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Sophomore Elizabeth Durante has what it takes to make a difference

Sophomore Elizabeth Durante poses with two young children in Africa.

December 07, 2007

Sophomore Elizabeth Durante has a knack for science and an intense love of humanity. It is no surprise, then, that she discovered her true passion while comforting a crying little girl in Durban, South Africa, last spring.

"I went over to pick the little girl up, and she pointed at her mouth and stuck out her tongue. I realized that she was crying because she had open sores in her mouth," Durante said. "I was frustrated, because back in the States, when I get cold sores, all I have to do is go to CVS and buy a minor anesthetic to soothe the area. It was that exact moment when I knew I wanted to be a doctor."

A certified Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Durante had traveled to South Africa with the New London Collegiate Ministry to build relations between communities and visit local AIDS hospices.

The trip had such a profound impact on Durante that she and another Connecticut College sophomore, Stefanie Hinman, are planning to travel to Uganda this spring for a similar mission. During their spring break, the students will travel with other certified EMTs to an orphanage in Kaberamaido, Uganda. At the orphanage, Durante, Hinman and volunteers from Vassar College will provide medical services to orphans and local populations and stock the shelves of the medical clinic with much needed supplies.

To help raise money for medical supplies, Durante and Hinman turned to their fellow students. With help from UMOJA, Connecticut College´s African/ African American student organization, they organized a benefit concert on campus that raised more than $400.

Durante hopes other students will get involved as well. She is currently working to start an Emergency Medical Services Corps on campus and has already found a group of eager students who will be trained in EMT basics by next semester.

Eventually, Durante hopes to become a surgeon. "Maybe I´ll be a trauma surgeon, or a cardiothoracic surgeon," she says, "something intense enough to fulfill the EMT adrenaline-junkie I know will always be inside of me." She also hopes to one day travel with Doctors Without Borders, an independent international medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people in more than 70 countries. She even has dreams of starting a medical clinic similar to the one she will visit in Uganda this spring.

"I love the connection with other human beings that medicine offers," Durante said. "No matter where they grew up, how old they are, how rich or poor - a patient is a patient. They are human beings with human feelings and, more importantly, human needs."

For more information, contact Durante at edurante@conncoll.edu.

- By Erin Burdett ´08

For more information contact: Amy Martin (860) 439-2526; a.martin@conncoll.edu