Maya Navarro
Class of 2027
Home city and State: Western Springs, IL
Undergraduate study: New York University; BS in Biology and Global Public Health with a concentration in Infection Diseases and a minor in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies
Student organizations and affinity groups
- Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA)
- LGBTQ+ Alliance / OutNetwork
- Dermatology Interest Group
- Pediatrics Interest Group
- Feinberg SOM Tour Guide
Bienvenidos to the Feinberg Community! My name is Maya Navarro and I am part of Feinberg’s MD Class of 2027. I am originally from and commuting daily from Western Springs, IL (a suburb ~1 hour west of the Chicago campus) and graduated from New York University with a BS in Biology and Global Public Health in 2023. Before arriving at Feinberg, I conducted translational research on melanoma brain metastasis and studied abroad in London for 6 months. I also completed the full 555 miles of hiking the Camino de Santiago– proving to myself and others that you can indeed travel and explore life outside of metabolic pathways without taking a gap year. Beyond the stuff you would normally find on my CV, I am an avid concert goer and semi-above average mixologist. I hope you’ll join us in the Feinberg fam soon!
Why did you choose Feinberg?
Northwestern has been a part of my life since birth, literally. I was born at what is now called Prentice Women’s Hospital, my mom is an ‘87 alumna of the Feinberg Physical Therapy program, and most of my childhood photos have some traces of the signature Feinberg purple if you look close enough. Naturally, when it came time to apply to this medical school, I made sure it was known that Feinberg would be my first choice. Although I had many preconceived notions of what life would be like at Feinberg, I fell further in love with this school throughout my interview and second look days. This love was not only for the incredibly supportive administration, faculty, and senior medical students who made it known that the members of Feinberg are a family but also for the unparalleled research and learning opportunities that are offered from day one. When compared to any other institution that offered me a seat in their accepted class, Feinberg was the only institution that felt like I could be a part of the community beyond being just another student from an underrepresented group in medicine that could be tokenized. In sum, Feinberg was not only the first choice for me; it was the only choice that was right for me.
Tell us about an experience that made you truly feel part of the "Feinberg Family"
As a more-than-avid Redditor and purveyor of multiple medical school online forums, I came into medical school thinking like it would be the Hunger Games or some other YA series with a hyper-competitive setting that would truly be the survival of the fittest. Being unreasonably anxious about starting medical school, I sought out any sort of early start program that I could be a part of. This led me to being a part of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion’s Pre-Matriculation Program: a four week intensive led by and for incoming medical students from underrepresented backgrounds to get acclimated to Feinberg, the methods of learning, and the Chicagoland area in general. To say being a part of this program was the best decision of my life would be an understatement. All of the faculty members and M2s who led the program made all 17 of us feel secure in our decision to be a part of the Feinberg community and gave us a plethora of resources, connections, and tips which made our first weeks of medical school feel like a breeze. Certainly, it helps that the members of the pre-matriculation program are still my closest friends at Feinberg, however, this program truly showed me that the students of Feinberg are family.
Topics I can discuss with Feinberg students:
- Life in Chicago
- AOSC/Research
- Student Wellness
- Academic Support (studying, learning)
- Student Organizations, Affinity Groups
- Underrepresented in medicine
- Commuting to campus
- Traditional admissions pathway (no gap year)
