#AISSLobo
The American Indian Student Services’ #AISSLobo highlights students from across the UNM community on the AISS social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.
Christian White (Diné) is this week’s #AISSLobo! He’s a medical student at the UNM School of Medicine and plans to be an emergency medicine physician at a hospital that serves Native people in Arizona. He’s grateful for the IHS Health Professions Scholarship, it supports his tuition costs & provides a monthly housing stipend; and it helps him achieve his goals by requiring that he work at an approved IHS facility, tribal facility, or Urban Indian Facility. Christian is the co-president of the Association of Native American Medical Students (ANAMS), he volunteers at vaccine clinics hosted by UNM, and he’s a part of the UNM Rural and Urban Underserved Program that prepares med students to effectively provide care for medically underserved communities. He also volunteers with Running Medicine (RM); RM is a community movement group with the goal of connecting mind, body, and spirit through running & exercise. Christian chose to attend UNM for medical school because of the patient population and hospital; he wanted to attend a program where he would see Native patients, which UNM provided, and UNM would prepare him for emergency medicine since it’s the only Level I trauma center in the state. Christian’s hero is his 13-month-old son because he reminds him every day to keep going. Each time that Christian steps into the hospital, it confirms his passion in medicine and reminds him that he’s able to help others; this aids him in avoiding burnout and keeps him motivated to study. Christian shares these words of advice with this fellow Lobos, “Believe in yourself even if people tell you it's not possible.” Christian is on a great journey to support the health of Indigenous peoples and we cannot wait to see all that he accomplishes!
