Bethel Mwenze (B.S.’18, Biological Sciences) immigrated with her family to the U.S. from Uganda in 2006 when her father was accepted into the master's and Ph.D. program at Western Michigan University’s Mallinson Institute for Science Education. Bethel grew up in Kalamazoo and made early connections with Western faculty, so when it came time to choose a university, seeking out her bachelor’s degree at WMU as a legacy student was a no-brainer. “I knew a lot of the faculty in the biology department because they were my dad’s friends and professors, so I was very familiar with Western and it felt like home,” she said. 
Bethel hit the ground running in her time at WMU. She was awarded financial aid from the Kalamazoo Promise and received the Haenicke Institute for Global Education Undergraduate Merit Scholarship that allowed her to pursue her lifelong goal of a career in the medical field.
“I’ve always been intrigued by medicine and the human body. My mom’s sister is a pediatrician back in Uganda, so growing up, I used to spend a lot of time with her. I think I decided very young that I wanted to do medicine,” Bethel said.
As an active member of the international community on Western’s campus, Bethel became president of the Bronco African Student Association and worked closely with the local refugee community. “I would help create a community for them so they could feel at home, because that’s really something to struggle with when you move here,” she said.
Despite financial hardships that prevented her from attending medical school following graduation from WMU in 2018, Bethel enrolled in the EMT and paramedic program at Kalamazoo Valley Community College. She worked as a paramedic for Van Buren ambulance services for two years, providing emergency medical services to the Kalamazoo community.
In 2022, Bethel relocated back to her home country with the hope of improving emergency medical response and care available in Uganda. She works alongside Dr. Moses Kitakule, a Ugandan doctor based in the United States who founded Samaritan Health Systems, an organization that provides essential health care and medical education. Dr. Moses is also the director and founder of the Kitakule Foundation, which funds and operates a children’s clinic for low-income families in Uganda. 
“I started working with the American Heart Association to offer life support training courses to nurses and doctors and midwives in Uganda,” Bethel said. “Dr. Moses also has a foundation where they serve underserved children. Children in villages that can’t afford medical care, they come to his clinic.”
Working with these organizations, Bethel continues to strive toward improving medical education and care, as well as assisting with the transportation and funding Ugandans need to seek out these services. In collaboration with Techies Without Borders, she conducted a study—“Bridging Gaps: A Quality Improvement Project for the Continuing Medical Education on Stick (CMES) Program—that further explores the team’s efforts to enhance and modernize medical care.
Bethel encourages current and prospective students to take advantage of the networking opportunities at WMU, from attending lectures to making connections at career fairs. “I think Western has done a great job building great relationships with businesses and companies around the area, so there’s an openness to accepting Western students,” she said.
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