First Year

  • Vanderbilt University

    From Physicist to Physician: Meet M1 Halina Tran

    By Kyra Letsinger Following your dreams is a phrase so often repeated it can lose its impact. It seems simple: you listen to your heart and pursue the path to get there. In reality, achieving one’s dreams is not for the faint of heart. It is for those who are… Read More

    Jul. 24, 2025

  • A medical student in a white coat smiles.

    Finding Purpose in a Passion for People: Meet M1 Abhi Manda

    By: Kyra Letsinger As a high schooler, Abhi Manda had no plans of becoming a doctor. That is not to say he knew exactly what he wanted to do – in fact, the opposite seemed to be true. There was so much he wanted to do that… Read More

    Sep. 5, 2023

  • A man in a mask and long white coat helps a Black woman in a mask put on her short white coat at a medical school ceremony

    Sylvie Muhimpundu (MPH ’19, MD ’26) applies a degree of experience

    Rwanda native Sylvie Muhimpundu wanted to be a physician well before she ever came to the United States. Now, she’s working on her second degree from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. By: Lexie Little Shuffling past bustling cars along 21st Avenue in Nashville, Sylvie Muhimpundu reviewed they day’s tasks ahead… Read More

    Oct. 4, 2022

  • A young man in a short white coat stands with his grandfather and mother in a biomedical library

    Moving ever forward: M1 Russell Stewart envisions medical future

    Though his family has a long history at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Russell O. Stewart Jr. keeps his focus on the future in an ever-changing field By: Lexie Little In 1920, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine sat at the intersection of present-day Fifth Avenue and… Read More

    Oct. 3, 2022

  • A man in a long white coat helps a student to put on a short white coat

    Diagnosing problems, providing solutions

    M1 Darryl Delsoin joins the Medical Innovator Development Program (MIDP) with an entrepreneurial mission By: Lexie Little M1 Darryl Delsoin Darryl Delsoin peered through the white smoke cloud. He watched as local Haitian women and men cooked over ash-riddled round stoves fueled by charcoal. Nearby wooden doorways, some stained with… Read More

    Sep. 6, 2022

  • A piano sits on a stage with a lectern and chairs in front of a memorial service screen

    Annual Anatomical Donation Program service honors donors, families

    By: Lexie Little Each year, the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine community gathers to honor the memories of those who donated to the Anatomical Donation Program, which allows medical students to explore the intricacies of the human body. Families, friends, students, faculty, and staff gathered in Langford Auditorium… Read More

    Aug. 26, 2022

  • James Yang

    Computations, conversations keep James Yang at Vanderbilt

    M1 James Yang remains at Vanderbilt for medical school after working on cancer research by Lexie Little In Murfreesboro, Tennessee, a Jack Russell terrier named Sadie scampers and plays in the mild plateau breeze. Leaves crunch under her feet as she anxiously paws at the ground, waiting on her human… Read More

    Nov. 11, 2021

  • Starina D'Souza

    M1 Starina D’Souza champions cultural care

    Vanderbilt University School of Medicine offers a path to fulfilling dreams in her own backyard by Lexie Little Walking between the columns of University School of Nashville as a high school senior, Starina D’Souza looked back at the building established in 1925. Peabody College students had ventured over to what… Read More

    Oct. 26, 2021

  • Sam WiseCarver

    M1 Samuel WiseCarver finds purpose at VUSM

    When a high school injury derailed his future plans, Sam WiseCarver found a path to Vanderbilt by Lexie Little Standing in his biology classroom at Science Hill High School in Johnson City, Tennessee, a 17-year-old Samuel WiseCarver thought more about soccer practice after school than the Punnett squares in his… Read More

    Oct. 13, 2021

  • Derek Riffert

    Field of His Dreams: Derek Riffert returns to VUSM

    An undergraduate experience through Vanderbilt’s Summer Science Academy prompted M1 Derek Riffert to return for medical school by Lexie Little M1 Derek Riffert shares a first name with his hero, Derek Jeter. As a kid in West Lafayette, Indiana, he watched the five-time World Series champion lead the New York… Read More

    Oct. 5, 2021