UC Riverside alumna Carolyn Russo, MD, will return to her alma mater on November 21 to present during the School of Medicine Grand Rounds--but as a high school student, she never envisioned a career in medicine. Growing up in West Covina, Russo, now medical director of the Affiliate Program and associate director for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN, had a different idea for her career path. “I enjoyed math and biology and I loved children,” said Russo. “I just assumed I would be a teacher. This was many years ago, and that's just where I saw a woman's profession."

Russo’s high school counselor encouraged her to apply for UCR’s seven-year BS/MD program, which at the time culminated in a medical degree from UCLA in what was then the UCR/UCLA Program in Biomedical Sciences (the program was later renamed the UCR/UCLA Thomas Haider Program in Biomedical Sciences before becoming the School of Medicine). The suggestion, Russo said, was a first step to her eventual career as a pediatric oncologist.

Finding success at UCR

As a first-generation college student, Russo recalled being unprepared for her coursework. However, the small medical student class size at UCR and individual instruction helped her succeed. “The professors all knew us, and we all knew them,” Russo said, mentioning professors who called students at home when they didn’t show up to class. “You could not get lost in the crowd.”

Genetics professor Daniel Straus, PhD was particularly helpful to Russo, who worked in his lab as a dishwasher for one of her work study positions. Knowing Russo was studying biomedical sciences and interested in biology, Straus invited her to attend their lab meetings. “That was the first time that I learned about scientific investigation, about research, about scientific curiosity, the questions you ask, and I'm so grateful to him for giving me that opportunity to see what it was all about,” Russo said. “I'm grateful to UC Riverside for the education, and especially for the mentoring that I received there.”

After Russo graduated, her love for children and her intellectual curiosity led to her specialty in pediatric oncology. “It's the worst thing in the world to be in that situation with a child with cancer, but no matter what is happening with that patient…you can always make things a little bit better by being present with that family,” Russo said. “Being a pediatric oncologist combined the best of both worlds for me, having this intimate relationship with a family and their child together with being intellectually stimulated by these disease processes.”

Improving healthcare in Tennessee

Russo’s career eventually led to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, where her work on expanding access to care for children with cancer aligns with the SOM’s mission of increasing access to and diversity in healthcare.

In her role as medical director of the Affiliate Program at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Russo manages the hospital’s eight affiliate clinics throughout the region, allowing families to receive high quality care where they live while participating in clinical trials.. “If you have a patient nine hours away from Memphis, you don't want families to have to move to Memphis; then you split up siblings, and probably one parent is not going to be able to work,” she explained, adding that families in this situation often lose their community support system as well. “The affiliate program is a way to provide more St. Jude care close to home.”

In addition, just over a year ago Russo became the cancer center’s associate director for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, through which she works to increase the number of researchers who are underrepresented in science. She plans to elaborate on her work during her November talk at the UCR SOM, “Making Pediatric Oncology Care Accessible and Inclusive.”

Helping students like her

For Russo, the effort to increase diversity is personal.

“I am someone who meets the NIH definition of coming from a disadvantaged background and is underrepresented in science,” Russo explained. “Had I not had the support of our federal government with the grants that I received, the mentors at UC Riverside, and the support of my family…I would not be here,” Russo added. “If I can help someone else who's in my situation today enter this incredible field of medicine, I think that's a great thing, and I need to do that.”

Now, Russo returns to a university that has developed just as she has, progressing from an MD program in partnership with UCLA to its own independent four-year medical school that recently celebrated its tenth anniversary.

“I think it's a wonderful thing for the community that Riverside has a medical school,” Russo said. “I'm really curious to see the facilities, and I'm looking forward to meeting some of the students and finding out their stories. I'm just really excited to be going back.”

“I am thrilled with my decision to become a physician,” she added. “I’ve had a great education, a rewarding career. I don't think I would change anything.”