Alexis Woods, MD
Surgical Resident, PGY-3
UC Davis Health System
UC Davis School of Medicine
Saturday February 19, 2022
11am-12:30pm PST
Click on the YouTube link below to view this webinar. Once you have viewed the presentation, you can log back in and take the Quiz for this event. A score of 70% or above will earn you a Certificate for 2 hours of Medical Mentorship.
Workshop Description:
Do you think you are too old for Medical School? How does starting at 34 sound to you? Do you think you are too old to be a surgeon? How about starting at 38? Do you think you can’t start a family in medical school? Do you think getting married in medical school and becoming a parent in residency is impossible?
If you think all these things are impossible, then you should come and meet Dr. Woods, who went from high school dropout to now a 3rd year surgical resident at UC Davis Health System, and discover how she was able to overcome all these challenges and start in her mid 30’s attending one of the top medical schools and surgical residencies in the United States.
About the Speaker:Dr. Woods grew up in Jacksonville, Florida. At the age of 16 she was emancipated and left home, due to an unsafe environment. She dropped out of high school and went to work full time. For many years, making ends meet was difficult, even living in her car for a short time. In her early 20s, she worked seasonal travel jobs in Europe, Alaska, and Baja Mexico.
Once back stateside, she enrolled in community college where she reconnected with her teenage dream of becoming a surgeon. Moving to California with her sights set on attending UC Berkeley, she went to Cabrillo Community College in Santa Cruz, and eventually transferred to UC Berkeley for her BA in Molecular Biology, with an emphasis in Neurobiology.
For the next two years, she worked as a live-in caregiver doing stroke rehab while taking the MCAT and applying to medical school. She started medical school at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA at the age of 34 and graduated AOA and as a Member of the Gold Humanism Society. She subsequently started her 6 year surgical residency at the age of 38 at UC Davis Health System, and now in her third year of general surgery residency.
Dr. Woods hopes to pursue a fellowship in Colorectal Surgery. She has a particular interest in working towards improving surgical healthcare for the LGBTQ community, especially transgender/nonbinary patients.
She met and married her wife during medical school and they welcomed their first child in intern year, with the hopes of expanding their family more in the next few years.
View for Free:
When: Feb 19, 2022 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Topic: A Non-Traditional Journey from Community College, Parenthood, and Surgery
YouTube link:
