Many physicians feel the calling to practice medicine from early childhood. For those with no physicians in their families, the decision is often less obvious. Iowa alum Allie Kim shares the story of hard work and self-discovery that led to her dream job.

When Allie Kim (18MD, 21R), née Rapp, and Sung Kim (15MD, 20F) met for their first date at Sanctuary Pub in Iowa City, they were both in a busy season of life. Sung was a fourth-year medical student at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine; Allie was a first-year. “We were there for six hours, just talking,” Allie remembers. "Then he said, ‘Allie, don’t you have your anatomy final?’”

From a young age, Nicole Fleege, MD’s family told her she could be anything she wanted to be. She oscillated between dreams of being a doctor, a lawyer, or a veterinarian. However, when it came to deciding whether she wanted a career in medicine, she was hesitant. “I took a detour from medicine because my dad got cancer when I was a junior in high school and then passed away from lung cancer when I was a senior,” she explains. “So my first few years in college, I just wasn’t sure I wanted to do medicine.”

Melissa Palma (15MD) is many things these days—a physician, an educator, an advocate. But when it all began, she was an Iowan. “I like to tell people I spent K through 20th grade in Iowa,” she says.