We all start out wanting to follow our dreams, but life often gets in the way, making us feel like we missed our shot. Society often tells us that following your bliss is only an option for the young. One inspirational woman is working hard to prove this misguided notion wrong.
Shamone Gore Panter, a mother of four and in her 40s, decided to go to medical school during the global health crisis. She is living proof that it is never too late. She hopes others follow her example.
Shamone made this big decision after a conversation with her pregnant niece who called her aunt, then a research scholar at the Cleveland Clinic, for advice about vaccines. Her niece was having a hard time sorting fact from fiction and wanted to get the counsel of someone whom she trusted. This sparked something in Shamone.
“I thought, ‘This is what I need to be doing every day. I want to go to medical school,’” she recalled. “I didn’t know where I wanted to go. I just knew I wanted to do it.”
Shamone believes having Black doctors is important to work through the “justified mistrust” of medical professionals in the community. She wanted to be part of the solution. “That could be me,” she said. “I might not be able to solve all the problems, (but) sometimes seeing someone who looks like you gives you at least a foot in the door to maybe try to talk to people and give them information to potentially take better care of their health.”
Shamone was accepted into an accelerated program through Ohio University and the Cleveland Clinic, which is three years long. It has not been easy balancing it all, but it is so worth it. “It is an intense three years because we do the same thing as everyone else but then with the added stuff on top,” she said. “We get to see patients every week. … That part is really invaluable because it helps us to solidify the things that we’re learning in class.”
To hear another inspirational story of a person going to medical school in their 40s, watch this video.
