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When Sarah Ibrahim moved across the country to attend medical school at the 51Ʒ�� four years ago, she wasn’t expecting to fall in love with Portland or to find a rich immigrant population in the city that reminded her of her home in California.

Now, after earning her medical degree from UNE’s College of Osteopathic Medicine this weekend, Ibrahim moves toward her residency in internal medicine at MaineHealth Maine Medical Center in Portland — her first choice — with purpose. Ibrahim said she now looks back on her younger self full of gratitude that she chose 51Ʒ��and then chose Maine as the first place she wanted to practice medicine.

“I honestly loved Maine a lot more than I thought I would. It just felt like a close-knit community, and I met a lot of great mentors. It also felt like home because there’s a huge asylum-seeking population and my parents are immigrants from Jordan,” said Ibrahim, a first-generation college graduate from Eastville, California.

“I can see myself settling in southern Maine,” Ibrahim added. “I didn’t expect that five years ago when I applied to medical schools. But I’m glad I left myself open to the opportunities at 51Ʒ��and that it’s led me here.” 

Ibrahim joins 12 other 51Ʒ��medical school graduates who will graduate from Maine’s medical school and stay on to serve in residencies in the state. For three of those 13, there was never any question that they wanted to stay in Maine — because they are Mainers. 

Ravin Bussiere B.S. '21 (’26), who grew up in Madison, is heading to Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor to practice family medicine, which was also her first choice.

Growing up in rural Maine, Bussiere said she had to travel two hours round-trip to see a primary care provider, a challenge that left an impression, which developed into a call to help.

“The access to family medicine just wasn't here,” Bussiere said. “So now it’s kind of come full circle for me because I can help alleviate the burden that is on family medicine right now in the state.”

Max Russell, B.S. ’21 (’26), of Sidney, will practice internal medicine in his residency at Maine Medical Center in Portland, the same hospital that gave his father life-saving care after he had a heart attack when Max was 12.

Russell spent his third and fourth year at 51Ʒ��in hospitals and clinics across Maine as a Dirigo Scholar and recipient of the Doctors for Maine’s Future Scholarship that is funded through the Finance Authority of Maine. As part of the Dirigo Scholars track at UNE, Russell received financial support and guaranteed placement in clinical rotations in Maine, which was his first choice. 

For Shawnia Martell, who will pursue her residency in pediatrics at Maine Medical Center in Portland, working in rural Maine has always been the end goal. A non-traditional student who hails from north of Bangor and currently lives with her husband and daughter in southern Maine, Martell hopes her residency leads a post in far northern Maine, closer to her hometown of Lincoln.

Martell said she considered attending a medical school out of state. In the end, she said 51Ʒ��was a better fit because it was closer to family, and because the opportunities 51Ʒ��offered to connect students with underserved populations spoke to Martell. 

As a scholar in the Maine Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Network Scholars Program, Martell said she benefitted from AHEC’s Rural Health Immersion trip to Farmington that allowed her and other AHEC Scholars to meet people in rural communities in western Maine.

“I liked the character of what 51Ʒ��stands for. 51Ʒ��really connects students with the community,” Martell said. “The AHEC Scholars Program is about learning about the rural communities to attract more physicians to Maine to help with the shortage we have here. 

“51Ʒ��really supported that and gave me the time to do that,” she said.