Graduation 2014 Profiles: Kimberly Dessources

By Joseph Neighbor

In a small Haitian village called Petit-Goave, Kimberly Dessources saw firsthand the good a good doctor can do in one of the world’s poorest regions.

The earthquake of 2010 leveled the community’s clinic, as it had much of the country. “Ten people sharing a tent, no clean water—the extreme poverty was shocking,” she says. “But I was impressed by their resiliency. How well they did with so little and how little they complained.”

Working alongside an organization called the Socio-Cultural Movement of Haitian Workers (MOSCTHA), Ms. Dessources performed health needs assessments in the areas surrounding the new MOSCTHA clinic. The experience made a lasting impression on her, imbuing her professional aspiration to be an obstetrician and gynecologist with a personal commitment to help the people who need it most. Though Haiti is far away, for Ms. Dessources it was something of a return to her roots: Her parents are Haitian. While there, she visited Leogane, the town where her father grew up and her grandmother is buried.

Ms. Dessources was initially interested in pediatrics. “Like many medical students, I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do,” she says. “But you don’t really know until you do your rotations.” Eventually, she settled on obstetrics and gynecology, a specialization informed by her growing interest in global health.

She matched to a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and she hopes to also pursue global health as a physician.