Principal Michelle Perez used her board spotlight at the December 12 Board Business Meeting to highlight the extraordinary medical success of some of CSSM’s recent graduates. She was especially excited to share the story of Nichelle Ruffin, class of 2011.
Nichelle attended Case Western Reserve University as an undergraduate biology major. In 2020, she became the first African-American student in 30 years to graduate from CWRU medical school. In 2022, Dr. Ruffin became the first female chief resident of Family Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2023 Dr. Ruffin was appointed to the University of Penn medical faculty.
Dr. Ruffin has helped blaze a medical trail for many other talented CSSM students, who have also become physicians or are currently in medical school. Principal Perez said that within the next five years, CSSM is on track to have produced 12 medical doctors, most of whom attend or attended CWRU on the Joan C. Edwards Scholarship.
Other insightful data Principal Perez shared included the school’s enrollment demographics, which are 73% female and 27% male, well above the District’s average of 48% female and 52% male.
Cleveland’s School of Science and Medicine lives up to its name by providing students with a rigorous education and creating opportunities for post-secondary opportunities in science and medicine.