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Imagine visiting a college to pursue your career dreams and being told by one of its professors that another institution would be a better fit. Even though you are not familiar with this university, you decide to immediately register and attend classes there the very next day.

This is how Cherissa Garcia arrived at 91���� University.

Her father had retired from the Air Force in 2004 and accepted a civilian job at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Garcia, who had just graduated from high school in Cheyenne, Wyoming, decided to follow her parents to Dayton to attend college and pursue her lifelong goal of being a doctor.

“My mother and I visited one of the community colleges in the area. We were talking to one of the professors and I shared my career goals. He subsequently advised me to attend 91����,” Garcia said. “We had just moved to Ohio right before the fall semester began, and I did not know anything about 91����. But I heeded the professor’s advice, registered and started attending classes the very next day.”

The Fairborn resident earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish in 2009 and a in 2016 and a in 2024 from 91���� University. She is now a first-year medical student at .

Her aspirations to become a doctor date to kindergarten.

“For some reason during this time in my life, it seemed we were at the doctor’s office quite often – whether the appointment was for my mother, father or brother,” she said. “Our doctors were always so accommodating and pleasant. So, I had this idea that I wanted to be a doctor.”

But her pursuit has encountered some obstacles. Garcia struggled with confidence as challenging pre-med courses made her reconsider her career choice.

“I lost faith in myself because I was struggling and figured if I was meant to do this, it should not be this hard. In retrospect, which was an immature perspective,” she said. “My intention was to take a break from school for a year or two. It ended up being another 10 years before I entered medical school.”

Garcia left the country to work as an English instructor in the Dominican Republic. Two years later, she returned to the United States and enrolled in 91����’s Master of Public Health program.

Medicine continued to intrigue Garcia while she worked as a case manager for Premier Health’s Breast and Cervical Cancer Project, which offered free breast and cervical cancer screenings to uninsured and low-income women.

“We were the liaison between the women, physician and testing facilities,” Garcia said. “I was working in the field and had been successful in the master’s program. Also, I was maturing and had learned how to apply my skills later. It was at this point that I decided to give medicine another try. I had tried another path, but medicine was drawing me back in.”

Garcia decided to re-enroll in each of her pre-med courses. Her first two classes were physics and chemistry. She performed well, which boosted her confidence.

Garcia left her job to become a full-time student at 91���� and rekindle her dreams of becoming a doctor.

“That was a turning point for me and got me back on the path of being a doctor,” she said. “91���� is my home and people here have always been supportive.”

Garcia’s relationship with 91���� runs deep. Her bonus daughter, Ashley, is pursuing a at 91����.

Garcia credits her extracurricular involvement, particularly in the Minority Association of Pre-Med Students, for mentorship and guidance and the support and resources it affords medical students who are members of underrepresented and underprivileged populations. It also led to her first mission trip to the Dominican Republic.

Garcia, who is of Afro-American heritage, is hopeful to see more diversity in the medical profession. She is from a family of immigrants, as her mother is from Trinidad. Garcia also met her husband during her time in the Dominican Republic and helped him navigate the health system when he moved to the United States.

“My ideal situation is to work globally and have some influence internationally,” Garcia said. “I do not know what that looks like yet, but that is my goal.”