Karen A Bower

In 2015, I was asked by my medical school to leave the M.D. program citing my academic under-performance. At that time, I had serious family obligations, due to which I could not fully dedicate my time at the school. I could not take time off of school either because my 'green card' application was s...till pending-- anything that would jeopardize my immigration status in the US would possibly affect my green card approval. Despite my numerous attempts, I had not been able to get an appointment with a physician at the medical school's student clinic. Later, I found out that the months of delay in referral to a psychiatrist was because of clerical incompetence at the clinic, who was later fired of the job. In February 2015, I was diagnosed with moderately severe depression and moderate anxiety and put on medication by a physician's assistant (PA), after I my plea to see any medical profession at the clinic. Soon after, I was able to see an actual psychiatrist due to urgent referral of the PA. The psychiatrist, after evaluating my situations, wrote a 4-page long letter to the medical school for a 'medical leave of absence'. The school took another 2 months, sending my case from committee to committee, to finally dismissing me from the school sticking to the academic under-performance reason. They made these decisions without letting me testify in person, even though I was allowed to do so before the official MLOA was submitted. This is when I was able to get a hold of Karen Bower. Under her consultation, I requested my educational records from the university, including all the communication among individuals at the medical school, relating to the decision of dismissal. It was discovered that the committees believed that I made up stories to make a case, and that they did not believe the complex situation I was under because of family and immigration issues. It was under Karen's guidance that I finally put a complaint under the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Education. Since, I am still pursuing to go to a medical school, I did not want to take it to the courts, and wanted to get it over with, I ended up signing a resolution agreement that changed my 'dismissal' to 'withdrawal' but would prevent me from applying to the same medical school again. This was the best resolution given the circumstances I was in, and I thank Karen for pushing me to make it happen. On a personal level, I want to thank you, Karen, for being there for me, when it seemed like the whole world was against me.