Rachel Israilevich earned her B.S. in neuroscience from Tulane University in 2018 and is graduating with her M.D. from Sidney Kimmel Medical College in 2023. Throughout her academic career, Rachel has been significantly involved in both her school and local community through leadership, community service, and research pursuits. During medical school, she worked on multiple research projects with the retina department at Wills Eye Hospital which impressively resulted in several publications in high-impact journals and presentations at national conferences.
Rachel has been recognized for her work with the Dean’s Research Award and SKMC Lavine Research Scholarship. She also worked tirelessly to organize and implement career planning tools for SKMC students through MD Compass, a four-year longitudinal career exploration program. Furthermore, Rachel served as president of the Thomas Duane Ophthalmology student interest group, and editor-in-chief of inSight, a student-run ophthalmology journal. In 2021, Rachel was voted onto the e-Board of the American Society of Ophthalmic Trauma as the only student executive board member. Of note, she was also one of 18 students in her class selected by the Provost of Thomas Jefferson University to participate in the Student Leadership Forum.
Rachel is dedicated to patient care and an advocate for vulnerable populations. She coordinates and volunteers at the student-run Wills Eye Ophthalmology Access Clinic, and has assumed leadership roles in JeffHOPE, a student-run organization which provides free medical care to the homeless and underserved populations of Philadelphia. Rachel looks forward to starting her ophthalmology residency training at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota this July, and aspires to eventually become a retina surgeon.