Khaoula El Mardi is a fourth-year student at Ross University School of Medicine (RUSM) completing clinical rotations in New York City. She was born in Morocco, studied medicine in Barcelona, and enrolled at RUSM, where two years of foundational sciences in Barbados are followed by clinical training at affiliated teaching hospitals across the United States. She speaks six languages and uses them directly in patient care at BronxCare Hospital in the Bronx. She plans to pursue vascular surgery. In November 2026, she will run the New York City Marathon to raise funds for the LUNGevity Foundation, the nation’s leading lung cancer nonprofit.
When the NYC Marathon came through the city last November, Khaoula El Mardi wasn't at the finish line. She was in her apartment — in the same city where she was completing her clinical rotations — scrolling through her feed, watching strangers cross it.
She was moved in a way she didn't expect.
“What stood out to me wasn't the elite runners," she said. "It was seeing people with illnesses, disabilities, and personal challenges crossing that finish line. They reminded me how much people are capable of overcoming.”
That night, the fourth-year Ross University School of Medicine (RUSM) student started looking up how to get in. What followed says everything about who she is — and about the kind of physician Ross is training her to become.
Three Continents, One Goal
Khaoula's path to her clinical rotations in New York wasn't a straight line. Born and raised in Morocco, she spent a year studying medicine in Barcelona before her brother encouraged her to pursue her education in the U.S. She'd never studied in English. She came anyway.
As an international student pursuing medical training during the COVID-19 pandemic, Khaoula faced a particularly complicated path. Visa restrictions, changing immigration policies, and the rapid shift to virtual learning significantly limited the options available to international students. Navigating those challenges with her family’s financial support required careful planning, making flexibility an important consideration in choosing a medical school. A physician she was working with at the time introduced her to Ross University School of Medicine. The structure, two years of foundational sciences in Barbados followed by clinical training at affiliated teaching hospitals across the United States, offered a pathway that aligned with both her circumstances and long-term goals.
"That's how my path to Ross started," she said.
The two years in Barbados provided both a medical education and a supportive community that would remain an important source of support throughout training. The small, close-knit campus environment pushed students to rely on each other in ways that larger U.S. programs don't always replicate. The friendships Khaoula formed on island traveled with her — some of those same classmates ended up in New York for their own clinical rotations, extending the community she'd built into the next chapter of her training.
"It's medical school, it's a whole journey where you connect," she said. "The only people that understand what you're going through are the people in the same timeline."
What Clinical Rotations at a Major U.S. Hospital Actually Look Like
For prospective medical students, some of the most common questions about Caribbean medical schools are what happens after the island — how the transition to U.S. clinical rotations works, and what hospital experiences are available.
Khaoula's experience at BronxCare Hospital in New York answers that question directly.
From her first rotation, she was expected to contribute as a member of the healthcare team, working closely with residents and attending physicians. Residents mentored her. Attendings challenged her. She approached every rotation with a checklist of skills she wanted to master before residency, treating each shift not as a box to check but as preparation for the physician she was becoming.
"I never used clinical clerkships as something you just show up for and leave," she said. "I felt like I was part of the team. I was able to learn a lot."
She has since moved on to a vascular surgery elective at Saint Barnabas — also a trauma center — rotating between both hospitals as she completes her fourth year. She still stops by BronxCare to say hello.
For students considering Ross University School of Medicine, her advice is practical and direct: arrive ready to be responsible, stay eager to learn, and don't be shy about being present.
"You're investing so much time and energy learning to become a doctor," she said. "You shouldn't be shy about asking questions and showing up. Being part of the team — that's how you actually learn."
Six Languages, One Patient at a Time
Clinical rotations in New York put Khaoula's full skill set to work in ways she hadn't anticipated. She speaks six languages — Arabic, Darija (Moroccan dialect), French, Spanish, Catalan, and English. In the Bronx, those language skills have become an important part of patient care.
There was a moment during her rotations she won't forget. A patient from Senegal had just arrived for an emergency appendectomy. He spoke only French. He was terrified. A medical interpreter was in the room, but something wasn't translating — not the language, but the fear in his eyes.
Khaoula stepped in.
"I spoke to the patient — 'are you understanding what's going on, do you need help?' And he said, 'I don't know what's going on.'" She walked him through it. By the time he went into surgery, he was calm.
"You see it in their eyes," she said. "When you speak to them in their native language, it becomes very much helpful."
It's a version of patient care that doesn't show up on a rotation checklist — but it's exactly the kind of physician Ross University School of Medicine is committed to producing. Khaoula's vision has always been to serve underserved communities, to practice medicine in places where patients don't have many resources and need a doctor who can meet them where they are.
"Why would I waste it?" she said.
Running With Purpose
Khaoula plans to pursue vascular surgery, a specialty she was drawn to because of its combination of technical precision, problem-solving, and continuity of patient care. But clinical rotations took her through all of medicine's terrain, and some of what she saw stayed with her.
Lung cancer patients, in particular.
Even in rotations that had nothing to do with oncology, she kept encountering them. At BronxCare, the cases were complex and the patients were real — people navigating a diagnosis with limited resources and, sometimes, limited time. As a student, her role was often limited — but she learned that being present for patients and their families still mattered.
"Even though there were different rotations not related to oncology, we had a lot of patients that were impacted," she said. "You try to do your best to be there for the patient."
Those encounters never fully left her. Neither did the grief closer to home — she lost family members to lung cancer.
When she started searching for a charity to run with in the NYC Marathon, the choice wasn't hard. The LUNGevity Foundation funds the lung cancer research and patient support programs that matter deeply to her — both as someone who has lost family to the disease and as a future physician who has seen its impact firsthand across multiple clinical settings.
"It kind of spoke to me," she said. "And as someone in the medical field, about to be a doctor — me supporting this foundation would also help if I'm part of any research related to the topic in the future."
She reached out to LUNGevity, was told to wait a year, and waited. This March, she got the call that she earned a bib in the NYC Marathon.
"Getting that call was one of the highlights of my year."
The Same Discipline
She's training now, logging miles across all five boroughs in the same city where she's been caring for patients. Alongside that, she's studying for her boards and completing her final clinical rotations before applying to residency this fall.
"It's all about discipline," she said. "That's what keeps me going."
It's the same discipline that Ross University School of Medicine clinical rotations demand. The same quality that carried her from Morocco to Barbados to the wards of the Bronx — and now, in November, to 26.2 miles through the streets of New York.
Khaoula El Mardi is exactly who Ross trains its students to be: a physician who brings her full self to every patient encounter, who finds purpose in the most demanding environments, and who understands that medicine is not just a career — it's a commitment to the people in front of you.
By the time she graduates, Khaoula will have studied medicine on three continents, in multiple languages, and across some of the most diverse patient populations in the world.
When she reaches the start line, she will be running through the same city where she learned to care for patients. And some of those patients stay with her long after the clinical rotation ends. Their stories are part of what will carry her all 26.2 miles of the NYC Marathon.
Support Khaoula's Run
The LUNGevity Foundation is the nation's leading lung cancer nonprofit, advancing research, education, and patient support. To learn more or contribute to Khaoula's NYC Marathon fundraising effort, visit fundraise.lungevity.org/participants/Khaoula_ElMardi.
Khaoula El Mardi is a fourth-year student at Ross University School of Medicine currently completing clinical rotations in New York. Ross University School of Medicine is a Covista institution.
FAQs
What Is Ross University School of Medicine?
Ross University School of Medicine (RUSM) is an accredited Caribbean medical school. Students complete two years of foundational sciences in Barbados, then transition to clinical training at affiliated teaching hospitals across the United States. RUSM is part of Covista (NYSE: CVSA), America’s largest healthcare educator, operating five accredited institutions serving more than 97,000 students and 385,000 alumni [1]. In 2026, RUSM graduates achieved a 96% first-time residency attainment rate, placing 475 graduates across 22 specialties in 40 states and territories [2].
How Do RUSM Clinical Rotations Work at U.S. Teaching Hospitals?
After completing basic sciences, RUSM students move into clinical rotations at U.S. teaching hospitals, working alongside residents and attending physicians as part of the care team rather than as observers.
Students like fourth-year Khaoula have described the experience as hands-on from day one. At BronxCare Hospital in New York, she was mentored by residents and challenged by attendings from her first rotation. She's since added a vascular surgery elective at Saint Barnabas, another trauma center, rotating between both as she finishes her fourth year.
Her advice for incoming students: show up ready to be responsible, stay eager to learn, and don't be shy about asking questions.
"Being part of the team — that's how you actually learn," she said.
Why Do Language Skills Matter in Clinical Rotations?
Patients whose first language isn't English often need more than a translator in emergency situations — they need someone who can speak to them directly and ease their fear. Multilingual students bring that into patient care in ways a rotation checklist doesn't capture.
Fourth-year student Khaoula, who speaks six languages, saw this during a rotation in the Bronx. A patient from Senegal, terrified before an emergency appendectomy, spoke only French. An interpreter was present, but he still seemed lost — so Khaoula stepped in.
"I spoke to the patient — 'are you understanding what's going on, do you need help?' And he said, 'I don't know what's going on,'" she said. She walked him through it, and by the time he went into surgery, he was calm.
"When you speak to them in their native language, it becomes very much helpful," she said.
It's the kind of care Ross University School of Medicine aims to produce: physicians equipped to meet underserved patients where they are.
How Do Multilingual Physicians Improve Patient Trust?
Trust often starts with a patient feeling understood — not just medically, but personally. When a physician can speak to a patient in their own language, patients are more likely to ask questions, share symptoms fully, and feel less alone in a frightening moment.
Khaoula sees this play out in small, immediate ways during rotations. Speaking to a patient in their native language, even briefly, changes how they respond.
"You see it in their eyes," she said. "When you speak to them in their native language, it becomes very much helpful."
For Ross University School of Medicine, it reflects a broader goal: training physicians who can meet patients where they are, especially in communities where language has historically been a barrier to care.
