A few weeks shy of graduation from Sidney Kimmel Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and her residency at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, first generation Simms-Mann Scholarship recipient Rachel Israilevich was very clear eyed about what she wants to do as a retinal surgeon.
The Simms-Mann Scholarship has helped Rachel achieve her undergraduate studies at Tulane, move on to medical school, do rotations outside of her home institution as part of her residency period at Mayo Clinic while achieving her degree.
A lifelong believer in giving back to the community, she aspires to get involved in academic medicine to pass along all she has learned as well as being an advisor to clinics who will give eye exams, surgery and help vulnerable communities.
“I would like to stay involved with teaching in medical school and residents”, said Rachel, who grew up in Los Angeles. “With academia you really get a lot of opportunities, do some more complicated pathologies. You have really wide access to research; that’s also something I want to stay involved in.”
Her parents immigrated from the old Soviet Union in the 1990’s, and with the help of the Jewish Federation in Los Angeles were able to bring up Rachel and her sister, get her high school education and instill in both the importance of giving back to others. “I would love to be a faculty advisor to a free clinic such as the Wills Eye access that we have wherever I end up and support students in continuing something like that.”
“I have been involved in community service all my life. One of the values that my parents really kind of instilled in us was giving back to others and almost, like helping other people is something that you should be involved in your day-to-day life.” adds Rachel. “Outside of my medical studies there are a ton of people who don’t have access to care, can’t afford health care. As a student I was able to participate in these free clinics that provide care to those who really wouldn’t be able to get it anywhere else.
“The scholarship was instrumental in helping me fund my education. I’m really grateful because it really made things possible for me to kind of make my dream come true,” Rachel proudly recalls. “It made possible my away rotations in ophthalmology. I did one of my away rotations at Mayo Clinic and now I’m going to be a resident there. The Simms-Mann scholarship literally helped me achieve my dream.”
In medicine, away rotations are a predefined amount of time as a medical student outside your home institution. It usually occurs during the fourth or final year of education.
During medical school, she worked on multiple research projects with the retina department at Wills Eye Hospital. Theses impressively resulted in several publications in high-impact journals and presentations at national conferences. Rachel has been recognized for her work with the Dean’s Research Award and the SKMC Lavine Research Scholarship. She also worked tirelessly to organize and implement career planning tools for SKMC students through MD Compass, a four-year longitudinal career exploration program.
Her interest in ophthalmology, though, was not present when she enrolled to major in neuroscience at Tulane. After graduating, she continued her studies at Sydney Kimmel and although neuroscience is heavily related to visual pathways,they are different. It wasn’t until a Jewish student mixer that she met Dr. Alex Levin, who became one of her mentors.
“We had a guest speaker there, his name is Dr. Alex Levin, he’s an ophthalmologist at Wills Eye Hospital. He wasn’t even talking about ophthalmology, but he was so kind and offered that if anybody wanted to go talk to him, his door was open, so I did,” recalls Rachel. “He really got me actively engaged in it and I just really liked the clinical side of it. I also sat in his operating room and really got to see all the surgeries.”
Rachel is one of six recipients of the Simms-Mann Scholarship, which provides qualified Jewish students whose primary residence is in the Greater Los Angeles area with need-based financial aid, in the belief that education represents the first step to career success.
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