Kappa Delta - University of Missouri

NOTES FROM MIZ KΔ PAGE 3 I t's hard to encapsulate what the pandemic has been like for Dr. Lizzie Nussbaum '12. As a first-year internal medicine resident when the novel coronavirus strain was discovered in the U.S., she's taken care of COVID-19 patients for more than half of her time. Although her day-to-day is largely the same as it would be without the pandemic, things have changed fundamentally on a deeper level. The biggest change, of course, has been dealing with a disease that was unknown to the world just over a year ago. "In medicine, we often come face to face with sickness and death, yet the pandemic has shown us loss on a grander scale than any of us have seen in our lifetimes," she stated. "I still struggle with the patients I've lost. Not because we did anything wrong, but because it feels so preventable. One in 600 Americans has died of COVID-19; everyone I know has lost someone. Working on the frontlines means that those losses have been deeply personal." Spring and the vaccine have provided hope, but she worries many people won't opt to receive it. "I was grateful the day I got the vaccine; and the day my parents got it, I walked to the bathroom at work and gave myself five minutes alone to cry from relief," she shared. "I just want everyone to get the vaccine. Protect yourself, your neighbors, and healthcare workers who cannot watch this continue." Lizzie graduated from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine in May 2020 and is an internal medicine resident at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. She plans to complete training with a fellowship in cardiology and become a practicing cardiologist. She credits her KΔ role models for showing her what needed to be done to achieve her goal of attending medical school. Big Meghan Boggess Swartz '11 and Grand Big Theresa Mullineaux '11 encouraged her to run for Epsilon Iota chapter council. She served as vice president of finance, which was the toughest year she faced in college, balancing her hardest pre-med classes with a leadership role that required at least 20 hours a week. "It was a bit of trial by fire, but I kept up my grades and navigated the finances of an entire chapter. After that I felt like I could do anything," she said. "It pushed me to apply for other leadership roles on campus, and I still look up to Dr. Kelsie Coe '09, an incredibly talented orthopaedic surgery resident!" Connect with Lizzie at senqpd@gmail.com. FROM THE FRONTLINES Dr. Sarah "Lizzie" Nussbaum '12 Shares Candid Experience of Pandemic Challenges Dr. Sarah "Lizzie" Nussbaum '12 Shares Candid Experience of Pandemic Challenges Logan Merz '17 Reflects on Her Experience as Panhellenic Associa on President I n the winter 2020 issue of Notes from MIZ KΔ, we caught up with a few Epsilon Iota sisters who served as Panhellenic Association presidents, including Logan Merz '17. Logan learned a great deal from her PHA presidency and was extremely thankful to have the full support of her Kappa Delta sisters. "My KΔ experience has helped me grow so much as an individual and a leader. KΔ built my confidence and gave me sisters who are intentional in wanting to see my growth," Logan said. "KΔ has supported my passions of service and allowed me to serve as VP Community Service in addition to being PHA president. Working with our philanthropies was a very rewarding experience and opened my perspective." Logan's primary goal during her term was to improve PHA's communication internally and externally. She accomplished that by hosting PHA events and helping various chapters co-host philanthropy events. Another achievement Logan was proud of was creating a diversity, equity, and inclusion action plan with her executive board. "We understood that our community had and still has a lot of progress to make in those areas," Logan said. "We wanted to set up a foundation so the PHA community could make more progress." Not too long after Logan's term began, the pandemic hit. Logan and her executive board overcame many COVID-19-related challenges but stayed true to their goal of improving PHA's communication efforts. That led to them successfully hosting Mizzou's first all-virtual recruitment. Logan is looking forward to building upon what she's learned from her KΔ and PHA experiences as she begins her career as a retail business analyst for Royal Canin in Phoenix this summer. You can connect with Logan at logey325@gmail.com.

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