Meet Jillian Weathington. She knew she wanted to attend medical school eventually and chose health sciences to fulfill the prerequisites. She aspires to be a medical professional who works against medical mistrust, especially within underrepresented communities. Her Honors Undergraduate Thesis examined improving outcomes in healthcare by combating medical mistrust, especially in the Black community, and she hopes to publish her research.
Hometown: Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Degree: Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences, Pre-Clinical Track
What will you be doing after graduation?
I plan on taking a gap year after graduation before applying to medical school. During my gap year, I plan to pursue a master’s degree at UCF and also work to get my Honors Undergraduate Thesis published.
What are your long-term career plans?
I plan on becoming a physician. As a future physician, I think it’s extremely important to work towards rebuilding trust in the healthcare system. So, as a future physician, I want to do a lot of community outreach. For example, I want to assist with health education workshops and free health clinics specifically targeting minorities in underserved communities. This population is more at risk of developing chronic diseases and adverse health outcomes from being discriminated within the healthcare system, and I aspire to mitigate that.
What accomplishment from your time at UCF are you most proud of?
Completing my Honors Undergraduate Thesis is an accomplishment that I’m most proud of. My thesis topic focused on medical mistrust within the older Black population. There’s not a lot of current literature out there about this topic and it is very meaningful to me, especially as a future healthcare provider. So, I’m glad that I was able to do my own research on it and create a final thesis that I was proud of and can be shared around the world.
What did you love the most about your time at UCF?
I loved that because UCF is so big there are so many opportunities out there for students so that you can find what your interests are and what you’re passionate about pursuing, which can lead to other opportunities down the road.
What was your favorite class, professor, or experience at CHPS, and why?
My favorite experience at CHPS was an independent study course that I took in the spring of 2022 called Nonprofits in STEM with Dr. Danielle Webster. Along with creating our own mock nonprofits we partnered with UCF’s Robotics Team to create a cross-cultural STEM workshop for students in Jamaica and the U.S. It was a unique experience and opportunity, and I was glad that I was able to be a part of it.
