Derek gets US MD degree

Dr. Derek Alik with his family shortly after the graduation ceremony in Arkansas last week. Photo: Angeline Heine-Reimers.

The first Marshallese to graduate with a US medical doctor degree in a generation graduated last week in Arkansas.

Dr. Derek Alik, son of Dr. Wilfred and Carmina Alik, completed his studies at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Medicine. Numerous family members were on hand to congratulate him at the graduation last week.

Dr. Derek is the first Marshallese to graduate from a US medical school since his father and Dr. Sheldon Riklon gained their MDs from the University of Hawaii medical school in the 1990s.

Dr. Derek’s father was a long-time doctor in the Kaiser Permanente program on the Big Island of Hawaii. Recently retired from Kaiser, he joined the Hawaii Island Community Health Center as its East Side medical director earlier this year.

Dr. Riklon works for the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences.

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