May 6, 2024 | Erin Bluvas, bluvase@sc.edu

The fall of 2020 was not an ideal time to be a freshman attending an out-of-state university, but Allie McDermott says she wouldn’t change a thing.

“The COVID-19 pandemic significantly altered my first year in Columbia, but USC has done everything in its power to ensure that each student feels secure and empowered to achieve greatness,” the Illinois native and Academic Scholar Excellence Awardee says. “Each year, I’ve engaged in unique experiences that have helped me connect with other students as well as the Columbia community.”

For McDermott, those experiences included signing up as a peer tutor with the Student Success Center, joining the Phi Delta Epsilon Medical Fraternity, serving as diversity and education chair for USC MedElem, and volunteering at Prisma Health (favorite role: Baby Hugger in the NICU). Inspired by Biology Distinguished Professor Emeritus Franklin Berger’s cancer communication class, she and fellow student, Karthik Rangavajhula, co-founded USC Cancer Prevention Week. They networked with South Carolina groups, guest speakers and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to engage students in conversations about the early-onset and prevention of colorectal cancer and will present their experience at the Southeastern Colorectal Cancer Consortium Conference this summer.

 “It is clear to me that the university’s student culture is founded on kindness, friendliness, engagement, dedication, and a love for college sports,” McDermott says. “I am honored to be part of the Gamecock community and know that the mission and values of the university have been ingrained into my character, equipping me with crucial tools for success in the medical field and beyond.”

In the classroom, the Honors College student and public health major found that her coursework aligned perfectly with her plan to attend medical school in the future. She found mentors in clinical associate professor Edena Guimaraes and instructor Kersten Cope.

“In Dr. Guimaraes’ intro to health promotion, education, and behavior course, I drafted a semester-long project, which included a detailed intervention strategy for improving gestational diabetes among a target population. She motivated me throughout that semester and has supported my public health interests ever since,” McDermott says. “Ms. Cope has supported my preparation for medical school through multiple one-on-one conversations that have helped me see the bigger picture of my public health degree and bridge extracurricular experiences with public health concepts I’ve learned in the classroom. Overall, I am the person I am today through these mentors.”

McDermott loved that she was able to apply the many public health and biological concepts she learned on campus to her practical experiences. During the spring of her junior year, the Spanish minor studied in Barcelona – earning SAI Global Leadership and International Service Certificates for her volunteer work at a local elementary school and presentation of comparisons between different countries’ schools and health care systems. 

To complete her Public Health Capstone Project, McDermott served as student coordinator for Prisma Health’s March of Dimes, building USC’s presence at the 2024 Midlands March for Babies event through team recruitment, fundraising and supporting policy advocacy efforts. This semester, she has also interned (the first student to do so) with the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice Victim Services Program.

After graduating with Leadership Distinction in Community Service and the Outstanding Senior Award in May, McDermott will gain additional experience as a research coordinator for the Rubin Lab at the University of Chicago before applying to medical school. This role is a continuation and expansion of the work she began last summer as an undergraduate research assistant in the lab, studying inflammatory bowel disease.

­­“The Arnold School of Public Health offers dynamic degrees that prepare students well for numerous career paths, and their project-based curriculum has ensured that I know what it means to produce tangible results – a theme I’ve observed in multiple internship settings,” McDermott says. “I have numerous experiences that I can discuss in interviews and reflect upon to determine where my career interests remain, and the research and leadership opportunities offered by USC in the Arnold School are unparalleled. I cannot think of a better place to learn about science, about the real world, about communication strategies, and more.”

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