Ashley Messmore

Ashley is going to be a hospice care physician. She is going to be the first in her family to earn a college degree, and she is providing a role model and path for her two children to follow. Raised by a single mother, Ashley went to work right after high school to help with family finances. At age 17 she was the manager of a Round Table Pizza; by age 29 she had risen to Assistant Vice President at JPMorgan Chase. Along the way she honed her management and leadership skills and came to recognize her abilities and her impact on others. So when her office closed and she was laid off, “I knew immediately what I would do: give medical school my best shot. I am a grown woman, a mother, I have extensive experience in leadership and a work ethic matched by few. I can do this!” (With help, of course: Her husband, John, has commandeered the before- and after-school care of their two youngsters.)

Ashley is a Biology major who will begin med school applications in 2017 and looks forward to playing a part in expanding hospice care to rural parts of California. Through her volunteer work at UC San Diego Medical Center and Apreva Hospice, she has gained “incredible perspective. Every day is an opportunity to make someone’s day easier, better, more rewarding. I choose to invest my days as a life-improving physician.”