Recent University of the Virgin Islands graduate Delia Miller joins Boston University this fall as a first year medical student. Miller, who earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from UVI this May, will matriculate at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) in August.
Miller said that having spent the last year at Boston University, she knows she must be focused and dedicated to her studies. "I look forward to working hard, but still have fun in the process," she said. Miller, a 2007 graduate of the Charlotte Amalie High School on St. Thomas, has not decided an area of specialty. "For right now, I'm just exploring the sciences," she said. "I want to be exposed to more things before I make a decision on what type of doctor I want to be."
UVI is one of 14 universities to participate in the highly selective BUSM Early Medical School Selection Program. UVI students interested in becoming physicians may apply to the program in their sophomore year, after meeting application qualifications. Once selected, students participate in a six-week summer program at Boston University following their sophomore and junior years at UVI, and spend their UVI senior year at BUSM - earning college credits toward their UVI degree and medical degree. After graduating from UVI, the students enter BUSM as medical students.
Two UVI students were accepted into the BUSM Early Medical School Selection Program this year - Chinamaere Igwebuike and Monique Meade. Both are biology majors and both from the island of St. Croix. They are spending six weeks at the Boston University summer program shadowing a doctor, attending a seminar on health disparities, taking a course, and taking a Medical College Admission Test preparation workshop.
Miller joins other UVI graduates - Mallorie Callender, Jaurel Harley, Elisha Jno-Baptiste, Mutahammis Kareem, Wissam Mustafa, Shanedelle Norford and Jinne Richards - who are current medical students at BUSM. To date, 20 UVI graduates have earned Doctor of Medicine degrees through UVI's collaboration with BUSM. UVI Professor and Biological Sciences Department Chair Dr. Sandra Romano is the liaison for the program and may be contacted at 340-693-1389 or sromano@uvi.edu.