{"id":33930,"date":"2025-05-27T08:19:32","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T15:19:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/?p=33930"},"modified":"2025-05-27T10:27:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T17:27:13","slug":"student-authored-editorial-first-gen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/2025\/05\/27\/student-authored-editorial-first-gen\/","title":{"rendered":"Student-Authored Editorial Highlights the Value of First-Gen Students in Medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine MD students Emilie Foltz (MS3) and Alexander Pursel (&#8217;25) penned a journal editorial with Vice Dean for Admissions, Student Affairs, and Alumni Engagement Leila Harrison, PhD, MA, MEd, underscoring the value of first-generation students in medicine and highlighting how first-gen medical student representation at WSU exceeds national averages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Published in <em>Cureus<\/em>, part of Springer Nature, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cureus.com\/articles\/357387-the-value-of-first-generation-college-students-in-medicine-bridging-gaps-and-driving-innovation#!\/\">The Value of First-Generation College Students in Medicine: Bridging Gaps and Driving Innovation<\/a>&#8221; discusses how first-generation students&#8217; diverse perspectives, resilience, and other attributes drive innovation in the medical field and can help alleviate physician shortages in underserved areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lead author Emilie Foltz noted that the paper was inspired by reflecting on her journey as the first in her family to attend college and medical school, an experience that revealed the unique challenges and strengths of first-generation medical students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I hope this paper sparks national dialogue about the resilience of first-gen students and the often-overlooked barriers they face,&#8221; Foltz said. &#8220;My mission has always been to leave medicine better than I found it, and I hope this work inspires stronger support for aspiring physicians from disadvantaged backgrounds.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The WSU College of Medicine regularly enrolls double the national average of first-generation medical students, a testament to the university&#8217;s commitment to make education more accessible as a land-grant institution and a reflection of the college&#8217;s goal to train physicians committed to serving the Washington communities that need them most.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MD students Emilie Foltz (MS3) and Alexander Pursel (&#8217;25) penned a journal editorial with Vice Dean for Admissions, Student Affairs, and Alumni Engagement Leila Harrison, PhD, MA, MEd, underscoring the value of first-generation students in medicine and highlighting high first-gen enrollment in the MD program. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25158,"featured_media":33931,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[75],"tags":[40,73],"wsuwp_university_location":[],"wsuwp_university_org":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33930"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25158"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33930"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33946,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33930\/revisions\/33946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33930"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_location?post=33930"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_org","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_org?post=33930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}