As the son of a nurse, Pablo Gilleran knew since childhood that his future would involve medicine. However, it was not until a family medical emergency that Gilleran knew that he wanted to have a hand in changing the way that medicine was done. ‘My grandmother immigrated with me to the United States from the Philippines and along the way, she developed kidney disease because of untreated diabetes,’ he said. ‘Finding dialysis in Georgia for an immigrant is hard because she was uninsured … we had to move her to the New Jersey, New York area where they had a program that provided free dialysis. It was that experience of trying to navigate a very convoluted healthcare field that really pushed me towards trying to help others to get the care that they need.’ A fourth-year medical student at the historically-renowned Morehouse School of Medicine and the first of his family to attend medical school since his family immigrated to Columbus in 2000, Gilleran now becomes one of the first medical students nationwide to participate in the NFL Diversity in Sports Medicine Pipeline Initiative. The program is a diversity and inclusion initiative between the National Football League (NFL), the NFL Physicians Society (NFLPS) and the Professional Football Athletic Trainer Society (PFATS). Gilleran, along with Morehouse School of Medicine colleagues Eddie Gontee and Omolaya Dada, are three of 14 students selected to participate in the program. Morehouse School of Medicine was one of the four participating HBCUs that are part of the initiative.

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