Kitan Akinosho '13, MD

Education

BSE, Operations Research and Financial Engineering, 2013

MD, Carle Illinois College of Medicine at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2022

Residency in emergency medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center 

Bio/Description

Significant college activities:  Residential College Advisor; Oranges Key Tour Guide; Youth Girls Basketball Coach; Intramurals (IM) Supervisor; Assistant Bible Course Leader/Member of PFA; Private Practice Shadowing; Global Health Internship in Ghana; Health Policy Research at Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy; Spring Break Service Trips: Ecuador, Mexico, Houston

Post-college activities: P55 Fellow in Education in DC (2013-14); some post-bac courses (2014-15); Board Member, District Bridges Non-profit in DC (2016-present); Volunteer at Sheppard's Table Free Eye Clinic (2014-2015); FBI Lead Data Scientist (2015-present)

Words of wisdom about being prehealth at Princeton:  My piece of advice to current premeds would be to not rush the decision to go to medical school and to not be afraid of doing what you love on your way there. While at Princeton, I was under the false, self-inflicted idea that I had to take all my premed courses at Princeton, else I would look like a failure. After crushing myself under the weight of my extracurricular activities, a campus job, engineering courses, and premed courses for two years, I finally said enough is enough. This decision changed my Princeton experience for the better.

The reality is, there is no perfect path to medicine. I know students who went the traditional route and ended up disappointed in the application process. I also know students, like myself, who struggled to make it all fit at Princeton, took time after college to figure out who they were and why they were even pursuing medicine, and then moved forward with their own path towards achieving that goal with success. Medicine is generally a life commitment. There is nothing wrong with having other interests, and arguably, I think it makes you a stronger applicant and student when you are there. Spend time now making life long friendships, attending lectures from world-renowned scholars in varying fields, and do your best, without giving up to much of yourself along the way. There will be bumps in the road on this journey, and sometimes what seems like insurmountable road blocks. But it is during these times that you must ask yourself, why am I doing this?, and what is my end goal? And if you keep homing beacon calibrated correctly, I think you will find success at whichever medical school your journey takes you toward!