From Refugee
to
Resident
A Miller School summer program gave a start to a newcomer’s career in medicine
By Bob Woods
Photograph by Tom Salyer
Miguel Escanelle, M.D. ’19, was 15 in 2005, when he and his mother emigrated from Cuba to the Miami area. Home-schooled at first, he eventually graduated from Florida International University with a degree in physics.
Dr. Escanelle considered going to medical school, so in 2013 he enrolled in the Miller School’s Medical Scholars Fellowship Program, a six-week summer initiative designed to introduce underrepresented minority students to health care careers.
The experience convinced Dr. Escanelle to pursue a medical degree at the Miller School and ultimately to choose anesthesiology as his career focus, beginning this year with his residency at UM/Jackson Memorial Hospital.
“I would not have made it this far if not for the fellowship,” he said. “I met people from other parts of the country who looked like me, many of whom had similar backgrounds to mine, which gave me a lot of confidence. That is the essence of the program.”
