Elexa White (DO '27) spent much of her childhood in hospital exam rooms, growing up around echocardiogram machines and cardiology follow-ups. Born with a ventricular septal defect (VSD), she underwent open-heart surgery as an infant and returned to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh year after year for monitoring and care.
Some of her earliest memories are clinical: holding her breath during an echo, sitting still while technicians searched for the right angle, learning that her body required closer attention than most. But over time, visits with providers who turned fear into comfort sparked a growing curiosity—she found herself asking questions and studying the screens during echocardiograms long before she fully understood what they showed.
“I started getting really interested in the medicine,” White said. “The doctors would point things out to me during my echocardiograms and print the EKGs for me to take home.”
Today, White is a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine student at PCOM pursuing a future in pediatric cardiology, shaped by the very system she once navigated as a patient.
At age 10, White began attending Dr. Bill Neches Heart Camp for Kids, a weeklong summer program in Pittsburgh for children living with heart conditions. At camp, she encountered something she had never experienced before: other children whose stories were like her own.
“I had never before seen anyone with a scar like mine,” White said. “And then I got to the swimming pool, and there were 100 kids that had it, too.”
White returned each year as a camper, and when she aged out, she transitioned into volunteering as a counselor, and eventually into a leadership role. Today, as a medical student balancing clinical rotations and board preparation, she remains part of the camp’s director team—reviewing counselor applications, participating in monthly planning meetings and helping coordinate programming.
“It's my favorite week of the year,” she said. “It’s the place that prompted me to go into this field in the first place.”
Heart Camp also reinforced the human side of medicine. In a setting removed from exam rooms and monitors, she witnessed how pediatric cardiologists and nurses care for the whole child—supporting not only physical health, but confidence, resilience and joy.
Although pursuing pediatric cardiology had been her long-term goal since high school, White entered medical school and explored other interests, including women's health and OB/GYN, and found herself drawn to multiple areas of medicine during her pre-clinical years. But once she began clinical rotations, her instincts clarified. During pediatrics and later in the NICU and newborn nursery, she found herself gravitating toward caring for the youngest patients—and toward conversations with their families.
“I think having my own parents in mind makes a difference for me,” she said. “I wanted to be that calm voice in a storm.”
White chose PCOM after applying broadly and weighing several acceptances, but was drawn to osteopathic medicine's whole-person philosophy and to a program that recognized not only her academic achievements, but also her longstanding commitment to community service and patient advocacy. When she visited campus, the sense of fit was immediate, and after finding strong faculty support and close friendships at PCOM, she became a student ambassador, eager to share that enthusiasm with future applicants.
During a NICU rotation, White identified a newborn murmur and, after reviewing the echocardiogram, suspected a ventricular septal defect—the same condition she was born with. When the diagnosis was confirmed, she was present as the family received the news.
“This was the moment I had been dreaming about for 25 years,” she said, “Being able to stand on the other side and support families going through what mine once did was really special.”
Having experienced uncomfortable procedures and years of follow up care, she says she brings an added layer of awareness to each encounter, mindful of the fear, uncertainty and hope that often coexist in conversations with patients and families. She credits those experiences with strengthening her empathy—whether that means asking additional clarifying questions on rounds or simply being the person who pauses to sit beside a parent during an overwhelming moment.
“It's impossible for me to separate my experience growing up as a patient from the work that I do,” she said.
As she prepares her residency applications and advances through clinical rotations, the future she once imagined as a patient is now within reach. What once marked the beginning of her own healing now feels intertwined with the beginning of her professional calling—a connection made even more striking by the date that would later define her white coat ceremony.
“My heart surgery was on Friday, October 13, 2000,” she said. “My family celebrates every Friday the 13th because that day saved my life. When I was choosing between schools and realized my white coat ceremony at PCOM would be on Friday, October 13, 2023—exactly 23 years later—it felt like everything had come full circle.”
Established in 1899, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) has trained thousands of highly competent, caring physicians, health practitioners and behavioral scientists who practice a “whole person” approach to care—treating people, not just symptoms. PCOM, a private, not-for-profit accredited institution of higher education, operates three campuses (PCOM, PCOM Georgia and PCOM South Georgia) and offers doctoral degrees in clinical psychology, educational psychology, osteopathic medicine, pharmacy, physical therapy, and school psychology. The college also offers graduate degrees in applied behavior analysis, applied positive psychology, biomedical sciences, forensic medicine, medical laboratory science, mental health counseling, physician assistant studies, and school psychology. PCOM students learn the importance of health promotion, research, education and service to the community. Through its community-based Healthcare Centers, PCOM provides care to medically underserved populations. For more information, visit pcom.edu or call 215-871-6100.
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Kristen Hopf
Communications Content Specialist
Office of Marketing and Communications
Email: kristenho1@pcom.edu
Office: 215-871-6303
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