Weill Cornell Medicine shared a post on LinkedIn:
“As Stephanie Azzopardi prepares for commencement, she reflects on her extraordinary experiences at Weill Cornell Medicine that began when she was a college student and concludes with her young daughter at her side.
‘Fourteen years after my journey began at Weill Cornell Medicine, it feels surreal that I’m graduating with my MD and PhD. When I was a freshman at Hunter College, I had my first lab research experience here.
MD-PhD training is a marathon not a sprint—and I didn’t run it alone. I ran it with my husband and my daughter. It included some of life’s most meaningful and challenging transitions: defending my PhD thesis at 9 months pregnant and returning to medical school when my daughter was 3 months old.
I was drawn to the world of advancing treatments for patients facing diseases with limited options, so when I was accepted to the Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program, it was a life-changing moment.
Since then, my robust training has prepared me to care for patients while understanding the science behind disease and treatments.
For my PhD, I studied at the Hospital for Special Surgery Research Institute, and I participated in Cornell’s Life Sciences Technology Innovation Fellowship to gain insight into translating discovery into clinical care. During a sub-internship at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Lower Manhattan, I had the amazing opportunity to work directly with physicians to care for patients. Across research, coursework and clinical training, I had the privilege of learning from and working with mentors who inspired me to dream bigger.
The hurdles were higher with the responsibilities of motherhood, but so was my sense of purpose. My perseverance was strengthened by my hope to make my daughter proud.
Through it all, my guiding star has remained: to advance medicine for the benefit of all patients.
Next, I’m excited to go to Washington University in St. Louis to begin internal medicine residency, where I will use my solid foundation to build a career in patient care, clinical research and innovation.
But most importantly, I hope to show my daughter that, with resiliency, even the biggest goals in life are attainable.'”
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