Dr Ivan Mugisha joined the Department of Medicine in June, 2018 as an Instructor of Medicine with the Division of Hospital Medicine at Washington University. He was born in Kampala, Uganda, and immigrated to the Chicagoland area in 2001 for his University education. His journey to medicine was a non-traditional one. After volunteering at a hospital as an undergraduate student, Ivan decided to pursue a career in nursing which offered him the strategic position as a member of the multidisciplinary team. Ivan treasured the countless hours at the bedside with patients and their loved ones during their toughest moments. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Rush University and then worked in the Neurosciences department, the Neurosurgical Intensive Care step down unit and then the cardiovascular medicine floor. He then started his medical training at the University of Illinois in Chicago, obtaining a Certificate in Global Health, in addition to his medical degree. He also had the opportunity to travel to rural Uganda as a second and fourth year medical student and researched health-seeking behaviors in people with limited resources. This was followed by residency at Washington University in St Louis, where he continued his Global Health interests. He also had the opportunity to rotate at a tertiary government hospital in Guatemala City, Guatemala for a month. While there, he researched gender discrepancies in coronary artery stent placement at Roosevelt hospital and was able to present his findings at local and national conferences including the American College of Physicians and the Society of General Internal Medicine.