Editor-in-Chief Emeritus (2019-2022) and Former Managing Editor (2017-2019)
University of South Carolina School of Medicine - Greenville
Romela is an Internal Medicine resident physician at Greenville Health System. She was born in Yerevan, Armenia and grew up in Moscow, Russia until the age of 15 at which point she immigrated to the United States. She is quadrilingual and has completed her undergraduate education at the University of California, Irvine with Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa in Biological Sciences. Romela is a graduate from University of Central Florida College of Medicine and has extensive experience in clinical research, medical education development, publication, and community service. In her free time, she enjoys cross-fit, long-distance running, painting, and choreographing.
In the late 1950s, my grandmother was often told, “Medicine is no place for a woman.” As a result, she went to medical school under the guise of attending a teaching college deemed appropriate by her mother. It was a difficulty journey for my grandmother to gain acceptance to Yerevan State Medical University in Armenia.
For most of our childhoods growing up in the Midwest, the Iowa we called home was a swing state proud of its investments in education, was welcoming to refugees from around the world, and was the third US state to legalize marriage equality.
Resident Physician Contributing Writer
Melissa Palma is an Iowa-raised daughter of Filipino immigrants and aesculapian advocate. She trained in family medicine at safety-net community health centers and is a board-certified Preventive Medicine and Public Health physician in Chicago, IL. Her writing reflects on the privileges and responsibilities we have as physicians to advance health equity for our patients and our communities. When not in clinic, you can find her reading non-fiction while nursing a taro boba tea.
