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Class Scholars

Class Scholars: 1975

Jill Kelly, Class of 2011

• Bio

• Thank You Letter

Jill Kelly, Class of 2011, is a little older than most students who enter medical school. She worked many years for the federal government before deciding to become a physician. Jill was born in New Jersey but moved around a lot, going from New Jersey to Michigan to Florida to Maryland , all by the time she was in junior high school. She and her family – college-educated parents and an older sister – eventually settled in Columbia , Maryland . Jill grew up in a close, supportive family that suffered through some difficult medical issues. Helping with their care during these episodes, Jill began to develop her career interest.

Jill attended Spelman College , graduating with honors in as Biochemistry major. Her career goal while at Spelman was to conduct research, which she pursued during school and shortly after graduation. Her investigations were in molecular biology, iron metabolism, bioremediation, and pharmaceutical product development. Jill soon decided that she wanted to play a role shaping national healthcare policy and became an analyst for CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, formerly the Health Care Financing Administration). Initially, she focused on evaluating and refining quality measures for long-term care facilities, but her responsibilities eventually grew to include other federally regulated providers and suppliers of healthcare.

Once Jill decided that she wanted to become a health professional, she began to prepare for the medical school application process. Although she had completed the medical school prerequisites in pursuit of her undergraduate degree, she had been out of the academic arena for more than a decade. Instead of enrolling in a post-baccalaureate program, she decided to review the material on her own. Afterward, Jill took a short commercial preparatory class to ensure that her studies had adequately prepared her for the MCAT. After taking it, she enrolled in a molecular biology class at the University of Maryland , College Park to reacquaint herself with the university setting. The experience confirmed her readiness to work alongside younger students and to adapt to modern classroom techniques and technologies.

Jill was accepted to numerous prestigious medical schools and chose UCLA. She brings a variety of healthcare experience, primarily through her work at CMS. Some of her projects include developing a national, online Medicare and Medicaid data reporting system; co-editing the Nursing Home Data Compendium; and developing and leading CMS's Pressure Ulcer Prevention and Treatment Pilot. She has presented her work at numerous government conferences and at the Annual American Public Health Association Conference in 2005.

Since Jill entered the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, faculty members have ranked her communication skills as superb, also mentioning that she is filled with compassion and a willingness to serve all cultures. She is an active class leader with the goals of providing healthcare for geriatric patients and those who lack adequate medical insurance and financial resources. We are pleased to present Jill Kelly as the Class of 1975 Scholar for the 2008-09 academic year.