Maria was born in the beautiful Puebla, in the heart of Mexico. Powell, Ohio rejoiced when she arrived a short five years after her birth (I can personally relate to the feeling after she became one of my first friends at Pritzker). She didn’t have to go far to attend THE Ohio State University, a quick 25 minute drive from home. At OSU, Maria studied neuroscience, but she double majored in enthusiasm. If you ever need an excitement boost, a huge smile, or a hug, Maria is your go-to girl. Too excited to join the Pritzker Fam, Maria came straight through to medical school and Pritzker will never be the same.At Pritzker, Maria keeps her days bustling with quite the resume of Pritzker activities. She is the Latino Student Medical Association co-prez, and is involved with Students for the Advancement of Medical Spanish. Never one for downtime, she also volunteers as a clinic volunteer and interpreter at Community Health Clinic (one of Pritzker’s free clinics) and is the recruitment coordinator for HPREP: a program for Chicago high school students with backgrounds that are underrepresented in medicine. She might also save your life one day as a CPR expert and bestows her endless knowledge upon others as a Basic Life Support instructor.

Maria has big goals for her time at Pritzker. Not only is she in pursuit of the MD, she is currently an aspiring Chicago foodie - an honorable quest in the great Chicagoland. And I’d be remiss to not mention she is a travel extraordinaire; during just first year she has explored the exotic lands of Ann Arbor, Michigan, St. Louis, Missouri, and Las Vegas, Nevada. And we can’t forget her travel highlight when she graciously brought her friends home to Puebla for spring break, with a pit stop in Cancun on the way back to Chicago. Her adventures are far from over as she heads to Cusco, Peru at the end of the summer with the Pritzker REMEDY group.

During her free time, you can find Maria running along the lake, wearing the crown for “Snapchat Queen of Pritzker”, or bringing sunshine to all around her. If there’s ever a rainy day, find Maria and you will instantly forget the gloomy skies outside. She is genuinely one of the warmest people I have had the pleasure of meeting; never hesitate to reach out to her with questions or in search of a laugh or hug.

Written by: Kathryn Nutting

MEET MARIA!

MEET AARON!Aaron Wallace is a master of all trades as you will soon find out! He was born and raised in New York, not the city but rather the real gem of the state, New Hartford. It was the kind of place where everyone knew his name, and no one knew it better than his high school principal (Hi, Aaron’s mom!). There wasn’t much to do in rural New York, so Aaron memorized all the capitals in the world, both for fun and for the eternal fame that comes from placing sixth in the eighth grade geography fair in the state of New York.

In the process, he dreamed about the cities in which he would someday live. Paris? Moscow? Istanbul? Beijing? But thankfully for all of us, after a gap year working in a dermatology office in Boston, he landed in Chicago, the Paris of the Midwest. Aaron was also a famous pastry chef in a past life and has perfected the art of tart-making. As pictured above, Aaron has been making mouth-watering tarts since 2009. He is often seen carrying around a cake caddy, with his world famous tiramisu tart for one of his classmates’ birthdays. He surprised me with a tart on my birthday and I can honestly say that it was the most touching and delicious present I have ever received! Aaron also made his own birthday cake and shared it with the class, which gives you a sense of the kind of person he is. When he is not in the kitchen, you can find Aaron out on the field playing every sport imaginable including but not limited to broomball, track, and floor hockey. He is also a Chicago Youth

Program (CYP) tutor, Basic Life Support instructor, and Radiology Interest Group leader! If all of that was not enough, he also found time to read all of War & Peace while visiting Mexico City during Spring Break. He is a true connoisseur of famous Russian literature, style, and ~hipster~ restaurants in Chicago. If you ever need a suggestion for a new hobby, life advice, or a sweet treat Aaron Wallace is your guy!

Written by: Maria Espinosa

MEET KATHRYN!

Kathryn grew up in the majestic Medway, Massachusetts. While she denies a Bah-stahn accent, she does call the grocery store a “food store.” She attended the University of Massachusetts, Amherst for college. While there, she majored in public health and minored in biochemistry. She went on to work as a nursing assistant at a hospital in Worcester (are you sure you can pronounce it right?) Mass, before lighting Pritzker ablaze.

Here at Pritzker, Kathryn strives to make everyone around her as healthy and well as possible. She leads Mission Nutrition, Sustainable Pritzker, Feed 1st, the organization that maintains and stocks the food pantries in Comer, Docs and Debates, the Family Medicine Interest Group, and the Interest Group in Alternative and Complementary Medicine. She is also the lab coordinator for one of the free clinics, where she makes sure that the other MS1s do no harm. By far, her most important role is serving as the birthday celebration coordinator and cookie baker. In her free time, Kathryn enjoys cooking and hosting dinner parties. It’s been said that Martha Stewart steals her ideas from Kathryn. She also frequents Mexico and was lucky enough to visit Maria’s hometown of Puebla during spring break. Kathryn is one of the most genuinely nice and thoughtful people I’ve ever known. When I had a cold this past winter, Kathryn brought me some of her homemade chicken broth. If you ever need a shoulder to lean on, a non-judgemental ear, or comforting hug, look no further than Kathryn. She is so excited to meet and get to know each and everyone of you.

Written by: Aaron Wallace

MEET KATHRYN!