Current LSU-Shreveport Radiology Resident Zakious Tracey was a scholar-athlete who played football, volleyball and wrestling all 4 years while in high school. He completed his pre-med work at Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University and went on to serve as a Respiratory Therapist in the pediatric emergency department at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital for 2 years prior to starting medical school. He readily admits, he was nervous when he arrived at MUA, but quickly made some life-long friends (affectionately calling each other now “the wolf pack”) in his first term. “In our study group we really helped each other study while everybody brought something different to the table. The weather was beautiful and on the weekends, we would go the beach and eat together and study into the late evening, with the Atlantic Ocean as our backdrop.” Zakious excelled in his Basic Sciences at MUA and became a TA for his gross anatomy, human physiology, microbiology and neuroscience courses. “The teachers were very knowledgeable, and they know if you have pre-read the materials. They really cared and check to make sure that you are understanding all that they are teaching. That’s really the beauty of the small class size. To be honest, it also helped build my self-study habits by reading ahead.

The professors make you feel that you matter and is important when they personally ask you a question. You definitely are rewarded for your hard work”. Zakious did most of his clinical rotations in Brooklyn (originally from Dallas, Texas and grew up in Hollywood, Florida he had never seen snow!). While doing clinical rotations in the heart of New York City, he was exposed to a variety of diseases and pathology that provided great learning. He states, “while my core rotations prepared me, it was my electives that defined me”. Among his many elective rotations, ranging from cardiology to critical care, nephrology and infectious diseases it was his radiology rotation at LSU that won him over for his choice in residency. Once his elective rotation in radiology was completed, he was scheduled for an interview at LSU for a residency position. MUA, knowing his desire to match there, helped secured an extra one-week “2nd look” interventional radiology rotation for him back at LSU-S, where he was able to work directly with the Radiology Residency Program Director and Chairman which contributed to him matching into his dream residency. “I really couldn’t imagine any other school doing this. I had already completed all required clinical rotations. It really just wouldn’t happen at one of the very big schools, where you really are just a number”.