News icon Senior Scholar Reflection: JD Ndayishimiye

Six years after graduating from Westbrook High School, 2017 Mitchell Scholar JD Ndayishimiye has received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences — and a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in clinical pharmacogenomics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, which he will start in August 2023.

Along the way, he has made the most of Mitchell Scholar programs and events like the Welcome Celebration, MILE II, and no-agenda coffee meetings. As a result of the support and resources he has received, Ndayishimiye, who was born in Rwanda, has come to see the Mitchell Institute staff as family.

“From the beginning, when I met each of the staff, they have been ready to be part of your life, be part of your career,” he said. “They really invest their time, and you can tell they really want to be part of the journey … to me, they have become another set of family members.”

Learn more about what Ndayishimiye thinks of the Mitchell Institute and the Mitchell Scholar experience in these Senior Scholar Reflection videos.

Why He believes the Mitchell Institute staff, Especially Scholarship Director Kim Gustafson, wants to ‘be A part of your JOURNEY’

how Scholarship Director Kim Gustafson inspired him to mentor Younger Mitchell Scholars

Why the memory of receiving the Mitchell Scholarship will endure forever