From Hospital Bed to White Coat: Aya’s Full-Circle Journey to Medicine School

Growing up in Fort Lee, New Jersey, Aya Taylor was no stranger to hospitals. Diagnosed with sickle cell disease when her mom was pregnant, she spent much of her early life in and out of the pediatric unit at Hackensack University Medical Center. Between the lab tests, blood transfusions, two rounds of chemotherapy and one bone marrow transplant at 11 years old, Aya has come to know the rhythms of hospital life — and the people who made it bearable.

Incoming Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine Student, Aya Taylor, poses with a girl from the Boys & Girls Club at the medical school's orientation bike build event in July 2025

“I loved all my doctors. I still text some of them and they check in on me.” Aya says. “I always looked up to them and thought they were making such a difference in my life.”

They made such a difference in her life that Aya has now come full circle and is now an incoming medical student at the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine.

But it wasn’t just the kindness of her doctors or even the amazing fact that she is now cured of sickle cell, that stayed with Aya.

Young Aya Taylor, after a bone marrow treatment at Hackensack University Medical Center

The calm strength of her pediatric doctors made Aya feel seen, heard, and safe and over time, something inside her started to shift. Aya stopped seeing her condition as something that limited her — and began to imagine how it might shape her purpose as a future doctor.

“I knew from the age of 6 that I wanted to help people. But I didn’t always know what that would look like,” she said. “Being in that hospital setting on the other side — talking to patients, seeing the impact you can have just by listening — it made me realize, I could be that person.”

Aya began the uphill climb toward medicine, balancing schoolwork with advocacy, volunteerism, and a deep commitment to giving back. Her acceptance to Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine felt like more than an achievement — it was a return to where it all began.“Hackensack just felt like home really,” Aya recalls. “When I toured the campus it felt like deja vu even though I’ve never been there. I felt at peace. This is full-circle for me. I was a patient here for so long. Now I’m walking in as a medical student.”

As she prepares to start her first year, and will accept her white coat at the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine White Coat Ceremony on July 16th, Aya brings more than academic knowledge. She brings empathy earned from a lived experience — and a quiet determination to become the kind of physician who heals not just with science, but with presence and experience.