Bryce Cedarquist
Diagnostic Radiology, Stony Brook Teaching Hospital
About Me
I grew up in a small town in northern Vermont on a family farm alongside my four brothers and one sister. We lived off the grid, and almost everything we had we made or grew, including most of our food, house, and barns. I was homeschooled for most of my life, and the idea of formal education seemed foreign to me. It was not until the financial crisis in the late 2000s that forced my family to uproot and move. In high school, I found a natural gift for the sciences, especially chemistry and physics. I decided to apply for college and was the first in my family to do so. I attended Central Washington University, where I received a chemistry degree with the intention to apply for jobs in chemical engineering. In my final years of my undergrad, I ended up volunteering at a free health clinic in Ellensburg, which persuaded me to take the MCAT and apply for medical school.
My medical school journey
The Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine is just as ambitious as the students enrolled in the inaugural class. The goal was always to create impeccable doctors for populations in the most need.
My medical journey has been aided by the passion of our educators and doctors willing to pass on their knowledge to the next generation,” says Cedarquist.
What I will remember most is the profound and privileged experiences needed to mold a fact-filled medical student into a compassionate physician. In one moment, I help deliver a beautiful boy into the world, and in another moment, I helped a family say goodbye to a boy turned old. In one moment, I’ve helped a woman manage her pain from her cells that turned against her and in another moment, found that the pain of a woman was from years of pain medication turned against her by an irresponsible system. I have listened to the final words of a man content with his life in his last breaths, and I have heard the beautiful life in a newborn’s cry as he takes his first breath. I hope that in all these moments, I remember and reflect upon how privileged I am to be in healthcare and use it as motivation to be the best doctor I can be. I hope to always be a medical student, learning whenever I can from my seniors, peers, patients, and future doctors.
Hopes & Aspirations
I plan on training as a general radiologist where I can work in a small city that also serves the rural towns in the surrounding area.