25-04-2025
Howard University Mini-Med program inspires next generation of doctors
WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — Getting through medical school takes years of hard work, but some young doctors at Howard University want to make sure the next generation knows it's very doable.
Thursday night, a special white coat ceremony was held, a rite of passage for students graduating from medical school.
'In a professional environment, being able to see yourself, I think, makes dreaming it and becoming that vision even more clear. So I think what we're doing is super important,' said Madison Shead, a third-year medical student at Howard University.
Pint-sized students earned coats that were a little too big since they go to Tubman Elementary School. Additionally, a dozen fourth and fifth-graders graduated from the Howard University College of Medicine Mini-Med program.
'We learned about our teeth, and it helped me take care of my teeth way more,' said fifth grader Jordan Lopez.
The young students were paired with current Howard medical students to learn about medicine and health care.
'Naming the bones and what medicine we can eat when we're sick,' said fourth grader Brenda Amiji.
The kids gained new knowledge and new experiences.
'We touched a human brain but with gloves,' Lopez exclaimed.
'We learned about the bones and different types of bones in our bodies and the longest bones, the shortest bones,' said fifth grader Samir Tomlin.
The elementary school kids even gave the med students advice on how to teach others.
'They said, you know, you're showing us this model of skin, but this model has straight hair, and I have curly hair. So we were able to take that and say ok, the next time we come to teach this, we're going to add curly hair,' said Andrea Hayes Dixon, senior vice president of health affairs and dean of the Howard University College of Medicine.
The Mini-Med program is about inspiring the next generation.
'When I grow up, I want to be a doctor. My sister's a doctor already, so I want to be like her,' Amiji said.
'Even if one of them decides to become a physician or a dentist or a pharmacist or a nurse, it would have been well worth it,' Hayes Dixon said.
In the future, Hayes Dixon wants to reach more elementary and middle schools to work with students in person so '…they can see someone who looks like them, and the success and joy that we have in our profession,' she said.
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