SHS student chosen for Future Medical Leaders event

Alana Garrick, a ninth-grader at Sumter High School, is a delegate to the Congress of Future Medical Leaders on Nov. 21-22.

The Congress is an honors-only program for high school students who want to become physicians or go into medical research fields. The purpose of this event is to honor, inspire, motivate and direct the top students in the country interested in these careers to stay true to their dream and, after the event, to provide a path, plan and resources to help them reach their goal.

Garrick's nomination was signed by Dr. Mario Capecchi, winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine and the science director of the National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists, to represent Sumter High School based on her academic achievement, leadership potential and determination to serve humanity in the field of medicine.

During the two-day Congress, Garrick will join students from across the country and hear Nobel Laureates and National Medal of Science winners talk about leading medical research; be given advice from Ivy League and top medical school deans on what to expect in medical school; witness stories told by patients who are living medical miracles; be inspired by fellow teen medical science prodigies; and learn about cutting-edge advances and the future in medicine and medical technology.

The Academy offers free services and programs to students who want to become physicians or go into medical science. Some of the services and programs the Academy offers are online social networks through which future doctors and medical scientists can communicate; opportunities for students to be guided and mentored by physicians and medical students; and communications for parents and students on college acceptance and finances, skills acquisition, internships, career guidance and much more.

The National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists was founded on the belief that we must identify prospective medical talent at the earliest possible age and help these students acquire the necessary experience and skills to take them to the doorstep of this vital career. Based in Washington, D.C., and with offices in Boston, Massachusetts, the Academy was chartered as a nonpartisan, taxpaying institution to help address this crisis by working to identify, encourage and mentor students who wish to devote their lives to the service of humanity as physicians and medical scientists.

In January 2018 as a sixth-grader at Alice Drive Middle School, Garrick was one quarter of a four-person, all-female science team that was one of only 31 school and college groups across the U.S., Canada and Brazil selected to send an experiment to the International Space Station as part of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education's spaceflight program.

For more information, visit www.FutureDocs.com or call (617) 307-7425.