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NEOMED: Meet Jenell Fowlkes '19

You would be hard pressed to find a building more pristine than the NEOMED Center for Innovation on the campus of Cleveland State University. Enclosed in glass, and bathing in natural light, students studying to become physicians have everything they need in a beautiful place to call home. As you walk down the halls you find state of the art classrooms and labs, conference rooms and wide open spaces for students to collaborate or take time to relax.

The well renowned NEOMED/CSU Partnership for Urban Health strives to meet the changing health care needs within urban communities. Incredibly, each year, NEOMED’s College of Medicine makes up to 35 seats available to CSU students to earn their Baccalaureate M.D. or Post-Baccalaureate M.D. The goal of this unique partnership is to recruit a diverse group of future physicians with an expressed interest in serving Northeast Ohio.

As you can imagine, the Center for Innovation is always busy, and the staff there is constantly making sure the needs of the students are met. A key person in making sure that happens over the last three years is Saint Martin’s Jenell Fowlkes. Each day is different, which Jenell loves. She takes on a myriad of tasks like making sure rooms are open and clean for students to study, putting together information packets, printing, copying, and now is venturing into creating a weekly newsletter for the health and wellness program. “I like working here a lot, and have grown so much. The supervisors are like moms to me,” Jenell said. She then got choked up, “I’ve been able to get to know everybody here, I can never see myself leaving. It’s going to be sad.”

“It’s a wonderful experience watching Jenell grow,” says Avis Lyons, administrative coordinator for the NEOMED-CSU partnership for urban health. “We run her ragged, she is such an asset to us. Jenell has been wonderful, she’s enthusiastic, conscious about her work and really cares about the students.”

Jenell is well known throughout the school because of her outgoing personality, infectious smile, and prowess on the basketball floor. She already has her sights set on studying psychology at Bowling Green, Toledo, or Youngstown State. However for right now, Jenell enjoys being a Lion, “I really do love Saint Martin. It’s going to be hard for me to let it go. I love how we all are family oriented and everyone is so close at the school.”

The NEOMED/CSU Partnership for Urban Health is one of over 130 Cleveland area businesses and partners that we are so proud to collaborate with and provide meaningful opportunities for our students like Jonelle. We are always looking to expand our Corporate Work Study Program partners to help continue putting education to work in Cleveland. You can learn more about how to get engaged with our unique CWSP here.