Samantha Fountain

Fulbright-University of Nottingham Postgraduate Award

Born and raised in Chicagoland, Samantha became interested in healthcare and began engaging in teaching roles from a young age. She proceeded to develop these interests at Cornell University, graduating in three years with a Bachelor of Science with High Distinction in Human Biology, Health & Society with a minor in Education. At Cornell, Samantha ran educational intervention programs for general chemistry, taught adult ESL learners, and founded a medical vitals training program for students to serve local soup kitchen patrons. Samantha also engaged in bariatric surgery research and chemistry education research as an undergraduate. Additionally, while working on the ambulance as an Advanced Emergency Medical Technician, Samantha completed multiple Emergency Medical Services teaching certifications to learn how to support premedical students in uncertain clinical environments.

Post-graduation, Samantha continued working as an Advanced Emergency Medical Technician and taught an accelerated Emergency Medical Technician Basic course near Cornell University. To improve her skills as a medical educator, Samantha will study Medical Education at the University of Nottingham. She is excited to build on her current teaching praxis to better understand andragogy within a medical context. She also looks forward to shadowing in the UK and learning more about the National Health Service, with the overarching goal of building more holistic and internationally exchangeable medical curricula.  Samantha hopes to pursue a career in medical education as a physician, committed to teaching and supporting the next generation of healthcare providers.