends.
- A Day in the Life: Carlynn Gasser, MD, Class of 2025
Carlynn Gasser What’s life like for a fourth-year medical student (M4) at WMed?
If you had asked Carlynn Gasser, MD, that question in early February 2025 as she was finishing up her final clerkship for medical school – Advanced Emergency Medicine – she would have told you her day begins right about the time most everyone else might be making dinner or – at the very least – dinner plans.
Around 5 p.m., she rolls out of bed at her Kalamazoo apartment and starts her “morning” with a cup of coffee. She has a little less than six hours before she’s to report for her shift in the emergency room at Bronson Methodist Hospital.
On the menu is breakfast which, given the time of day, might be your normal breakfast fare or sometimes it’s take-out or leftovers from the day before. She takes time to study at home, a task she likes to complete because the clerkship – a four-week rotation for fourth-year students – doesn’t always lend itself to much downtime during the eight-hour shift.
- M4 David Richter fueled by desire for exploration as he takes on ample research activity at WMed
David Richter David Richter much prefers actively working to understand a new subject as opposed to sitting passively in a lecture.
It’s this exact attitude that has drawn Richter to pursue and participate in several research activities at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed), co-authoring more than 10 journal articles while assisting with research projects across several departments, including emergency medicine, biomedical sciences and surgical sciences.
Richter, now entering his final year of studies at WMed, plans to pursue a general surgery residency. His research interests include trauma, foregut surgery, regenerative medicine, and medical education.
- WMed, Kalamazoo Gospel Ministries unveil student-run clinic dedicated to serving the unhoused, underprivileged in downtown Kalamazoo
WMed Dean Robert G. Sawyer, right, and Pastor John Simpson, chief operations officer for Kalamazoo Gospel Ministries, cut the ceremonial ribbon during the Firehouse Clinic grand opening on March 14, 2025. Years of hard work and collaboration between Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed) and Kalamazoo Gospel Ministries (KGM) culminated in a joyous celebration on Friday, March 14, 2025, with the grand opening of the student-run Firehouse Clinic.
The clinic, located at 526 N. Burdick St. inside the city’s former Fire House No. 4, launched in August through a partnership between students in the medical school’s Community Health Interest Group (CHIG) and KGM.
Staffed by medical student volunteers on the first and third Friday of every month, the clinic is dedicated to serving the unhoused and economically underprivileged population of Kalamazoo, offering a comprehensive range of healthcare services tailored to meet the needs of the unhoused.
“Medical students, under the supervision of our faculty, are able to offer physical exams, management of chronic conditions, and preventative care to the unhoused and underserved in this space,” WMed Dean Robert G. Sawyer said. “By providing regular health screenings and medical services on-site, this clinic will reduce barriers to healthcare access, allow KGM to focus on essential services, connect people with sustainable community resources, and lead to better health outcomes in Southwest Michigan.” - Students from the MD Class of 2025 celebrate Match Day as they learn where they will be headed for residency training
Ninety-eight percent of the students in the Class of 2025 matched to a residency slot as part of a nationwide process that is increasingly competitive. In the moments before the clock struck noon on Friday, March 21, students from the MD Class of 2025 sat nervously with their families and friends. In each of their hands, or laying nearby, were their Match Day envelopes waiting to be unsealed.
And then, when the time finally came, the ballroom at the Delta Hotels by Marriott Kalamazoo Conference Center filled with cheers and shouts of elation as the aspiring physicians learned where they will complete their residency training after their time at WMed concludes in May.
“You belong here,” M4 Tierra Jolly told her classmates during her remarks at the Match Day festivities. “I need those of you who have ever questioned it to hear that. I need you to know it in your bones."Match Day is a time-honored tradition, a moment each year when students at WMed join other fourth-year students from medical schools across the country to learn where they will spend the next three or more years as resident physicians. The festivities are a culmination of the nearly four years they have spent in Kalamazoo learning about the science and art behind medicine.
- Four students from the MD Class of 2025 learn where they will be headed for residency training after a successful Military Match
The four students from the MD Class of 2025 who took part in the Military Match were, from left to right, Campbell Brown, Logan Spooner, Greg Olsen, and Niko Nickson. When the call came on the afternoon of December 11, a smile stretched across M4 Campbell Brown’s face as he gathered his family near him so they could hear the voice – and the news – on the other end of the line.
And then, after he learned where he would be headed for his residency training with the U.S. Army, Brown and his girlfriend, Britney Ratliff, embraced and smiles and the sounds of cheers filled the café at the W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus.
“My heart skipped a beat,” said Brown, who was one of four students from the MD Class of 2025 to take part in the Military Match on December 11, 2024. “Every emotion that could have gone through me happened in that instant. It was a cool experience.”
Brown, along with his classmates Niko Nickson, Greg Olsen, and Logan Spooner, participated in the Military Match on December 11. The four students represent the largest cohort from any WMed class to be a part of the Military Match, which is held a whole three months before the traditional Match Day for other fourth-year medical students.
- Medical first responder training allows first-year medical student to help woman in emergency
Megan Westphal First-year medical student Megan Westphal has been a competitive figure skater for nearly two decades.
A recent competition, though, will perhaps be better remembered for what happened off the ice.
Westphal had just finished competing in the Kalamazoo Kick-Off Classic on Saturday, November 23, at Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo as a member of Western Michigan University’s collegiate team. She was sitting in the stands when her teammates informed her of a medical emergency.
An elderly woman had fallen on the concourse at the arena, resulting in multiple cuts to her face and a dislocated shoulder. Westphal, equipped with weeks of Medical First Responder (MFR) training as part of her first-year curriculum at WMed, jumped into action.