SENIOR ATTENDS NATIOANL FORUM ON MEDICINE

KeyWords: YOUTH, EDUCATION

A Cape Girardeau youth has recently returned from a National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine held in Boston, which was designed to give outstanding students from around the nation a chance to probe health care issues.

Jessica Hicks, daughter of Jim and Becky Hicks, was one of 360 incoming high school seniors and college freshmen invited to participate in the forum.

Students who were chosen must have a commitment to the profession of medicine, have high academic standing, and a record of community service. The forum presented an opportunity to share in a time of discovery and mentorship with some of the country's most prominent and technologically advanced medical institutions.

The students also had an opportunity to participate in a simulation of Hilary Rodham Clinton's health care policy task force. Students were assigned to work on different perspectives of the problem to help devise a comprehensive policy. Their results were sent to the White House.

Among the speakers at the forum were former Massachusetts Sen. and presidential candidate Paul Tsongas, and Dr. Maria Angell, editor of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Hicks said the forum involved a lot of intense work and an opportunity to tour the many outstanding hospitals in the Boston area. She also learned a lot about the complexities of developing a national health policy.

Hicks added that the conference helped convince her more than ever to pursue her career goals.

"I learned that medical school will be long and hard, but well worth it," said Hicks. "This experience helped convince me more than ever that I want to be a doctor."

Hicks will be a senior at Central High School this fall.