The day Ross University School of Medicine (RUSM) graduate Jasmine Gaston-Johnson, MD, witnessed a severe car accident, she knew emergency medicine (EM) was her calling and never looked back. Jasmine remembers immediately springing into action, grabbing her medical supplies, and guiding a group of bystanders to help free a trapped driver before the ambulance arrived.
“I didn’t even think about it. I just saw the crash, jumped out, and knew I had to help,” said the future physician and graduate the Medical Education Readiness Program (MERP). Jasmine’s interest in EM has been further solidified through her work as president of the RUSM Emergency Medicine Interest Group, complete satisfaction during her emergency room rotations, and participation on an impactful mission trip.
Having only applied to a handful of residency programs and being eight months pregnant with her first child, the National Resident Matching Program® (The MATCH ℠) process started to feel like something out of reach. But Jasmine persevered and matched into the EM residency program at University of North Carolina Southeastern Health.
Ironically, she matched into the same facility she toured early in the Match season, thanks to fellow Rossie Curtiss J. Smith, MD’17, the chief resident at UNC Southeastern Health, who supported Jasmine and invited her to tour the facility. “It felt like a match made in heaven,” she said at the time.
Rossie Relationships
Rossies also stood by her during one of the most miraculous times in her life earlier this year when classmates helped her through the birth of her child. Jasmine’s downstairs neighbor, Roodie Smith, who matched into the obstetrics and gynecology program at Meharry Medical College, coached Jasmine through her labor, timed her contractions, and let her know when it was time to get to the hospital. Once at Prince George Hospital, Jasmine’s on-island study partner, Donald Nasef, who was completing rotations at the time, visited and provided support despite visitor restrictions. “I’m just so grateful Ross Med exists. Being part of this class that has been through so much; we learned we have grit and nothing can phase us.”
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