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| Nicole Lemon |
By Milena Mata
Nicole Lemon, a first-year medical student at the Whiddon College of Medicine, was recently awarded a Mobile Community Health Leadership Award by the Mobile Medical Museum.
The award is for members of the community who have achievements in education and leadership. Multiple honorees receive the award each year, but Lemon is the only student to have received it. Lemon is being recognized for her extensive volunteer work at Camp Kesem, Victory Health Partners, and the Mobile Medical Museum.
Camp Kesem organizes summer camps for children whose parents have cancer. The camp provides a safe space for children across the country. Since 2020, Lemon has served in various positions on the leadership board for South Alabama’s chapter, including Make the Magic (MTM) coordinator, where she planned fundraising events, development coordinator, and co-director.
“I understand the difficulty of being a child with a severely ill parent, and I am grateful I was able to help provide our campers with a safe place surrounded by people who are ready and willing to be there for them,” Lemon said.
She also served as a triage volunteer for Victory Health Partners where she filed patient information. The nonprofit provides relief for uninsured adults in the Mobile area through healthcare services.
“I loved volunteering at Victory because I have a passion for serving vulnerable populations,” she said. “I believe we’re often thinking about helping vulnerable groups in other areas, but Victory goes to show how many people need assistance in our local Mobile community and provides an opportunity to actively serve them.”
In addition to her volunteer experience, Lemon completed an internship at the Mobile Medical Museum in 2023. The museum showcases the history of medicine and education in Mobile with artifacts to highlight scientific progress and education. It has multiple exhibits and a medicinal garden.
Lemon worked on a project for the garden in which she wrote new descriptions for every plant, added new images, and designed brochures and signs with QR codes for the website. She wanted to make the descriptions more understandable for everyone to enhance educational accessibility. She also helped organize collections of historic medical equipment and even led scientific activities during field trips.
“I am genuinely so grateful for this honor and for the Mobile Medical Museum’s dedication to highlighting the importance of public health education and community service,” Lemon said. “Professionally, this award means that my long-term goal to provide medical humanitarian assistance where it is needed most is something I am not only capable of but also something I am getting closer to doing every day.”
“Personally, this award means the effort my classmates and I are putting in now to become culturally competent, compassionate providers is and will continue to pay off,” she continued. “I’m passionate about the importance of understanding an individual's culture to provide them with the best care, and I’m excited to continue learning and serving in Mobile.”
Daryn Glassbrook, Ph.D., executive director of the Mobile Medical Museum, stresses the importance of this award. “We all dream of a community with clean air and water, safe schools and neighborhoods, well-adjusted, thriving children, and health care services that are affordable, accessible, and effective,” he said. “These leaders have the vision, empathy, and determination to place this dream within our reach.”
The award ceremony will take place on May 17 at the Strada Patient Care Center from 10 a.m. until noon. Funds raised through ticket sales for the event go toward museum programming.
