Isidora Monteparo, SOM Class of 2022: Air Force Second Lieutenant, Artist and Future Air Force Physician
Lieutenant Monteparo excelled as a medical student and artist during her quest to attain a military residency.
Isidora I. Monteparo, School of Medicine (SOM) Class of 2022, joined the New York Air National Guard at age 17. Now, nine years later, she is close to graduating from New York Medical College (NYMC), having achieved her goal of securing a military residency in diagnostic radiology. While at NYMC, she has not only nurtured her passion for medicine, but also creatively, as art director of NYMC’s Quill and Scope magazine. Her artwork is currently on display in the Health Sciences Library.
Lt. Monteparo has had a lifelong interest in anatomy, biological science, health and nutrition. She joined the U.S. military immediately after high school and completed Air Force basic military training and technical school to then begin work as an aerospace medical technician in the New York Air National Guard at the 109th Medical Group, 109th Airlift Wing in Scotia, New York.
“During my time in training, I found that I admired the Air Force physicians I worked with and was so inspired by their dedication and prowess that I decided to pursue medicine and grow my career through the military after I returned home,” Lt. Monteparo said. “Being a medic was challenging at times, but also invigorating. I gained hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of hands-on patient care and learned valuable skills in the clinic and hospital settings.”
While completing her undergraduate studies in human biology at the University at Albany – State University of New York (SUNY), Lt. Monteparo worked at her base’s clinic part-time during the school year and full-time during the summer. She believes that this training prepared her for the various challenges she faced during her undergraduate and medical studies.
Lt. Monteparo has flourished in the SOM and has her sights set on being an Air Force physician. It’s not just medicine, however, that she has focused on at NYMC—it’s also her love of art. “I think I was born an artist. It only took my grandmother, also an artist, placing a paintbrush in my hand to get me started when I was a young child. Since then, art has been the cornerstone of everything I do and I involve those skills and interests into every aspect of my life,” she said.
Since 2019, Lt. Monteparo has been the art director for the Quill and Scope magazine, NYMC’s student medical journal, responsible for collecting student paintings, drawings, photography, and written pieces and is largely responsible for organizing the layout and design of the magazine. “I try to put written and visual submissions together in a way that complements the flow of the magazine, but also complements each piece,” she said.
Much like her scientific interests, some of her art pieces focus on human anatomy. “I find that my interests are spread around women, female strength and beauty, but also nature and the world around us,” Lt. Monteparo said. She makes her artwork available on her online business and website, Art by Isidora, where she has sold many of her paintings, which are also available as prints and merchandise reproductions.
Lt. Monteparo is thankful that she has been able to explore two of her main interests while at NYMC, and as her time at NYMC winds down, she appreciates her time as a student and looks forward to beginning her diagnostic radiation residency at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland, where she matched in December 2021.
“I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to pursue my medical education at NYMC,” Lt. Monteparo said. “I think my favorite aspect of our school is the fact that the people make it a great place to live, learn and practice medicine, whether faculty or students."