For aspiring American doctors who aren’t fresh out of college and don’t have the highest test scores, the road to medical school can be cluttered with obstacles — even impassable. That’s prompted a number of Memphians to pursue their medical degrees at St. George’s University on the Caribbean island of Grenada. Dr. Samantha Gutierrez is one of seven SGU graduates in the first year of their medical residencies in hospitals across the city. Dr. Ahmad Dhodi, who was born in Pakistan but moved to Memphis at age 10, also graduated from SGU and has returned to home to work in his community.
Both are now residents at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, which has partnerships with several area hospitals. Some UTHSC residents work at Regional One Health or Baptist Memorial Hospital, but their primary site is the Memphis VA Medical Center.