Change Starts With You
Troy Edwards and Diane Ihezie Edwards’s unique path toward success inspires them to advocate in their community.
By Citlali Dominguez
“I tell this to my husband all the time: I feel like med school has been the most loving thing I could do for my brain,” says Diane Ihezie Edwards, a fourth-year medical student at the University of Illinois Chicago applying into emergency medicine for residency. When she isn’t helping ensure that patients receive quality, equitable care, Diane is working on finding justice, shaping policies and coming up with protections for people exposed to toxic chemicals from smelting in Namibia as her capstone project at UIC Law’s International Human Rights Clinic.
UIC Law happens to be where her husband, Troy Edwards, JD ’25, is also deeply engaged in advocacy.
As a recent graduate, Troy had the opportunity to clerk for Illinois Supreme Court Justice P. Scott Neville Jr. and mentors young law students. Troy and Diane were living in Dallas before, and doing well in different fields. But when a shared passion to help others inspired them to think bigger, Diane brought up the prospect of moving to Chicago.
“I wanted to be at an institution that understood what it means to be a nontraditional student and had the resources to support me in order to be successful,” she says. Stories like theirs are common at UIC, where student success is a priority and community is central. Both earned scholarships from the university for their efforts, and their hard work and generosity speaks to the broad impact of giving, whether it be one’s time, energy or financial resources.
Troy and Diane had been out of school for several years before enrolling at UIC. Troy — who studied marketing as an undergrad before owning and operating his own construction firm, where he worked on major skyscraper projects — earned the Marie Adornetto Monahan Endowed Judicial Extern Scholarship, named for the late law professor who taught at UIC Law in its previous iteration. He pays Monahan’s generosity forward by mentoring with the Black Men Lawyers’ Association, though his volunteering doesn’t end with the law. Building a network in Chicago led to Troy mentoring youth on the West Side of Chicago through Building Brighter Futures, and volunteering with the District 1 Alzheimer’s Association — a cause close to his heart due to a family member impacted by the disease.
“I didn't get a chance to meet Marie,” he says. “But I was honored to be able to receive a scholarship named after such a trailblazer like herself.”
While Troy was blazing his own path at the law school, Diane was at the College of Medicine learning how to care for patients who face the greatest barriers to care. Her own experience receiving care in emergency departments, along with two of her uncles dying in Nigeria due to wrongful administration of medicine, ignited a spark to help patients by meeting them where they are at.
“I've really enjoyed the learning, and the ability to advocate for patients and be a voice for people who face barriers to advocating for themselves or navigating the health care system,” she says. In Dallas, she’d leveraged a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s in public health to become a senior consultant at CVS Health, then a strategic account executive at UnitedHealth. She earned the Lyle R. Dawson Memorial Scholarship from UIC before securing funding through the Navy Health Professional Scholarship Program. Getting recognition from the university reinforced her confidence, helping her keep momentum toward her dream of becoming a doctor, which she’s had since she was a child.
To Troy, the work Diane puts in is infectious.
“We’ll go on date night, we’ll get back at 9 p.m., and she’ll go sit down at the table and study until 12 a.m.,” he says. “To watch her go through medical school with so much grace, as well as seeing some of the opportunities she’s having outside of med school, has been one of my best motivators.”
A mutual motivator is UIC’s openness to helping students pursue their personal goals while continuing their education, Diane said. She and Troy welcomed a son into the world this past November.
“Having our son in the midst of wrapping up our terminal degrees is not maybe what is typical,” she says. “It was possible because there was a flexibility in supporting us. Even though this may not be the standard for every student, [UIC] can make space for things that don't look standard.”
Troy Edwards and Diane Ihezie Edwards’s unique path toward success inspires them to advocate in their community.
Change Starts With You
“I tell this to my husband all the time: I feel like med school has been the most loving thing I could do for my brain,” says Diane Ihezie Edwards, a fourth-year medical student at the University of Illinois Chicago applying into emergency medicine for residency. When she isn’t helping ensure that patients receive quality, equitable care, Diane is working on finding justice, shaping policies and coming up with protections for people exposed to toxic chemicals from smelting in Namibia as her capstone project at UIC Law’s International Human Rights Clinic.
UIC Law happens to be where her husband, Troy Edwards, JD ’25, is also deeply engaged in advocacy.
As a recent graduate, Troy had the opportunity to clerk for Illinois Supreme Court Justice P. Scott Neville Jr. and mentors young law students. Troy and Diane were living in Dallas before, and doing well in different fields. But when a shared passion to help others inspired them to think bigger, Diane brought up the prospect of moving to Chicago.
“I wanted to be at an institution that understood what it means to be a nontraditional student and had the resources to support me in order to be successful,” she says. Stories like theirs are common at UIC, where student success is a priority and community is central. Both earned scholarships from the university for their efforts, and their hard work and generosity speaks to the broad impact of giving, whether it be one’s time, energy or financial resources.
Troy and Diane had been out of school for several years before enrolling at UIC. Troy — who studied marketing as an undergrad before owning and operating his own construction firm, where he worked on major skyscraper projects — earned the Marie Adornetto Monahan Endowed Judicial Extern Scholarship, named for the late law professor who taught at UIC Law in its previous iteration. He pays Monahan’s generosity forward by mentoring with the Black Men Lawyers’ Association, though his volunteering doesn’t end with the law. Building a network in Chicago led to Troy mentoring youth on the West Side of Chicago through Building Brighter Futures, and volunteering with the District 1 Alzheimer’s Association — a cause close to his heart due to a family member impacted by the disease.
“I didn't get a chance to meet Marie,” he says. “But I was honored to be able to receive a scholarship named after such a trailblazer like herself.”
While Troy was blazing his own path at the law school, Diane was at the College of Medicine learning how to care for patients who face the greatest barriers to care. Her own experience receiving care in emergency departments, along with two of her uncles dying in Nigeria due to wrongful administration of medicine, ignited a spark to help patients by meeting them where they are at.
“I've really enjoyed the learning, and the ability to advocate for patients and be a voice for people who face barriers to advocating for themselves or navigating the health care system,” she says. In Dallas, she’d leveraged a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s in public health to become a senior consultant at CVS Health, then a strategic account executive at UnitedHealth. She earned the Lyle R. Dawson Memorial Scholarship from UIC before securing funding through the Navy Health Professional Scholarship Program. Getting recognition from the university reinforced her confidence, helping her keep momentum toward her dream of becoming a doctor, which she’s had since she was a child.
To Troy, the work Diane puts in is infectious.
“We’ll go on date night, we’ll get back at 9 p.m., and she’ll go sit down at the table and study until 12 a.m.,” he says. “To watch her go through medical school with so much grace, as well as seeing some of the opportunities she’s having outside of med school, has been one of my best motivators.”
A mutual motivator is UIC’s openness to helping students pursue their personal goals while continuing their education, Diane said. She and Troy welcomed a son into the world this past November.
“Having our son in the midst of wrapping up our terminal degrees is not maybe what is typical,” she says. “It was possible because there was a flexibility in supporting us. Even though this may not be the standard for every student, [UIC] can make space for things that don't look standard.”
By Citlali Dominguez
