Heidi Sellmann, a newly commissioned Army Officer and University of Idaho alumni, attributes her journey in medicine to UI. After she finished her undergrad in Biology in 2022 from Lewis and Clark State College, Sellmann attended UI, achieving her masters in nutritional sciences in 2024, when she graduated. Now, Sellmann attends the University of Washington WWAMI program to continue her path to her medical degree.
The decision for wanting to work with the community, instead of focusing on research, stemmed from a medicine-focused mission trip to Guatemala. Sellmann worked as a medical assistant within Moscow, Idaho, which also helped contribute to the desire to work with the community rather than remaining research oriented.
UI helped aid Sellmann in her medical experience journey. Through the UI nutrition degree path, Sellmann said she learned a lot about nutrition that she didn’t previously know about, and that her experience with the nutrition degree path through UI has provided her with a deeper perspective and understanding towards the degree she is currently working towards now.
Sellmann was commissioned around Labor Day to the United States Army, and has no prior military experience, but that isn’t stopping her from pursuing her degree and continue serving her community. If anything, it adds to the sense of purpose she feels to continue with her chosen degree path, even though the nerves of a new experience.
After she obtains her degree, she will go to residency school through the military instead of attending a civilian residency school, then attend officer training, before serving her time with the United States Army as a physician. All these experiences helped to culminate her overall experience within her current degree path, and she’ll continue to build on it as she progresses through school.
When asked about the new experiences coming her way and her continuation with the medicine degree path, Sellmann said, “if it both intrigues you and terrifies you, you should probably pursue it.”
Abigail Hale can be reached at [email protected]
