As a rising fourth year student at St. George’s University School of Medicine in Grenada, West Indies, Lorraine Toner is excited and honored to serve as the 2011-2012 Vice President for Finance. This is Lorraine’s second year on the Board of Trustees, and third year as a national AMSA leader. She previously served as International Trustee, 2010-2012 and International Regional Director, 2009-2010.
Lorraine graduated from Plattsburgh State University with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry, and landed her dream job at in the Cellular Immunology & Physiology Laboratory at Rockefeller University in New York, NY where she studied the role of immunological dendritic cells in HIV infection. She went on to work at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), testing novel chemotherapies for lymphoma. While at MSKCC, Lorraine earned her Master’s Degree in Biology from New York University. After working under an MD/PhD, and experiencing the clinical aspect of lymphoma treatment, Lorraine realized a career in medicine better suited her than research science. Lorraine chose to leave MSKCC, and chose a new career path as a hospital specialty sales representative for Eli Lilly & Company while researching medical school and the MCAT.
Lorraine chose the Keith B. Taylor Global Scholar’s program to pursue her MD, bringing her to study her first year of medicine in Newcastle, UK, and her second year in Grenada, West Indies. As a medical student, Lorraine served as the President of the Global Scholars Medical Society in Newcastle, where she worked to bring students together socially and in philanthropy, planning several fundraising and awareness events, with donations to the Chege Orphanage in Kenya, A Hospice Center in El Salvador, and a breast cancer hospital floor unit in Newcastle.
In Grenada, Lorraine was elected as President of the AMSA chapter, as well as a student representative for the Student Government Association (SGA). She also completed a research project on blood donation in the country of Grenada, but partnering with the Grenadian blood bank and promoting AMSA run blood drives on campus. Her research was selected for oral presentation in Grenada, as well as a poster winner at the 60th Annual AMSA Convention.
Lorraine is excited to be back in New York, which is home, to complete her clinical years. She continues to enjoy her work with AMSA, and on SGA Clinical executive board as VP for Academic Affairs. As a student member of ACOG, she looks forward to a career committed to women’s health as an OB/GYN.