Program
M.D., Year I (HPSP Student, Air Force)

Hometown
Knoxville, TN

Undergraduate School and Major
University of Tennessee
Microbiology

Specialty/Career Plans
As an HPSP student, I will be working as an Air Force physician, but in what field or specialty I am uncertain at this time.

Extracurricular Activities
Music, Exercise, Being outdoors, Cooking with friends

Marital Status
Single

Jacqueline Vidosh
Please click here to email a question to Jacqueline.

Why Quillen
For me, Quillen is all about the people. Everyone, literally everyone is there to help you succeed, and what's more they are happy to do it! The class size is small, which is key. Often, professors know you by name before you have even taken their class and most importantly all of them are approachable. I was fortunate enough to have to choose between Quillen or UT Memphis for medical school. While there were many other reasons I chose Quillen over Memphis (location, newer resources, Sim Lab, etc), it was Quillen's faculty, staff, and student body that made them the easy choice.

Words of Wisdom
If you can take a little time off between undergrad and medical school--do it! The roughly year and a half I was able to take off helped me solidify in my head that medical school was 100% for sure the thing I wanted to do. There is also something about having a full-time job, whatever it may be, that helps mature you and make you more ready to handle life while in a professional school. You gain a certain confidence in knowing you have handled the adult world, even if it was only for a little while. Last piece of advice: please don't be intimidated by anyone who goes on and on about how hard medical school is or how every test is excruciating. Yes, there are times when you have to put the pedal to the metal, but you can do it, and better yet, you will excel! Enjoy the experience and get to know your classmates--in the long run, it'll be the relationships and experiences, not a test grade that we will keep with us and reflect on when we are old and decrepit.

Life Outside the Classroom
My friends and I are often seen doing very random things--we play croquette on top of a mountain, dance occasionally at the fine establishments around Johnson City, attempt cooking new dishes that never look quite right, run on the VA campus, ponder and reflect the finer (and sometimes not so finer) points of life, and the list goes on. Basically what I am trying to say is that you definitely have time for a life. Yes, we study (even that can be entertainment..just wait and see what coffee+pizza+HBGB = at 3am!) but we try to keep everything in balance.

Living in Northeast Tennessee
Johnson City was not a huge stretch from what I left. Having spent the last 10 years in Knoxville, TN, I have grown accustomed to waking up and seeing beautiful mountains (still trying to get used to running the hills, however...), hearing a Southern accent, and of course cheering for SEC football. I love East Tennessee. There is such a visual peace to be found here--whether it is in the Appalachian Mountains or the dogwood blooms in the Spring. I love the friendliness and openness of the people, and I am close enough to plenty of other places to take off to when I need a break from school.

Prior Life
After I graduated in December of 2005, I began working as a lab assistant in Oak Ridge, TN. Yes, I know this sounds glorious, but I soon decided that looking into a microscope 8 hours a day may not be what I was most suited for. I shortly thereafter began studying for the MCAT, took it, and began volunteering in a hospital. That soon turned into a job as an ER tech. I cleaned all sorts of bodily fluids for a little under a year, shipped myself off to Commissioned Officer Training for a month (this is part of the scholarship I am taking part in) and then started my 1st day at Quillen.