Meet Ellie Ginn and Mateen Manshadi
Hometown: Ellie: Covington, Georgia, Mateen: Cedar Falls, Iowa
Residency match: University of Virginia
Specialty: Family medicine
How did you choose your specialty?
Ellie: For my Early Clinical Experience, I was placed in a family medicine clinic and absolutely loved it! I am also interested in public health, and the community health focus of family medicine fits in very well. I enjoy getting to know people and learning their stories, and family medicine gives me the opportunity to do that every day.
Mateen: I love building relationships with patients over a long period of time, taking care of a wide variety of conditions, and preventive medicine. Family medicine is a perfect fit for these interests.
What experiences outside the curriculum greatly enhanced your medical education?
Ellie: The Global Health Distinction Track provided me with great opportunities to explore health care and public health in settings outside of Iowa City. I worked at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle on a newborn health initiative and I completed a rotation with the oncology department at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford, England. Both of these experiences solidified my plan to combine medicine with public health in my career.
Mateen: One of my favorite parts of medical school was co-facilitating Community Health Outreach, a service learning elective, with Ellie as an M2. I loved discussing issues important to our health care system with my peers in a small-group setting.
Is there someone who was especially helpful in guiding and mentoring you?
Ellie: Dr. Melinda Johnson, Amy A’Hearn, Robin Paetzold, and students in the classes above me.
Mateen: Dr. Christiason and Dr. Glascock, both family medicine physicians I met on my rotation in Cedar Falls, Iowa, played a huge role in my decision to go into family medicine. Seeing the close relationships they had with their patients and how that resulted in improved health outcomes was incredibly powerful.
What was the most rewarding part of your Carver College of Medicine experience?
Ellie: Hands down, the people at Carver! Whether it’s faculty, staff, or students, they are some of the nicest and most interesting people you’ll meet. Each one has a unique story that brought them to Iowa City and medical school. It’s been fascinating to learn alongside and from my classmates, and I’ve made some of my best friends (and met my significant other, Mateen) during medical school.
Mateen: Without a doubt, my classmates are the most rewarding part of my experience at Carver. They have provided a stronger support system than I could ever have imagined. Over the last four years, we have learned and celebrated together, developing lifelong friendships. I also met my significant other, Ellie, while at Iowa, and now we are going to UVA for residency together!
What advice would you give to incoming medical students?
Ellie: It sounds cliché, but make time for what’s important and what you love doing. We both love traveling and used our post-test weekends and free time to explore surrounding states and foreign countries. I traveled to more new places in medical school than I ever would have predicted.
Mateen: Though medical school is busy, always set aside time for friends. The last four years have been the best years of my life, largely because of fun experiences with my classmates. We have done so much together—traveled across the country, run 5Ks and 10Ks, and visited each other’s families.