Lillian Needam

High School Graduation Year: 2017
Year First Awarded the Carson Scholarship: 2010
Sponsored by: Carson Scholars Fund

Lillian Needam is an 8-time Carson Scholar, first awarded in 2010 when she was in fifth grade. After graduating high school, Lillian attended Duke University and earned her B.S. in biology with minors in psychology and chemistry in 2021. She then went on to Tufts University in Boston to earn her master’s in biomedical science. Lillian is now a student at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia, and is projected to graduate in 2028.

Once Lillian finishes medical school and her residency, she hopes to go into a pediatric specialty. Lillian has always been drawn to helping kids. In high school, Lillian tutored elementary and middle school students. As an undergraduate student, she volunteered for Camp Kesem, which is a camp for children whose parents have, or had, cancer. She has also volunteered with the Make a Wish foundation helping with their fundraising events – notably their galas. Currently, Lillian gives back to her community by helping pregnant mothers. At community events, she hands out physical resources like diapers, as well as paper resources that have information about opportunities in the area.

When asked how CSF has inspired her, Lillian shared, “The whole story of Ben Carson going against the odds to become a doctor inspired me to keep pushing even when things got hard. And then, being a Carson Scholar, in general, just pushed me to keep giving back to my community. I already loved volunteering, but I think it was just that extra push to keep me in the community and keep me volunteering. It always reminds me to look beyond myself, especially when you’re studying to be in the medical field, it’s very easy to be like, ‘This is super hard,’ or ‘Will I make it another day?’ But the reminder is that there’s so much going on outside of you. It reminds me why I chose to do this in the first place.”

Throughout her studies, Lillian has had opportunities to be a clinical research coordinator helping with clinical trials and to shadow doctors who specialize in pediatric infectious diseases. She finds the most interest in diseases and diagnoses of pediatric patients.

Lillian enjoyed studying abroad in Sydney, Australia as an undergraduate student, where she took three biology classes and an art history class. She found the art history class interesting because it was a way to learn about the culture in Sydney and Australia, and she got to participate in field trips to museums.

In her free time, Lillian enjoys watching the Fast and Furious movies, listening to “Grown Woman” by Beyoncé, and cheering for her favorite sports teams. Lillian enjoys basketball and football; she roots for Duke’s basketball team, the Celtics, the Eagles and the Ravens. Lillian finds the 1920’s very fascinating and loves the book The Great Gatsby.

Lillian’s advice for our current scholars is, “I would say, never give up, which is the classic thing everyone says. But I think when you’re in high school, you’re met with a new set of challenges compared to when you were in middle school, and it’s easy to be like, ‘Can I actually get to the place I want to be?’ And even in college, COVID hit in the middle of my junior year, which kind of messed up my original plan of when I was going to do shadowing and all the things to be ready for med school. I had to do the master’s path with a slightly different route to get there, but I am so thankful for the opportunities that it brought me along the way. So, never give up, but also be open to having a path that isn’t cookie cutter or the perfect path, because if I had the college experience I thought I was going to have, I would never have had the opportunities to study abroad or join clubs I ended up joining.”