I’m a fourth-year medical student. I spent my year following my longstanding dream.

Jacob Nanney is a Kentucky kid through and through. He grew up in Owensboro, Ky., and has degrees from Kentucky Wesleyan College, the University of Louisville, and most recently, the University of Kentucky College of Medicine-Bowling Green Campus.

He has always wanted to serve his community as a primary care physician. Medical students like Jacob are why the UK College of Medicine-Bowling Green Campus was created, to provide students with the thorough yet intimate training experience that will allow them to pursue that noble endeavor of service.

Jacob spent his year preparing for the next phase of his longstanding dream – caring for his fellow Kentuckians.

Western Kentucky is home to Jacob. It’s where he met his wife, Maddy. It’s where they welcomed their two children. Practically all of their family lives there.

Jacob and Maddy grew up close with their grandparents, and they want that for their two kids, Winston and Caroline. Jacob also is heavily involved with his church and enjoys community service projects. “I always had that in me, I guess. That passion to serve others,” he says.

Becoming a doctor in his hometown just made sense.

Students
Jacob Nanney is pictured with his wife, Maddy, their son, Winston, and their daughter, Caroline.

While in undergrad at Kentucky Wesleyan College, Jacob worked in an emergency room as a medical scribe. He remembers seeing patients come in for simple ailments that could have been addressed more effectively by a primary care provider.

He wanted to become a doctor who could fill that need. Jacob started medical school in 2020, mere months after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus wreaked havoc on the western Kentucky region, an area that was already suffering from a need for physicians.

This experience reinforced Jacob’s desire to help people.

Students
Med Center Health is UK’s regional health care partner that helped start the Bowling Green Campus – and that helped provide Jacob with great clinical experiences during training.

Jacob says the training experience at a regional campus brought “the best of both worlds”: smaller class sizes and the top-notch curriculum of a larger medical school.

He developed close relationships with his campus classmates, faculty, and staff. During third-year clerkships and clinical rotations, he even worked one-on-one with mentors.

“I think I do best with smaller groups,” he says. “So being able to come here and work closely with attendings and residents has been really beneficial to me.”

In the beginning, there were challenges associated with COVID-19 that exacerbated the difficulty of medical school. But Jacob was determined to help his classmates succeed. He led a study group to offer encouragement and ensure no one was left behind.

During their final year of training, UK College of Medicine students complete the “Advanced Development Phase,” which includes acting internships, electives relevant to their planned career, and the capstone MD 840 Transition to Residency course that includes tailored training with simulation equipment and standardized patients.

Fourth year was when Jacob got in-depth, hands-on experience serving others as a doctor in a community setting.

Students
Jacob joined fellow medical student Darayon Moore for an admissions recruitment fair at their alma mater, Kentucky Wesleyan College. Also pictured: student affairs officer Kent Lewis and admissions officer Whitney Nipple.

In June 2023, Jacob and Maddy welcomed their second child, Caroline. As a new father of two, Jacob’s dream became clearer through each clinical rotation.

He wanted to help families.

Jacob completed several rotations. His first of the year was nephrology at Med Center Health, the UK College of Medicine’s regional health care partner that helped establish the Bowling Green Campus in 2018. Working primarily with a single attending, Jacob had a good mix of inpatient and outpatient experience.

He would go on to complete more rotations across the region including geriatrics, pulmonology, and sports medicine.

But one stuck out above the rest – family medicine.

“It’s everything you could possibly want as a doctor,” Jacob says. “I could see an 8-year-old who is having trouble at school and evaluate them for ADHD, and then I could see a 90-year-old with dementia – it’s the full spectrum of care a doctor could provide.”

Jacob’s family medicine rotation was completed at Med Center Health in Scottsville, Ky., approximately 30 minutes from the Bowling Green Campus. The days began early, 7:30 a.m., and were filled with seeing patients in both the hospital and in clinic, taking notes, and going over treatment plans with the physicians.

His attending, Shafia Rubeen, MD, used every moment as a teaching opportunity.

Jacob knew, from then on, that he wanted to match into family medicine. He believed that is where he could help his community the most.

Dean Griffith presenting an award to a man.
Dean Griffith giving an award to a group of people.
Jacob completed numerous clinical rotations during fourth year, including pulmonology, geriatrics, and sports medicine. Here, he is pictured during his family medicine internship at Scottsville Medical Center.

UK College of Medicine students have plentiful chances to explore what specialty they want to pursue. But the time to decide is early into fourth year.

In September, Jacob began applying to residency programs.

“Honestly, the hardest part is getting together the things that are out of your hands,” such as letters of recommendation, Jacob says.

Interviews typically begin in December. Depending on the program, interviews can be virtual or in-person, requiring a campus visit and hotel stay. Jacob completed 15 total interviews.

“I learned more about what was important to me in my training from each interview,” he says. That included more elective rotations to “really work on weaker areas in my clinical toolbelt,” as well as plentiful inpatient experience to feel more comfortable managing sicker patients.

And of course, he wanted to train closer to home.

“Family medicine is very involved in community efforts,” Jacob says. “I definitely wanted to train and be involved in the community I grew up and plan to practice my career in forever.”

Then in February, things get real.

Jacob took every interview and all of his research into account to rank his list of top 10 residency programs. This list is sent to the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP), which uses an advanced algorithm to match students with the residency programs they desire to pursue – and vice versa.

Jacob had interviewed with so many great schools, but one stood out above the rest: the University of Louisville Family Medicine Residency Program back home in Owensboro.

Jacob wanted to start serving his community as soon as he could. His wife had just opened a new clothing shop, Confetti Boutique, in downtown Owensboro. The residency program had just started in 2020. It felt like fate.

So he placed the program at the top of his list.

Match Day is an annual celebration with graduating medical students across the country. On the third Friday of March, students simultaneously open messages – letters or emails – from the NRMP at noon EST, learning where they will spend their first years as doctors.

Having such a clearly defined goal, Jacob’s anticipation grew each day. There were nerves and a few sleepless nights.

On Match Day, Jacob’s closest family and friends gathered at Confetti Boutique.

They all knew that he matched somewhere. They just had to find out where.

Excited chatter filled the room and was then silenced by the ping of the NRMP email notification.

Jacob brought his wife by his side.

Then he read his email to the crowd.

Cue the smiles and applause.

Jacob matched into his top choice for residency. He was going to be a family medicine resident in Owensboro. The letter from the NRMP was more than a letter. It was permission for Jacob to breathe a sigh of relief. He could start planting roots in Owensboro again. He could now buy a house with his family.

It was a pivotal step toward a lasting career as a physician.

It was a dream realized.

“It’s exactly what I wanted and exactly where I wanted to be,” he says. “I’m excited now to be able to be home and be training with patients I will see the rest of my life.”

Students
Jacob and his family were thrilled to learn he matched at his dream residency program, one that would allow him to care for patients in his hometown, near his family.

An exciting and successful Match Day would set the tone for the rest of Jacob’s fourth year. He was able to practice family medicine skills during his Transition to Residency course, knowing this would be the specialty he would practice as a doctor.

In April, he was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, a prestigious recognition of a medical student’s educational achievement, teaching, leadership, human-centered care, and service. Jacob was honored along with five other Bowling Green Campus students, as well as 36 students from the Lexington, Morehead, and Northern Kentucky campuses.

“It was a nice surprise. I wasn’t expecting it,” he says. “I was honored to even be in the same conversation as those guys and gals doing such big things.”

But those who know Jacob know that his accomplishments are far from small. Being part of a movement to alleviate a physician shortage is quite an honorable task.

Student affairs officer Kent Lewis, MDiv, connected with Jacob immediately during his campus tour in 2019. Lewis is a long-time Owensboro resident, and like Jacob, a Kentucky Wesleyan College alumnus. Witnessing Jacob’s growth as a physician over the years, Lewis is certain that western Kentucky is in good hands.

“It became very clear to me that Jacob was the kind of student this campus was built for, someone who has a passion for medicine, a strong desire to serve the community, specifically, the community of Owensboro and the western Kentucky region.

I lived in Owensboro for over 20 years, and I still have family and friends there. I will definitely refer them to Jacob. He is going to bring so much to the medical community in Owensboro.”

Kent Lewis, MDiv, Student Affairs Officer,

Bowling Green Campus

The final moment of Jacob’s medical school journey was the official moment he became a doctor: graduation.

Dean Griffith presenting an award to a man.
Dean Griffith giving an award to a group of people.
Jacob was one of 195 medical students across the UK College of Medicine who graduated this year, and one of 25 graduates from the Bowling Green Campus.

Jacob is thankful for his four years of medical school at the UK College of Medicine-Bowling Green Campus, but he says it is going to be tough to leave.

“Especially coming in during COVID-19, we formed smaller groups of close friends. I’m going to miss being able to see them all the time,” he says. (Though social media, texts, and a fantasy baseball league will keep him connected with many of them amid the busyness of residency.)

Jacob is also going to miss Bowling Green, which he compares to Owensboro in size and feel. He is going to miss the residents and attendings at Med Center Health, and the kind people who worked at the hospital’s cafeteria providing him much-needed daily fuel.

Bowling Green will forever be special to Jacob because it enabled him to follow his dream.

“It means a lot to be able to come back to Owensboro and finish out my training as a resident,” he says.

Jacob found his perfect match, and western Kentucky now has one more extraordinary doctor.

Jacob spent his year watching his dreams come true.

Dean Griffith presenting an award to a man.
Dean Griffith giving an award to a group of people.
Jacob was recognized for his exceptional work as a medical student. In the photos he is pictured with Bowling Green Campus leadership: Dr. Deanna Morris, assistant dean for students, and Dr. Marcia Fantoni, assistant dean for curriculum integration, at the Senior Awards banquet (left) and Alpha Omega Alpha induction ceremony (right).
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