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| 20 Jan 2026 | |
| Board Bios |
Shruthi first started with IAFP with a four-week rural full-scope IAFP Summer Externship Experience in Gibson City during the summer of 2023. She has served as the student member of the AAFP Center for Global Health Initiatives. As a student leader, she has provided interviews with Illinois high school students for their HOSA Future Health Professionals family medicine competitions.
A recipient of the Joly O’Morchoe Scholarship, Mekala was able to complete a three-week medical elective at St. James’s Hospital in Dublin, Ireland, over the summer. Full story on the UIC News website
We are thrilled that Shruthi has matched to the Family Medicine Residency Program at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth Texas.
"I had never been involved in organized medicine before. I got involved in the Illinois Academy when I did my summer rural externship with Dr. Kristina Dakis in Gibson City in 2023 after my first year. And she really inspired me to pursue leadership in the Illinois Academy and the stay connected in to the heart of family medicine which is the Illinois Academy.
From there I knew that I wanted to be involved on the national level and continue advocating for rural family medicine and represent my state. So I got involved at the national conference. I was the Illinois student delegate. And then I ended up serving on a charter for the AAFP Global Health Corps initiatives. Those opportunities really have been the cornerstone of the beginnings of my interest in advocacy and organized medicine."
As told to IAFP on Match Day
