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Class of 2027 White Coat Campaign

$18,277

60%

Raised toward our $30,000 Goal
72 Donors

Project has ended

Project ended on July 31, at 11:59 PM MST

Project Owners

Welcome Class of 2027!

July 22, 2023

Last night we welcomed 120 students into our MedCat family at our annual White Coat Ceremony. Thank you for your donation to support this year‘s campaign.

Meet incoming MedCat Mele Vaohoi Kona Hala’ufia

July 17, 2023

Mele Vaohoi Kona Hala’ufia grew up in Tucson and earned her undergraduate degree in physiology at the College of Medicine – Tucson. She earned an EMT certification to gain firsthand clinical experience. While Mele didn’t immediately use her EMT skills, the experience proved vital after she graduated from college in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When I graduated in 2021, the first COVID-19 vaccines were coming out. I wanted to use my EMT certification to help in any way I could with the pandemic, so I got a job as a COVID vaccinator and spent a lot of time traveling throughout Arizona giving COVID vaccines. I felt good about it because I was helping my community through the pandemic.”

During this time, Mele discovered a passion for helping underserved communities. She joined a migrant aid organization where she administered COVID tests to immigrants entering Tucson. These experiences further solidified her desire to pursue a career in medicine and helped her find an area of focus for her studies.

The College of Medicine – Tucson was an obvious choice for Mele, considering its proximity to her family and the opportunities for service. She knows the area has a large immigrant population in need of physicians, and hopes to continue serving those groups. “I really want to be a doctor who people know they can count on. I hope to be involved in the immigrant community when I’m a physician as well. That’s what I want for my career in medicine.”

The White Coats Have Arrived

July 13, 2023

White coats are here! We're so excited to welcome the Class of 2027 by draping them in these beautiful coats next week. Thank you to all the donors who have contributed.

Meet incoming MedCat Alexandra Miller

July 12, 2023

Alexandra Miller wanted to be a doctor since she was a 5-year-old helping her great-grandfather with his insulin shots. In middle school, after talking to a cousin doing his postdoc, she learned that research could be a career and switched her sights to science.

“I got to college and found out you can actually do both,” says Alexandra, who is entering the College of Medicine – Tucson as an MD/PhD student. “Physician-scientists are at the pinnacle of translation. You are going between bench and bedside. To have the ability to translate research back into the clinic is a huge goal of mine.”

Alexandra chose Drake University, a small liberal arts college in Iowa that offered ample research opportunities for her as her undergraduate program. She also had a couple of summer internships: the first with a neurology team in a local hospital in Minneapolis and the second diving into cancer genetics at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. Along with the genetics classes she was taking in college, she was homing in on her future career.

After completing her bachelor’s degree, she was hired by the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where she worked in a lipid genomics lab and supervised the clinical genomics department’s research program. "I knew that the University of Arizona had cool stuff happening from the genomics side of things,” she says, citing the College of Medicine – Tucson’s participation in All of Us, a National Institutes of Health initiative to create the largest, most diverse genetic datasets for precision health research.

After a lifetime in the Midwest, Alexandra is excited to explore the desert along with her career options as a physician. Before moving to Tucson to start this new chapter, Alexandra stayed with her parents in Minnesota for 10 days — enough time to attend a very special event. “My sister just graduated from high school. I got to watch her walk across the stage,” she says. Both sisters are celebrating each other’s success: “She’s coming to White Coat.”

Meet incoming MedCat Brianna Itzel Valencia

July 07, 2023

Brianna Itzel Valencia grew up in San Luis, a border town outside Yuma where she and her two siblings were raised by a single mother.

A television reality series called “Trauma: Life in the ER” showed her how science could be combined with her love for helping people. In middle school, she earned a scholarship to a prestigious summer program and spent three weeks in New England learning about anatomy and physiology. As a neuroscience and cognitive science major at the University of Arizona, she continued work toward a medical career and worked as a scribe at Tucson Medical Center, learning more about her future profession while also earning a paycheck.

Brianna also participated in Arizona’s Science, Engineering, and Math Scholars Program, which enabled her to shadow orthopedic surgeons, and volunteered as an interpreter at Clinica Amistad, which provides free care to uninsured and low-income patients.

Her goal to be a physician locked in, Brianna enrolled in P-MAP, an intensive medical school preparation program for promising students who have faced considerable obstacles. “It solidified that I do belong on campus, that I deserved to be there.”

Thank You

July 05, 2023

Our White Coat Campaign supporting the College of Medicine - Tucson Class of 2027 is off to a great start.

Thank you to everyone that has donated. Your support shows how much you appreciate the students and the journey they are about to start on.

Levels

Choose a giving level

$20.27

In Honor of the Class of 2027

Recent grads and families, can you lend a helping hand to our new class? Gifts of all sizes make a difference.

Contribute $20.27

$50

A New White Coat

The symbol of the beginning of a medical school journey.

Contribute $50

$120

Welcome Class of 2027

There are 120 members in the College of Medicine – Tucson Class of 2027. Demonstrate your support and help keep a med student’s dream going strong!

Contribute $120

$200

Littman Diagnostic Stethoscope

Help us reach our goal of providing every member of the Class of 2027 with a Littmann Cardiology IV stethoscope.

Contribute $200

$250

White Coat & Stethoscope

Make a med student’s journey a little easier with a gift of their first white coat and stethoscope

Contribute $250

$500

The Future is Bright

There are close to 500 students currently enrolled at the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson.

Contribute $500