CEW+ celebrates Devon’s tenacity and names her a Margaret Dow Towsley Scholar.

Devon Gingrich is a determined rising physician who has remained committed to helping others in all phases of her career. After graduating with her bachelor’s degree in environmental studies, Devon began to build a career focused on environmental sustainability: farming and educational gardening. After four years working on and managing small-scale organic vegetable farms in upstate New York, Devon took on a position as garden manager at Edible Schoolyard NYC, a nonprofit organization that brings garden and cooking classes to underserved public schools. Here, Devon tapped into her skill and passion for helping others, forming relationships, and collaborating, and her supervisor remarks that — with Devon’s training and support — “volunteer teams became more deeply committed to the organization and more effective than ever.”

It was after years spent learning about the production side of health systems that Devon made the resolute leap to change paths and pursue a career as a doctor, where she could take her skills and passions and make an impact through treatment. Devon enrolled in a highly rigorous post-baccalaureate program in premedical studies at Columbia University, where she persisted as a nontraditional student through a global pandemic. Just a couple of months after completing the program, Devon moved to Ann Arbor and began her studies at the University of Michigan Medical School.

Among her many engagements at U-M, Devon is currently working to develop plans for therapeutic garden spaces within the U-M medical system, connect medical students with local farms, and incorporate horticultural therapy into patient care and medical training. She is also particularly interested in narrative medicine and fostering connections between patients, providers, and their environments through storytelling and runs Auxocardia, the student-run literary magazine for healthcare trainees. Devon’s professor remarks that she is “that rare person who combines intelligence, professional capacity and drive with great compassion.”

CEW+ celebrates Devon’s tenacity and names her a Margaret Dow Towsley Scholar.