Wheaton Junior Earns Admission to Medical School

Kweku Ampem-Darko, a junior majoring in neuroscience at Wheaton College, recently earned admission to Icahn Medical School at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.

Originally from Ghana, Kweku first considered a career in medicine after his elder brother’s encounter with malaria. His brother, although cured of the disease, suffered lasting damage to his brain because he did not receive treatment quickly enough.

“I’ve seen how not having a doctor around can cause someone to live the rest of their life mentally handicapped,” says Kweku.

Pursuing his interest in health care in underserved areas, Kweku interned in Ecuadorian hospitals this past summer as a recipient of Wheaton’s Davis International Fellowship. While participating in clinical rotations in three hospitals, he observed how much culture influences medical practices in Ecuador, as it does in Ghana.

“Posse and Wheaton College opened my eyes to what medicine should be instead of what it is now,” says Kweku. “I’m really interested in and fascinated by global health, but I also want to start in my own backyard by practicing in New York.”