Meet the 2022 UTHealthLeads McGovern Medical School fellows
The UTHealthLeads program has named McGovern Medical School students Cabrina Baker, Naahanna Bryan Akahara, Fatimah Sunez, and Sina Tartibi as members of the program’s 2022-23 cohort.
UTHealthLeads is a one-year student fellowship program to develop future leaders in health care. In the program, UTHealth Houston students learn how to develop self-awareness, increase their leadership confidence, lead others, and effectively influence systems.
A total of 24 UTHealth Houston students — four students from each school — make up this year’s cohort. They will be provided opportunities to network with leaders, develop fundamental skills, and commit to actions to continue their growth.
Developed in 2020, the UTHealthLeads program is funded by the UTHealth Houston Office of the President. Selection criteria and the program curriculum were developed by LaTanya Love, MD, executive vice president of Student and University Affairs at UTHealth Houston, and dean of education at McGovern Medical School.
Applications for students from each of the six schools at UTHealth Houston open in June and are available through a Qualtrics survey.
Meet the 2022-23 UTHealthLeads fellows at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston:
Cabrina Becker
Becker is a second-year medical student at McGovern Medical School, who is also pursuing a masters degree in public health from UTHealth Houston School of Public Health. She hopes to have a career in surgery in the future.
What brought you to medicine?
“I have wanted to be a physician since I was a little girl. I enjoy the high-pace and teamwork that medicine requires in combination with constant learning. I am pursuing my master’s in public health as well because I plan on working in a large city with a diverse patient population, and I want to be able to serve them in the best way that I can.”
What are you hoping to gain from this program?
“I hope that in this program I can gain leadership skills that can help me thrive in a diverse set of environments.”
Where do you hope to be in 10 years?
“In 10 years, I am hope to be a board-certified surgeon, hopefully in a level 1 trauma center. Ideally, I would be finished with my residency and potentially my fellowship in trauma or acute care surgery.”
Naahanna Bryan Akahara
Akahara, who goes by Bryan, is originally from Nigeria. He loves to play soccer, eat good food, listen to music, and podcasts.
What brought you to medicine?
“Sounds quite cliché, but my love for helping people is what brought me to medical school. My time in boarding school exposed me to the difficulties that fellow students with chronic conditions endure daily, and I found myself drawn to helping them.”
What are you hoping to gain from this program?
“I am hoping to gain new information to help me better hone my leadership skills. I am hoping to be able to meet amazing people to learn from and build lifelong connections.”
Where do you hope to be in 10 years?
“In 10 years, I hope to be a leader in some capacity in an academic medical setting. I hope to be able to create a culture that is warm, welcoming, and encouraging. I hope to be able to be a role model to many people.”
Fatimah Sunez
Sunez completed her undergraduate degree in public health with a concentration in nutrition at The University of Texas at Austin. She is passionate about working with the homeless, and worked toward establishing programs to help them while in Austin. In Houston, she has been involved with volunteer efforts to aid the homeless by using her background in nutrition to create nutrition-based curriculum resources. She is interested in going into a surgical specialty, and in her free time she loves to paint (focusing on landscapes and Arabic calligraphy), run, hang out with friends, and play racquetball/tennis.
What brought you to medicine?
“I fell in love with connecting with people along through my medical and volunteering experiences starting from a young age. Throughout my school I became fascinated by the human body and its plasticity. I will be the first one in my family to earn a graduate degree and work in the health care field.”
What are you hoping to gain from this program?
“I am hoping to refine my leadership skills and network with skilled individuals to learn more about interdisciplinary topics in order to make a lasting impact.”
Where do you hope to be in 10 years?
“In 10 years, I aspire to have finished my residency or be completing it and working as a practicing physician. I wish to also be volunteering with low income/homeless individuals providing medical support and working with public health professionals to provide support on a community level.”
Sina Tartibi
Tartibi is a third-year medical student. He was born and raised in Plano and received his bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University. His path to medicine was a gradual one, with multiple experiences and people along the way inspiring him to pursue it. He said he looks forward to interacting with patients and helping improve their quality of life. In his free time, he loves swimming, playing and watching basketball, and hanging out with friends and family.
What brought you to medicine?
“I was also naturally drawn to science and math in school, especially how processes and systems worked and understanding the ‘why’ behind these systems. I was inspired to pursue medicine specifically from personal and professional experiences. I was able to see how physicians deeply impact patients’ lives, and it inspired me to pursue a field that married a deep understanding of a science with personal interactions with patients.”
What are you hoping to gain from this program?
“I have spent a large part of my studies and academic career finding my why and what motivates me to achieve my goals and dreams, and this is still something that continues to be an aspect of my life I am always trying to grow in. I want to learn how to, as a future leader in medicine, motivate others to pursue what they are passionate about and be the best they can be.”
Where do you hope to be in 10 years?
“In the next 10 years I hope to be a happy and successful physician, practicing in a field I love as well as spending life with my family and the people I love. I have an education in business and may want to pursue some type of business/medicine related paths in the future, however that might manifest.”