SHREVEPORT, La. — A woman who earned her doctoral degree in spite of cystic fibrosis is among 176 graduate, medical and allied health students who will be getting their degrees on Saturday from LSU Health Shreveport.
Christina Ledbetter, of Shreveport, is getting her doctoral diploma from the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and has been doing postdoctoral work since the beginning of March. As part of a $1 million federal study, she is checking high school students before and after brain training, using MRI scans that show brain activity.
Orthopedic surgeon James Andrews, of Birmingham, will speak during the ceremony at the Centenary Gold Dome.
Other notable members of the class include physical therapy student Amy Caporossi, of Bossier City. She worked as a registered nurse for 10 years before coming back to school because her mother had suffered traumatic brain injury in a wreck in 2006, and Caporossi wanted to learn how to help with her mother's rehabilitation.
Medical student Ryan Perkins, of Houma, was a student member of the Louisiana Board of Supervisors. He will be starting residency at University Hospital in Jackson.
Medical student Nnena Agochukwu, of New Orleans, received a fellowship to learn about international health care needs, and as part of that fellowship recently spent two months in Ghana. She will be starting her residency at Yale University; her twin sister is graduating from medical school at Vanderbilt.