Entering the highly competitive specialization of child neurology, American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine (AUC) graduate Megan Garvey-Whatley, MD looks forward to the impact she will make as a resident physician at Washington University-affiliated St. Louis Children’s Hospital in Missouri, her top-choice program. This specialized program allows her to combine her passions of pediatrics, neurology, and teaching.
Since a young age, Garvey-Whatley knew she wanted to become a doctor, recalling the time she told her pediatrician she wanted to be a pediatrician when she grows up too. In college, she discovered another interest – the human brain. Worried that she would have to give up on her dream of working with children to focus on her interest in neurology, Garvey-Whatley attended a presentation in about neuropathologies that affect children, which introduced her to the world of child neurology.
Garvey-Whatley set her sights on becoming a child neurologist and searched for the perfect institution to receive medical training. She decided on AUC after learning about graduates who matched into child neurology. Even though she knew the specialty was competitive, Garvey-Whatley pushed forward and found her perfect match, “I was definitely looking for a program that had a standalone children’s hospital and was a level one trauma center…a lot of the other programs I interviewed at had a lot of people who trained at Washington University and that was kind of their ‘claim-to-fame,’ and so if I could just go to Washington University that would be awesome.”
Having tutored heavily on island and voted “Most Likely to Return to AUC to Teach” for senior superlatives, Garvey-Whatley was also looking for a program with a hospital that was affiliated with a medical school, “I always ask how much interaction we get with the medical students because I’m really interested in medical education.” Looking forward to spending time with the Washington University medical students, Garvey-Whatley hopes to continue having a positive influence on others like she did at AUC.
Garvey-Whatley encourages current students to immerse themselves in the AUC community and network as much as possible, “AUC connected me with alumni who matched into child neurology. I really appreciated the community we have at AUC and the alumni network that was so helpful.”
