VCU news

By Billy Lineberry

Kathleen Russo blended her interests in medicine, language, research and travel to broaden her worldview at Virginia Commonwealth University.

The Honors College student and biology major, who is graduating in December, became a licensed paramedic and worked as a volunteer in her hometown of Chesterfield County, less than a half-hour from the Monroe Park Campus, while also studying abroad extensively. Next fall, she will attend medical school having completed the Honors College Guaranteed Admission Program, with the goal of becoming a doctor. 

“One of the main reasons that I wanted to go into medicine was to help make differences in people’s lives individually,” Russo said. “You can make concrete differences helping people with their health and connecting with their families.”

That passion spurred her to finish her undergraduate degree a semester earlier than planned – and to take advantage of two study abroad opportunities through VCU’s Global Education Office. The first was a trip to Argentina for a semester during her junior year, and in her final semester this year, she journeyed to Costa Rica.

Both programs have been “a great experience because it has allowed me to just observe different customs and different ways of life and really become immersed in the culture,” Russo said. “I know that it has helped me improve my Spanish” – she minored in the subject – “and I know that it will help me interact with patients who are Spanish-speaking in their native language when I become a doctor.”

Those programs weren’t her only forays away from campus. As a sophomore, Russo went to Wisconsin and represented VCU and the Honors College at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research. She presented her health research project – “Saving Brain: Progesterone and Dopamine Agonists as Potential Therapies for Secondary Neurodegeneration Following Ischemic Stroke in Men” – which she developed in her Honors Rhetoric class.

“That was my first real step into research,” Russo said. “It was a really memorable opportunity, and it was a great and empowering experience for me to be able to present my research on that level.” 

Russo noted that those travels, though of greater distance, weren’t the only formative geographic transitions she navigated. Coming to VCU in downtown Richmond from her nearby Chesterfield home offered her a different lens for considering her studies and dreams. 

“I love the people who make up VCU,” Russo said. “We are lucky to have such a strong and diverse community. I wouldn't trade the people I met while at VCU for anything. The students, my advisors in Honors and biology, the faculty are all wonderful.” 

She looks forward to carrying that spirit with her as she serves her community – and one day, her patients – with compassion and hope. 

“I just want to be someone who lives joyfully and can be there for people when they need help,” Russo said. “I want to put more positive energy into the world than negative. I want to be part of a bigger solution and help show people that every day is a gift.”