Cañada Alum Isaiah Roggow Prepares for Med School

Roggow will focus on primary care for the needy

Former Cañada College student Isaiah Roggow has been accepted to the UC Riverside School of Medicine where he will study to become a primary care physician.

Roggow will be part of UC Riverside’s inaugural medical school class. The UC Riverside School of Medicine is California’s first new public medical school in four decades.

“My intention is to become a primary care physician, likely in family medicine, and work in a medically underserved area,” Roggow said. “I will be able to leverage my training in nutrition to better serve my patients.”

Roggow attended Cañada for several years before transferring to UC Davis in 2010. “Cañada has a strong honor society, Phi Theta Kappa, and the leadership and interpersonal skills I gained were put to good use at UC Davis,” he said. “It was through PTK and my subsequent projects that assisted me in preparing for medical school.”

In addition, Roggow said faculty and staff at the college were eager mentors. Cathy Lipe, coordinator for the Math, Engineering, Science, Achievement (MESA) Program worked with Roggow to make thoughtful choices about his academic path towards a career in medicine.

Roggow was part of the MESA program and was a tutor for the school’s award-winning Math Jam program. He also tutored biology, English, and economics and was the co-founder of the Latino Empowerment Alliance, which worked toward increasing awareness in the school’s Latino population about the opportunities available at Cañada.

As a member of Cañada’s Pre-Med Club, Roggow helped promote the American Medical Student Association’s annual conference held in Davis, which he would later work for when he transferred to UC Davis. “Working for the AMSA Conference greatly enhanced my networking and organizational skills, which played an important role in being accepted to UC Riverside’s School of Medicine.”

If Roggow could offer one piece of advice to current Cañada students it would be to sit in the front of class, study hard, and find a faculty mentor. “There are so many resources available to help students succeed and the faculty is willing to help students. I had about seven mentors at Cañada, and each had a unique perspective, but they all helped me achieve my academic goals.”