From as far back as she can remember, Shanda McManus, MD ’96, had no doubt that she wanted to be a doctor.
“Growing up in North Philadelphia, no one in my family had even gone to college, and there were no doctors,” she says. “I think the seed was planted because when I was 5 my mom was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer. She was only 24.”
She accompanied her father and grandmother to visit her mother at the hospital regularly. After initially being given only two years to live, her mother survived, but when McManus was 10, the cancer returned. “Between the ages of 10 and 14, I was involved in a lot of her care,” she shares. “I learned how to do the colostomy, the IV feedings, and pay bills at the electric company. All of that steered me into medicine.”
Following her mother’s passing, McManus earned the Mayor’s Scholarship from the city of Philadelphia to attend the University of Pennsylvania, where she received a bachelor’s in English literature.
Her childhood dream of being a doctor still squarely in her sights, she pursued medical school in her hometown at Jefferson. But no one could have predicted the triumph, tragedy, and twists and turns that awaited on her journey.
Her life was forever impacted following a tragic event that occurred on December 24, 1992, at the end of her first semester at Jefferson. Her beloved younger brother, Monir, was killed in a drive-by shooting at the age of 20 while standing on a street corner.
Needing to provide for his young son, Monir had joined the Army. Yet upon his return to Philadelphia, he struggled unsuccessfully to find work and turned to selling drugs. While on a waiting list for what could have been a life-changing veterans’ program at the University of Pennsylvania, he was killed. It was only after his death that the family learned of his acceptance. His murder remains unsolved.
Devastated, McManus threw herself into her studies and her life at Jefferson. “Right after New Year’s, I was back at school,” McManus says. “I felt that I didn’t have any space to grieve — as if I get off this train right now, I might never make it out.”
She recalls that the support she received while at Jefferson was immeasurable. “You will find your people there — from the administration to the course directors to your classmates. You can find people who have a heart for other people at Jeff.”
