The path from undergraduate to medical school isn’t always straightforward, a fact Lord Hyeamang and Travette Daniel know well. While they both had their sights set on medicine from the start, Lord spent five years and Travette spent 10 years on other careers before starting medical school.
Today, they are both third-year medical students (M3s), and while they each took different routes, as they begin their intern experience they are on track to end up in the same place – as orthopedic surgeons.
Detours on the road to medical school
Lord Hyeamang’s road from undergrad to medical school took a detour through professional sports and public health. At Columbia University in New York City, he started on the pre-med academic track but scaled back academically to devote more time to Division I football and National Football League tryouts.
When he graduated in 2018, his focus had paid off, and he played professionally for the New York Jets, the Los Angeles Rams, and the Canadian Football League. But he remained focused on his ultimate goal of becoming a physician.
Lord brushed up on science while attending non-degree classes at University of Minnesota between seasons. He studied for the MCAT while working between seasons and aced the exam on his first try during his final pro season. He then returned to his suburban Minneapolis hometown, where he spent three years working in public health and healthcare administration before enrolling at Rush Medical College in Chicago.
“My parents are from Ghana, and like in a lot of immigrant cultures, kids need to become doctors, lawyers, or engineers – or disgrace the family,” Lord said with a smile. “So medicine’s always been on my mind.”
Travette Daniel’s path to medicine is a testament to resilience and determination. Growing up in East St. Louis, she quickly learned the value of hard work. She graduated from high school with honors, but upon entering the University of Missouri in Kansas City, she realized her preparation in math and science was not as strong as she needed for premedical studies. Faced with this challenge, she relied on what she knew best—working tirelessly to achieve her dreams.
After college, Travette moved to the Chicago area, where she worked in social services, hospital settings, and pharmacy benefits. She took the MCAT multiple times, and with each attempt, her determination to become a physician only grew. She began to accept that her journey would not follow the traditional path, and while that presented challenges, her commitment to her goal never wavered.
A decade after earning her undergraduate degree, she had built a diverse portfolio of experiences—gaining corporate leadership skills, strengthening her Spanish fluency, serving underserved communities, and refining her healthcare expertise. These experiences culminated in her acceptance to medical school. Just prior, she had completed a second post-baccalaureate pipeline program that became a critical bridge to her success.
“I was balancing a lot, and it was not easy to do all those things at once, but it worked,” Travette said. “I had various work experiences, but my heart would always go back to becoming a doctor. It made my journey that much more impactful.”
Not alone on the winding path
Travette and Lord found they were not unusual in taking some time, whether by design or by chance, before beginning medical school. Both said they were grateful for their experiences prior to medical school.
“A lot of people had great experiences before medical school, and Rush values that in its applicants,” Lord says. “It was great to be in a diverse cohort of people who were nurses, in the military, or in tech before medicine.”
“It only adds to who I am as a person, and the persistence I built during that time has helped me be a medical student and will help me be a better doctor,” Travette confirms.
Despite Travette’s delayed start to her medical career, she was all-in from day one. She commuted over an hour each way from Cicero to North Chicago for her M1 and M2 years and was elected president of her medical school’s chapter of the Student National Medical Association.
Support goes both ways: Sneakers to Scrubs, Nth Dimensions, and CPASS share missions
During medical school, Lord partnered with other Black athletes to start a program called Sneakers to Scrubs that uses sports to get kids interested in careers in healthcare. The organization is built on the 4Es: It encourages student-athletes to explore various careers in healthcare, provides opportunities for them to experience the medical profession, and offers support to excel in the field, while simultaneously building community partnerships that expand healthcare access where it’s needed most.
“Sports are an authentic way to get kids in the door,” says Lord. “To a little kid, an athlete is the coolest thing. We can get kids to work together as teammates while also opening the door to conversations with them.”
Through Sneakers to Scrubs, Lord met Dr. Stephen Martin, executive director of the CPASS Foundation, and learned that they shared the goal of creating a pathway for underrepresented students to bridge the gap of understanding and stepping forward into the healthcare space. Today, the CPASS Foundation partners with Sneakers to Scrubs on sports-related events like basketball tournaments. Both organizations benefit from this relationship – the med students who volunteer with Sneakers to Scrubs learn how to be mentors, and CPASS gets in front of kids whose interest and skills in sports can translate to goal-setting, teamwork, and being open to support.
Lord also became a recipient of the Chicago Area Health and Medical Careers Program™ (CAHMCP a.k.a. “Champs”), both a predecessor and program of the CPASS Foundation, which provided funding for his United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step exams.
Travette received scholarship funds for her Step 1 exam through Champs after learning about the CPASS program, and she expressed deep gratitude for the support, stating, “Financial relief by any means for medical school is a blessing.”
She is also a Nth Dimensions scholar, completing her internship with the organization, which develops specialized programs to expand access to and engagement in specialty medical fields through targeted, immersive experiences. Much like Nth Dimensions, CPASS aims to provide resources and opportunities to underrepresented students pursuing careers in medicine.
The importance of encouraging more Black students to enter medicine
Travette strongly believes in the importance of encouraging more African Americans students to enter the medical field. Her own journey has affirmed that she is exactly where she is meant to be, bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience to her work. Each day, she is reminded through her interactions in hospital settings that representation matters.
As she reflects, “It may seem like we’re lifting a heavier load, but the fact that we have the strength to do so successfully is encouragement to keep going.” Travette hopes others who face challenges on this path will understand that they are not the first, nor will they be the last, but that perseverance makes the journey profoundly rewarding.
As a future physician, her goal is to excel in her craft, lift others as she climbs, and embrace each version of herself that emerges along the way.
Although Lord had greater access to resources, as the son of immigrants, he “always thought it was odd that America was viewed the land of milk and honey, but many people can’t access a basic level of healthcare.”
That’s one reason Lord believes it’s important to have doctors who look and sound like people from their own communities. “In an ideal world, ratios of doctors’ demographics would be the same as the population they serve,” he says.
Lord sees three main reasons why it’s important to have doctors who look and sound like people from their communities:
- People who are in communities that have been discriminated against get better care from someone from their own community.
- Care by people who come from underserved and under resourced communities helps to close gaps in health outcomes, including the risk of death, for minority populations.
- People are more likely to return to serve the communities they come from, improving the social determinants of health and access to local care.
Lord and Travette’s pathways to medicine may look different, but they also share many similarities. Today, as they continue to learn through their internships in their final year of medical school, they are ready to share what they’ve learned and to help future physicians from underserved and under resourced communities chart their own courses.
Supporting students like Travette and Lord is a powerful way to invest in a more inclusive healthcare future and make a tangible difference in the lives of underrepresented students. Every contribution enables CPASS to provide vital resources like mentorship, test prep, and financial support to students who are breaking through barriers on their journey to medical school and beyond. By donating to CPASS at cpassfoundation.org or texting “STEMM” to 53-555, you’ll be directly empowering aspiring healthcare professionals.
Follow us on social media @cpassfoundation to stay connected and see the impact of your support. Let’s help more students follow their dreams and build healthier communities for us all.