A UNLV medical student gets a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn from the Raiders medical team. Gemma Lagasca, a first generation Filipino-American student from the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV shadowed the Raiders last month. She is the second UNLV student to participate in the NFL’s Diversity and Sports Medicine Pipeline Initiative, which launched two years ago. 29 students were chosen across 21 medical schools nationwide. Each student completes a one month rotation with their assigned NFL club during the preseason. The goal is to inspire medical students from diverse backgrounds to pursue a career in sports medicine.

Gemma said, ‘it was amazing. I had gone to football games in high school, but never really been too truly engrossed in the football experience. But I was able to go to the practice facility. I interacted with the athletic trainers, the nutrition department and watched practices during the preseason, a lot of the sports medicine physician’s team and I got to be with them during the rotation.’

And the Raiders will select the next medical student next summer. The NFL says it hopes to expand the program to include physician assistants, trainers, therapists, nutritionists and behavioral health clinicians.

Listen to the full story here.