Rutgers Medical Student Serves Her Country in the New Jersey Army National Guard
1st Lt. Rachel Cary has combined her two passions: military service and medicine
As a medical services officer with the New Jersey Army National Guard, 1st Lt. Rachel Cary is focused on maintaining the medical readiness of more than 7,000 soldiers.
Her work at the National Guard Training Center in Sea Girt, N.J., while attending Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School combines the two passions in her life: military service and medicine.
“In order for soldiers to be activated for a mission, they have to be medically fit to serve,” Cary says. “Our job at Medical Command is to ensure our force is physically and mentally prepared to perform its duties.”
Cary began her assignment with the New Jersey Army National Guard when she started medical school in the summer of 2021. After graduating next spring, Cary plans to become an emergency medicine physician, which she says is needed in the military.
“Emergency medicine is a highly useful specialty for the Army,” says Cary, who was recently selected as the Medical Student of the Year by the New Jersey Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians.
Cary was nominated for the award by faculty in the Department of Emergency Medicine, based on her academic achievement and her clinical performance in the emergency department at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.
“This award is a recognition of all of her hard work, her commitment and dedication to being a physician, to caring for any patients that she sees and treating all patients with great dignity and great respect,” says Paul Weber, associate dean for continuing education at the medical school who has been Cary’s mentor.
An inspiration from West Point
Cary grew up in Allendale, N.J., about 45 minutes south of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. In high school, she was introduced to the military when her Girl Scout troop was invited to attend a weekend camping event at West Point.
“The cadets would wake us up from our tents in the morning for physical training,” she recalls. “I remember seeing them in uniform and admiring how they carried themselves. It was very patriotic.”
When it came time to apply for college, Cary chose Cornell University, where she could be pre-med and join the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps on campus. While reporting for 5:30 a.m. physical training and taking military science classes, Cary joined the Cornell University Emergency Medical Service, a student-run volunteer group that responded to medical emergencies on campus.
“My experience in Cornell EMS gave me a profound appreciation for first responders,” she says. “I think it helped spark my initial interest in emergency medicine as a career choice.”
Serving in the military at Rutgers
Cary wanted to attend Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School not only because she was from New Jersey but also because she knew that Rutgers has been recognized as one of the top universities for veterans.
“Rutgers is a great place to be if you are a service member,” says Cary, one of nine students in the medical school who has served or is now serving in the military.
One event that brings together medical students who are service members is Joining Forces, an annual interprofessional education forum that teaches students from a variety of schools at Rutgers how to care for military members and their families. Cary was invited to speak on a panel at the event each of the past three years.
“She was a perfect person to be on the panel because she can describe her experiences almost in real time to the class,” says Weber, one of the event’s organizers.
In addition to her military service, Cary has been an active researcher in medical school as a member of the Rutgers Acute Care Surgery Research Lab. One of the studies she coauthored, which was aimed at improving triage for trauma patients by emergency medical service providers, was published in the Journal of Surgical Research in September.
This year, Cary is also an ambassador for Service to School, a national nonprofit that provides free counseling to military service members applying to college or graduate school. Cary is now mentoring an undergraduate student and current active-duty Army medic who wants to attend medical school.
“One of my aspirations is to increase the number of service members and veterans who are admitted to U.S. medical schools,” she says. “I think they are an adaptable population with a unique skill set. They are intelligent and resilient leaders who can add true value to a medical school class and would make excellent physicians.”
