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Diamanta Panford, College of Medicine student

A Passion with a Purpose: Diamanta Panford

A broken arm, a twisted ankle and the explanations behind her injuries and x-rays: That’s all it took to hook Diamanta Panford, now a first-year Northeast Ohio Medical University College of Medicine student, on the health care field. After those injuries, she remembers sitting through doctors’ appointments in London, where she lived as a child, and being fascinated by the doctors and their world.

When Panford was 14, she and her mother moved to Illinois to help care for Diamanta’s grandmother. Throughout her undergraduate education at Northwestern University, Panford was involved with an organization called Jumpstart, in which she and other members coached children from low-income areas on literacy skills. From that experience, says Panford, “I decided I wanted to work in a realm where I could help people who are low-income or disadvantaged to obtain the same kind of resources and the same quality of care as more privileged people.”

Finding her niche in medicine

An interest in urban health led Panford to the NEOMED- Cleveland State University Partnership for Urban Health, where she got involved in communities within Cleveland. In partnership with the American Heart Association, Panford and her classmates visited local barber shops to take customers’ blood pressure readings.

“The conversations I was able to have through that program were striking. It really helped me solidify that urban health was where I want to be. A lot of the people we were seeing weren’t going to the doctor because they couldn’t afford it — but at the same time, they wanted to know about their health and they wanted to be healthy,” she says.

Panford earned a scholarship through the National Health Service Corps (NHSC), an organization that supports health care providers who are dedicated to working in areas with limited access to care — especially rural and urban areas.

Making NEOMED more diverse

As a College of Medicine student, Panford advocates for people far beyond urban settings. She is working through NEOMED’s Student National Medical Association and Black Student Association to create a more welcoming environment for current and prospective underrepresented minorities at the University.

Together, the two organizations have been hosting prospective students for dinner the evening before their medicine and pharmacy school interviews. Panford has even picked a prospective student up from their airport and let them stay with her during their interview visit.

“Being able to do stuff like this reminds me of my purpose here. Even though NEOMED has been a challenging environment for me, I can focus on why I’m here and remember that I’m not by myself. I can reach out to people that do look like me and remind them that they can succeed here, too,” she says.

Regardless of the route she decides to take in primary care, there’s one thing Panford is sure of: She wants to take an active role as an advocate for the health equity of her future patients and her peers.