"Coming home for the next four years"
Former student body president joins the Marshall med school’s Class of 2028
Isabella “Bella” Griffiths is a bright and familiar face on the Marshall University campus. She’s known to many members of the Marshall family through the long list of activities she was involved in during her years as an undergraduate student.
Some people may know her through the Yeager Scholars program. Some people know her as Student Body President, through her community outreach efforts, or her many academic pursuits during her years on campus, 2019-2023. Griffiths majored in health sciences with no less than five minors: Spanish, dance, chemistry, biology and pre-professional health care studies.
However, there’s one thing that not many people know, Griffiths said. It’s what led to her interest in medicine.
“My twin sister and I were born via gestational carrier — in our case, it was our biological aunt — as a result of complications with my mother's type 1 diabetes, which made pregnancy very dangerous for her health,” Griffiths said. “I grew up learning my birth story and the procedures that made it possible, which sparked my unwavering love for medicine.”
The Ironton, Ohio, native took a gap year after graduating in 2023. She experienced two new cities: Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Louisville, Kentucky, while doing some job shadowing and laboratory research. Now she embarks on her next Marshall adventure — joining the Class of 2028 at Marshall’s Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine.
“I met some amazing people and enjoyed my time in both places but always felt like something was missing,” Griffiths said. “I missed the tightknit community Marshall embodies and the atmosphere of serving your community.”
“For me, school has never been about prestige or ‘putting up good numbers,’ even though Marshall does plenty of that,” she continued. “I wanted a place where I felt like I had the support I needed to succeed and the culture of lifting each other up rather than constant competition. Any school can teach the material and rotate you through a hospital, but it’s the experiences you have and the people you surround yourself with that will serve you even after graduation.”
Griffiths recalls one particular luncheon during her senior year at Marshall.
“I remember talking about my interest in pediatrics and that I’d be interested to see the NICU one day,” she said. “Almost immediately, someone at my table responded, ‘My friend is an attending at Cabell (Huntington Hospital). I’ll connect you all right away!’ Sure enough, within the month, I was invited to round for a day with Marshall’s medical students in the NICU. They even gave me application and interview tips as we walked between rooms. It’s that sense of community and wanting students to succeed that I could not be more excited to take part in.”
Griffiths is going into medical school with an open mind about the branch of medicine she wants to pursue. She enjoyed shadowing pediatricians and pediatric specialties including hematology and oncology. She also would like to explore opportunities in public health advocacy.
“There is still so much I don’t know about life as a medical student, but I am very excited to learn as much as I can and to be one step closer to my dream of becoming a physician,” she said. “I am eager to get to know my new classmates and the upperclassmen who will be our mentors during this long road ahead. I am also looking forward to having more time with patients and playing a more active role than the shadowing I have previously done.”
Griffiths said she’s exceptionally grateful for the experiences she had as an undergraduate student at Marshall. So far, some of her favorite Marshall moments have been watching the soccer team win a national championship, attending the Memorial Fountain Ceremony, being elected student body vice president/president, experiencing her first homecoming as an alumna, and learning she was accepted into the med school’s Class of 2028.
She said her most enriching academic experiences included the Yeager Scholar curriculum and opportunities to study abroad, and her most enriching extracurricular experiences included the chances she had to serve the community. All of them, Griffiths said, taught her to be more open-minded and how to make a difference in the lives of others, which she hopes to continue as a compassionate health care provider.
“I cannot think of Marshall without thinking of the endless opportunities (like Society of Yeager Scholars or Student Government Association) I was able to experience and incredible people who shaped me into the person I am today,” she said. “Wherever you come from or whatever your dreams are, Marshall will help make them reality.”
“There are simply not enough words to describe my love for Marshall or my excitement to be coming home for the next four years,” she said. “I painted on my graduation cap a quote (author unknown) that really resonates with my outlook on this whole journey: ‘All that I am and hope to be, I owe to those who believe in me.’”
FEATURE STORY by Jean Hardiman
PHOTOS by Sholten Singer
Date Posted: Monday, August 19, 2024
