VCOM View Magazine Vol. 13 | No. 1

Student Spotlight Nailing the Art of Medicine: First-Year Medical Student’s Healing Hands Draw National Acclaim F aith Baxter is the first person in the VCOM Carolinas Class of 2027 to be published, but her appearance in the national SOMA Research publication, “The Future DO,” is not your typical research project. by Lily Collins

Hope and Faith.” Clearly, Faith has been a determined person since before she was born, and she retains that drive to this day, which is helpful during these long days of med school. Faith has interests beyond school, too. She has been doing nails since sixth grade and is completely self-taught. For years, it was more of a hobby than a business, but it took on a new shape during the pandemic. At the time, Faith was pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and pre-med at Miami University-Oxford. “I didn’t want people coming to me in person during COVID, so I decided to start my mail order press-on nail business. Now I ship press on nails to wherever people order them from, and I do in-person appointments. Doing the in-person appointments is a way for me to connect and network with my peers.” Faith developed her business as a solution to her own dilemma. “I knew that I wanted to go into medicine, and you can’t have long nails in the medical field. But we want to have what we want on our nails and not be limited by our career,” she says. “I found a product that is temporary. I can be confident and beautiful, then remove them if needed. This is a part of my life, and I would never give this up.” As a medical school student and amateur nail tech, Faith’s talent is greatly appreciated by her classmates. She finds time to provide at least one in-person

Faith is taking medical school in stride, despite a grueling first year. “I developed a lot of mental resilience growing up,” she explained in the spring. “I was a Division I track and field athlete, and there’s just no stopping. I think that really has taught me well to just keep going, no matter what. I also find joy in studying. It’s like, okay, we have an exam tomorrow. If I grind out 12 hours of studying tonight, I’ll reward myself with a coffee. Little things to look forward to make studying not so bad.” Faith’s family includes one older sister, one younger sister and her identical twin sister, and her family shaped her competitive spirit. “It is competitive growing up in a family of sisters, especially when you have a twin,” she says. “You’re trying to find ways to distinguish yourself as your own person while you’re in middle school and high school, and it’s very difficult. People will be like, ‘Faith, Hope, it’s the same person.’ No, we’re not the same person. I have my passions. She has hers. We’re Momo [Monoamniotic] twins. Less than 1% of the twin population are Momo twins because it’s such a high risk. Hope and I weren’t supposed to survive, which is why our names are

22 Student Spotlight