Rhoda Asimeng: Defying the Odds
The first in her family to graduate college - and medical school, Rhoda's future career involves international medicine in Ghana.
Rhoda Asimeng’s father came to America from Ghana with only $28 and a suitcase, and she grew up sharing a two-bedroom apartment with her family of eight in the South Bronx. While in college, both of her parents passed away from cancer. Against all these odds, she’s now a second-year student at the Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (TouroCOM)-Harlem.
An Introduction to Osteopathic Medicine
From the age of 16, Asimeng knew she wanted to be a doctor. At the time, both of her parents were ill, but it wasn’t until she spoke with a friend who was applying to medical school that she learned about osteopathic medicine.
“I researched it and I thought osteopathic medicine was interesting because it tackled almost every different aspect of healthcare,” said Asimeng. “I liked the holistic approach toward helping the patient.”
After attending Siena College on a scholarship, she was admitted to TouroCOM’s Master of Science Program in Interdisciplinary Studies in Biological and Physical Sciences. After earning her master’s, she entered the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) program—a major accomplishment for Asimeng, who is the first person in her family to graduate college as well as to go on to pursue a graduate or professional degree. Her greatest achievement, she says, will be graduating from medical school.
The transition to life at Touro, however, was not easy. After college, she returned home daily to care for her two younger brothers. She traveled from Co-Op City in the Bronx to Harlem—sometimes a 90-minute commute each way.
“I had to figure out how I was going to pay the rent while I still had aspirations of becoming a doctor,” explained Asimeng. “I just had to pull up my bootstraps and get it done, and that’s what I did. I’m glad I went through it; it forced me to just grow up.”
Asimeng credits a solid support group of friends with getting her through the challenges of her first year. She also says it helped to jump immediately into a host of volunteer programs that kept her busy: She served as campus liaison with the Student National Medical Association and became involved with the Emergency Medical Interest Group, a club that educates students about emergency medicine from an osteopathic perspective.
Asimeng also became involved with many of the programs the school offers for underserved high school students—a cause that hits very close to home. She became a mentor for MedAchieve, an after-school program for Harlem high-school students interested in medicine. She was also elected vice president of Creating Osteopathic Minority Physicians who Achieve Scholastic Success (COMPASS), a program that helps kids in underserved communities pursue a medical career. COMPASS recently partnered with Mentoring in Medicine; the duo brings high-school students to the TouroCOM anatomy labs to get them excited about the idea of possibly pursuing medical school.
A Bright Future
Asimeng would like to enter the field of international medicine, perhaps to help orphans in Ghana. “I want to see if I can create a foundation there in honor of my parents,” she said.
One of Asimeng’s professors, Dr. Jennifer Zepf, sees a bright future for her. “With her academic diligence, warm personality and passion for medicine, Rhoda is truly the embodiment of what it means to be an osteopathic physician. I look forward to calling her a colleague in a few years,” said Dr. Zepf.
For now, Asimeng is enjoying her time at TouroCOM and the sense of community it offers her. She explains that it’s not the building or the campus that makes the school, but the students themselves. “There’s a sense of family. The students make the school.”
