As a child in Nigeria, third-year medical student Khadijat Perkins suffered through several life-threating bouts with malaria.
“I felt that I had the most dreadful childhood memories, unaware that at the same time, many young children in my country never live long enough to create such memories,” she said. “I am from Nigeria, where one in six children die before the age of five due to the absence of timely, quality health care.”
That’s how Perkins, whose given name is Adegbemisola Khadijat Aregbe, described herself when she applied for admission to the College of Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.
Now the immediate past president of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) at UTHSC, Perkins is working to bring quality health care to those in the Memphis community who might otherwise not have access to it. In February, Perkins led a group of College of Medicine students in staging a health fair at the UTHSC Health Hub in Uptown. The group, who call themselves Healthier Memphis, also includes Callie Walls, Taylor Dent, Cassidy Lounsbury, Alaina Rule, and Gabrielle Napper.
Read more at our UTHSC news site.