Due to some requests, we are dedicating the next two podcasts to our career journeys and Dr. Toni goes first.
Shout out to Dr. Toni's mom who got her a subscription to some animal cards as a child to influence her learning.
Shout out to Dr. Toni's dad who believed she could do more than take care of animals, may he Rest in Peace.
Shout out to the Minority Access to Research Careers program which saved Dr. Toni from dropping out of College (now known as Maximizing Access to Research Careers)
https://www.benefits.gov/benefit/695
https://www.nigms.nih.gov/training/MARC/Pages/USTARAwards.aspx
Shout out to Klaus Grohmann from Hunter College Organic Chemistry who took an interest in mentoring Dr. Toni (the internet has failed in trying to find him)
Shout out to Peter Lipke, another mentor and leader of the MARC program at Hunter College who the internet says is in Brooklyn College who believed in all his students and encouraged applications to SURF programs (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship)
https://www.nist.gov/surf
Shout out to Wayne Bowen who led a lab at the NIH (National Institute of Digestive and Kidney Diseases) in Bethesda Maryland who was Dr. Toni's mentor for a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship ( the internet helped find him! The internet says he is at Brown University y'all are lucky)
Shout out to Dean Johnston, another mentor and leader of the Medical Laboratory Science Program at Hunter College who is retired and Dr. Toni is still connected to!
Shout out to Antonia Bernard who just gave philosophies in life.
Dr. Toni takes you through her windy path through Medical and Graduate school and then through residency training and her work in Haiti.
If you are interested in donating to the pediatric residency program in Haiti that is still going despite the the difficulties because while some people can leave many can't and the work continues, please donate at this link and specify Pediatrics Residency Program.
https://donate.projectmedishare.org/give/85297/#!/donation/checkout
It is so important to get more than one mentor and to surround yourself with people who promote you and help you grow, not bring you down and say that you can't. You may not be able to do it now but gosh darn it if there is a will there is a way! And just because it looks different doesn't mean you haven't achieved success. Maybe it will take longer than you thought. So what? Find your people. Ask for help. Be patient. Don't lose sight of the goal. And keep on swimming. There were so many humans that took the time to mentor and inspire Dr. Toni that we couldn't list them all and the story is likely incomplete. No one has achieved anything without some form of support. If it is not your family, then it is a teacher or a group of teachers. If it is not your teachers then it is your social circle or someone you connected to through your social circle. And if it is nothing like that then it is a book or a song, a presenter or a poem, a portrait or a character. You can be inspired and supported no matter the dream, it just depends on your perspective. Find your people and open your heart and you will get where you want to go no matter how long it takes.
Thanks to Jeff Jeudy for providing the music!!
Dr. Aimee is next!