Kathryn Halbritter-Cloete Graduates Medical School, Begins Residency in Loma Linda
For over 30 years, the Oneida Indian Nation’s Scholarship Program has played a crucial role in empowering Nation Member students to pursue higher education without the heavy burden of rising tuition and living expenses. By reducing the financial burden, the Oneida Indian Nation enables its Members to focus on their education and personal growth, rather than worrying about how to fund each semester or pay for rent, groceries, and other living necessities.
The peace of mind provided by the Scholarship Program goes beyond just monetary relief; it also empowers students to fully immerse themselves in their studies, internships, and extracurricular activities. With the freedom to dedicate themselves to academic and career goals, students can excel in their chosen fields and contribute positively to their communities.
By supporting its Members through education, the Oneida Indian Nation invests in the future of its community, fostering a generation of well-educated, empowered individuals who can carry forward the values and mission of the Nation. Kathryn Halbritter-Cloete (Wolf Clan) has been a role model for the popular program.
For most of her life, Kathryn dreamed of getting into the medical field. With her hard work and dedication to her studies, she finally fulfilled that dream.
Her journey to this point goes back to her grade school days. As a high school senior, Kathryn spent a year working on a neuroscience project, and from that experience, she knew she wanted to pursue a career in the medical field as a physician.
“I initially switched to wanting to become a vet during my second semester of my first year of undergrad,” Kathryn recalled. “But then after thinking about it for a while, I decided I wanted to switch back to pre-med after finishing my second year. I realized that I love building those relationships, and that’s one of the reasons why I went into medicine.”
After graduating magna cum laude from Andrews University in 2017, she decided to take a gap year to prepare for medical school. In that time, she returned to Oneida to scribe for Dr. Newton at Oneida Indian Nation Health Services.
“It takes a special person to be able to do the relationship part of family medicine,” Kathryn said. “Working with and scribing for Dr. Newton reinforced my love for medicine before I went to medical school. So I really am grateful for that experience that I had there.”
Kathryn wanted to get as much medical experience as she could.
“It worked out perfectly and I was grateful to get more experience, which reinforced to me that medicine was what I wanted to do…I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.”
The process of applying to medical school can be a daunting task. On top of the MCAT, potential applicants have to write a personal statement, and oftentimes, secondary applications specific to each school. There’s no guarantee applicants will even get an interview.
In addition to her scribe duties, Kathryn also gave back to the Nation community with youth workshops on healthy eating and exercise as well as talks with participants of the Nation’s Elders Program about staying active and diabetes prevention and maintenance.
Finding the Right Medical School
Going into 2019, Kathryn was patiently waiting on her admissions decisions. She applied to the University of North Dakota and Loma Linda University in California, among others. The program at UND had a specialized Native program, which was something important to her. She accepted an offer and was ready to head out to North Dakota, but she received a phone call just before her scheduled move. Kathryn had been accepted to the Loma Linda University School of Medicine.
Loma Linda University’s medical school has around 170 students per class year, which is on the larger side. The first two years focus on bookwork, and then the third and fourth years offer more applied learning, which is when the clinical rotations begin.
The required clinical rotations include internal medicine, pediatrics, OB-GYN, neurology, psychiatry, surgery and family medicine. With her prior experience and interest in family medicine, Kathryn knew that would be her choice when the time came.
In the meantime, Kathryn was getting used to life at Loma Linda. The community has been a welcoming environment throughout her four years of medical school. In addition to her cohort, which she grew close to, having a church community to get support from was – in a word – “unbeatable.”
It was through her church that she met her future husband, Joshua Cloete. Josh’s family is originally from South Africa, though he has now made Loma Linda his home. Recently, his parents relocated to Idaho, and his brother, Luke, moved to Maine for a job opportunity.
While adjusting to her new community, Kathryn also stayed in touch with her sister, Kristen, who was enrolled in a veterinary medicine graduate program at Iowa State University. It was the first time the two lived apart from one another for an extended period of time.
“I feel like we’ve kind of blossomed in our own way because we were able to develop our own friend groups,” Kathryn said. “But of course, I miss having her around. We’re still really close.”
While they were in separate programs, both were struck by just how many similarities existed in their curriculums. Being able to compare and contrast was helpful.
Toward the end of her first year, the COVID pandemic uprooted Kathryn’s normal routine. All of a sudden she was isolated in a place far from home. So she decided to take action to fix that.
“I drove from California to Iowa and stayed with Kristen for a month or so,” she said. “I was living alone at the time and I didn’t want to be there all by myself…So we were able to study together. It’s nice to have someone going through a program of similar intensity.”
Loma Linda’s med school faculty also produced several mentors for Kathryn. Dr. Daniel Reichert, a family medicine physician, was always encouraging and supportive of her, especially during her third-year clerkship rotation. He chairs the family medicine residency, which Kathryn began over the summer.
Getting accepted into residency is another intense process. Students apply to the programs they are interested in and rate them on a scale – some students apply to over 200 programs and interview with 50 of those. On “Match Day,” they will learn where they have been accepted.
Loma Lindaʼs family medicine residency with Dr. Reichert was Kathrynʼs top choice. It is a three-year residency.
Lifestyle medicine is another area Kathryn is really passionate about. The lifestyle aspects of health, especially in Native communities, are essential to overall wellbeing. That is where another professor of hers, Dr. Andrew Mock, shined.
“He actually has the title of strongest man in California,” Kathryn said. “I really appreciate him as my mentor, too, because he does apply lifestyle principles to each patient that he sees and I hope I can do that someday as well.”
Instead of just focusing on medicines, a healthy lifestyle can make a big difference in a patient’s life. Whether it is diet, exercise, or mental health, doctors need to encourage people to realize their health depends on all of those things – which has typically been difficult to do in practice.
“That’s the hard thing to get across now because everyone just wants a pill,” she added. “And if you’re not doing it yourself, you can’t really expect your patients to.”
Dr. Mock walks the walk. When doctors do that, patients are more willing to listen.
“You can tell he’s living a life that the patient should be living,” Kathryn said.
Mentors have helped Kathryn throughout her time in school – from the undergraduate level to medical school. They have also helped her think about what the next 5-10 years look like. She has several options that are of interest to her, but she is also cognizant of letting her path play out organically.
Being able to see how doctors do things differently, and similarly, will help Kathryn develop her own unique style as a practicing physician – and it is transferable to any of the areas she hopes to work in. Whether she decides on sports medicine, opening her own practice, or returning to Oneida to give back to the community, Kathryn’s mentors have prepared her for success.
“You can tell when someone is being genuine and I think that’s what makes patients feel comfortable,” she said. “Dr. Newton, Dr. Reichert, and Dr. Mock are really genuine and you can tell they care and that gets people willing to open up a little bit more.”
Future Holds New, Exciting Opportunities
Fitness and healthy living are also important aspects of Kathryn’s personal life. She says sports medicine is a logical subspecialty to go into after her family medicine residency.
“I also like the idea of kind of just being a small town doctor somewhere in the middle of nowhere and everyone knows who you are,” Kathryn said. “I just love that idea.”
For now, though, Kathryn is focused on her first year in residency. It’s been a long journey and the light at the end of the tunnel is finally visible.
Education has long been something that’s been emphasized and encouraged by her mother, Karen. Seeing the ambition and determination needed to get through school left an indelible mark on Kathryn.
“I’m very grateful,” Karen said. “I thank God for their abilities and that they stuck to it to become what they hoped to be.”
The Oneida Indian Nation’s Scholarship Program enabled Kathryn to go to school without the financial worry of exorbitant tuition at private institutions or the growing costs of living. From Andrews University to Loma Linda University, the Scholarship Program allowed her focus solely on her studies.
“I don’t know what I would have done if I didn’t have the Nation help me through medical school,” Kathryn said. “Achieving this goal is a dream come true. I am so beyond grateful and blessed.”
Kathryn hopes to inspire other young Nation Members and Native youth as a whole. She is living proof that it is possible to achieve your dreams with encouragement and support from family and friends.
“That’s a huge passion of mine,” Kathryn said. “I hope that I can be an inspiration to those who are coming after me – that it’s possible to go after your dreams.”
“You just have to set your mind to it,” she added.
