Scholars in the Arts
"I am fascinated by the breadth of Art History and by how painting teaches a culture about itself."
Scholars Around the World
Two JKCF Scholars organize a 15-day study tour to Bolivia to explore the country’s political economy, peoples and rural development
Adeola Oni-Orisan
“I feel that I am a particularly motivated person because of the qualities that my parents instilled in me at a young age. When I set my mind to something, I work towards it with extreme determination.”
- Program: 2009 Graduate Scholarship Recipient
- Resides: Boston, MA
- Hometown: Ypsilanti, Michigan
- Age: 24
- Four-year College or University: Yale University
- Graduate School: Harvard University
- Academic/Career Pursuits: Education / Academia, Health Care, International NGO/Relations, Medical Practitioner, Nonprofits
- Other Interests: Film / Photography, Foreign Languages / International Study, International Economic Development, Languages, Tutoring / Mentoring, Volunteer Work, Writing / Journalism
Biography
PROFILE: The child of a couple who came to the US from Nigeria in the mid-1970s, Adeola grew up with her three brothers in Ypsilanti, a college town in Eastern Michigan. Whether it was volunteering at the Yale Afro-American Cultural Center or repairing other students’ computers ( at which she is quite adept), or working as a teaching aide in a chemistry lab, Adeola brought enthusiasm, common sense, and wit to each task. She is currently in medical school, embarking on the first leg of her goal to be a physician. “I have known for some time that I would go into the medical profession,” but it was a trip to her parents’ native Nigeria in 2008 that “helped me to focus my goals for the future.” In Lagos, she shadowed a doctor who specialized in working with patients with tuberculosis, and witnessed first-hand the inefficiencies of the health system and how poorly equipped the health clinics are in that nation.
ASPIRATION: While Adeola is not entirely sure what specialty of medicine she will practice, she said she admires primary care doctors and the role they have in preventing disease. She aspires to “work with communities that have doctor shortages and hope to do my part in closing the race and class gap when it comes to access to medicine.”
MAKING A DIFFERENCE: Adeola found her work as a residential advisor for the Yale Science Collaborative and Hands-On Learning (SCHOLAR) rewarding. SCHOLAR gives minority and disadvantaged New Haven high school students the opportunity to live at Yale and take classes, helping them to look further than high school to college and beyond. Adeola also volunteered weekly at the HAVEN Free Clinic which was run by students from Yale medical, nursing, and public health schools for uninsured New Haven residents.
ACCOLADES: Adeola was awarded the Herbert A. Cahoon Scholarship at Yale and the Student National Medical Association “Future Scholars in Medicine Scholarship.” And in 2009, she graduated magna cum laude among the African-American community at Yale.
INTERESTING FACT: Adeola has three brothers. All three are named Akin.
Other Scholars Like Adeola
Michelle Mills
Graduate Scholar
Howard University School of Law
Nathaniel Marshall
College Scholar
Vanderbilt University
Callistus Ditah
Graduate Scholar
University of Michigan
Rachel Semigran
Graduate Scholar
Central School of Speech and Drama