Empower Dani to Achieve Her Dream to Become a Doctor

Hi!

My name is Danilea “Dani” M. Carmona. I started my medical education at SJBSM in Puerto Rico. I aspire to be a physician scientist and mentor. I am the first member of my immediate family to pursue a doctor’s degree, let alone in medicine, and feel strongly about mentoring students to pursue graduate studies.

Unfortunately, I have faced several situations, including health difficulties as well as economic setbacks that compromised my ability to continue school. Though I have worked during this time as a tutor, translator and administrative assistant the availability of stable income has been a limiting factor in allowing me to return to school and complete my education. I am meeting ends needs with my current income as most of my work has been by contracts that are subject to need, I have a 24 year old car that is currently in the mechanic and I am facing limited transportation at a time I need to be able to go back and forth stably.

My plan is to return to medical school, but I am still struggling economically to be able to have a stable transportation and educational resources to be able to succeed. Your help will help me pay for my study resources, transportation, food and other expenses necessary to finish medical school. Study resources alone for this year will have a total cost of approximately $7,500.00 without taking into account any other expenses associated with my education.

Therefore, I reach out to you to request your help in my journey to finish medical school. Any support counts! If you cannot use GoFundMe, feel free to message me to make contributions in Cash, via Zelle ATHMovil, PayPal, Venmo or CashApp. These donations CAN be entered here manually!

Why support me?

Since my first year at SJBSM became actively involved in my passions: education, community work, mentorship and research.

I served as liaison between my institution and the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) as a member of the Organization of Student Representatives (OSR) served as curriculum committee representative and served as president of the Latino Medical Association and founded the first Association of Women Surgeons (AWS) Medical Student Chapter in Puerto Rico and served as the Latin America Liaison for the AWS National Medical Student Committee from 2020-2021 successfully organizing the First AWS Latin America Regional Meeting for students in March 2021. Furthermore, I volunteered at outside institutions to mentor pre-medical students and toured students interested in SJBSM as an educational opportunity. In this way I was able to impact peers and pre-medical students and learn from them as I continue to move forward in my goals.

In addition, I have been an active member in various interest groups and have lead institutional activities and community outreach activities. In these, my classmates and I have partnered to successfully integrate our passion for medicine and our love for our community service and education.

I have also been part of clinical and basic science research. This interest lead me to research opportunities in neurology, public health, neuroendocrine cancer research, and clinical research. This interest in research provided me with a setting to learn more about how to help patients through scientific inquiry. Moreover, it was a setting that allowed me to be a mentor to pre-med students and first-year medical students while also being a mentee and networking with professionals of various fields. As part of these experiences, I have also contributed to scientific publications in the form of peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters.

Last but not least, I have been the recepient of several awards that have highlighted my passion for my community, for academia and for medicine. I have been recognized by the American College of Surgeons Puerto Rico Chapter (ACS PR) for my commitment to mentorship, by the Association of Women Surgeon’s (AWS) and Society of Black Academic Surgeons (SBAS) Diversity Equity and Inclusion Award, the Building the Next Generation of Academic Physicians (BNGAP) Trainee Leadership Award, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Medical Research Fellowship, as well as the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons (AAES) travel award for plenary presentations and the Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) travel award.

Thank you for your help, every cent matters, no matter how big or small. Please help me return and finish this path I am so passionate about.