UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Zoe Bouchelle knows the game of soccer like the back of her hand. A former midfielder for the Penn State Nittany Lions Women's Soccer team, Bouchelle knows that dedication and teamwork is essential to achieving success. It's her heart and commitment to others that sets her apart. It's what made her a great teammate. Today, it's what makes her an even better doctor.
Student-athlete, mentor, leader, resident, fellow and pediatrician are just a few of the titles Bouchelle has had attached to her name throughout her life. Her path from Happy Valley to Harvard Medical School was an unconventional one and was shaped by opportunities found in unlikely places. But one thing has remained true, Bouchelle's life has been shaped by a desire to make the world a better place.
For Bouchelle, becoming a doctor wasn't always part of the plan. While she came from a family rooted in the medical field, Bouchelle was committed to carving out her own path. Her desire for an environment that would push her to her best led her to commit to the Nittany Lions.
"I chose to go to Penn State because number one, I wanted to play collegiate soccer in a really competitive place, and two, I wanted to get a great education," she said. "I was blown away by the resources."
Bouchelle found and established success on and off the field. She can look back at her years spent on Jeffrey Field fondly. However, it was the connections she built with her teammates off the field that remains her most treasured memories.
"They've been my most valued relationships for the last 15 years since I graduated," she said.
From bonding in the bus and hotel on road trips, to Final Four competitions, international trips and all the time at home in between, Bouchelle emphasizes the importance of building strong relationships and the lasting impact they have in life.
And it's not just her teammates that left this enduring impact on her.
"I'm incredibly grateful to coaches Erica Dambach, Ann Cook and Michael Coll for their leadership, mentorship and friendship," she said. "They were way more than just coaches to me."
Their role in Bouchelle's life still influences her and the culture she builds in her workplace today.
"I feel like even in medicine, I think about how to create a culture or a team that emulates some of what I had on the soccer team at Penn State. So it just goes to show you how much it sticks with you and how good of a job they do in building that environment for people."
Through staff and coaches, specifically assistant coach Ann Cook, Bouchelle learned about a non-profit, Soccer Without Borders, and had the opportunity to contribute to the organization during college. After being given the chance with some of her teammates to volunteer at a summer camp abroad, Bouchelle "fell in love" with the organization and the work they were doing to use soccer as a tool for youth development, particularly for girls.
This experience shaped her in a multitude of different ways. It served as a stepping stone that would launch her into the next part of her journey, working full-time for the international nonprofit.
"I truly don't think I can overstate how big of a role going to Penn State both as a student and an athlete played in my post-college experience and going on to medical school and becoming a doctor," she said.
Bouchelle was offered a post-grad position with Soccer Without Borders, and spent just under a year living and working in Granada, Nicaragua in what she describes as one of the most formative experiences of her early adult life.
Through this organization, soccer served as an outlet for mentorship, service and inspiration beyond the game itself.
"Many children we were working with and playing soccer with oftentimes didn't have access to some of the basic necessities that you would hope they would have," she said. "I think it opened my eyes to this opportunity to think a little bit more about the upstream drivers of health and opportunity for kids."
While in college, Bouchelle dealt with her own personal tragedies when her father became ill. Reflecting on her experience helping care for him combined with her passion to care for youth, her next path seemed to be coming into formation.
"I think through that experience, I began to think more about what I wanted my life to look like. I realized that I found meaning in taking care of people who were sick. And so through all of that, I thought a little bit about my work with children and a bit about my desire to work with people who were sick and kind of meld these two things together."
The journey shaped by opportunity and tragedy led her to Harvard Medical School, and a career where she feels like she can make a profound difference in the lives of others.
"I feel really lucky because my job now as a pediatrician, I really get to do all of those things, which is work with kids to address some of the social drivers of their health, and then to also provide health care to them as a doctor," she said.
Throughout her time at Harvard Medical School, Bouchelle expanded on her love for community outreach and became passionate about non-traditional ways to deliver healthcare.
She did research on a mobile health clinic called The Family Van that travels to under-resourced communities to provide preventative health care and social services, and became invested in how to reach people in unconventional ways through healthcare.
"I became really passionate about that work and some of the creative ways you can reach kids and adults," she said. "Not just in providing health care, but really taking a 360-degree view of their health."
Today, Dr. Zoe Bouchelle is impacting the lives of children every day through her work as a general pediatrician at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She is also a fellow in the National Clinical Scholar Program at the University of Pennsylvania and a health policy researcher.
Her grit and resilience, skills she cites having learned while playing team sports, has rewarded her with a career that she has found indescribable meaning in.
She knows many student-athletes are in the shoes she once stood in. Whether it be finding a purpose after college athletics or in the midst of untraditional journeys searching for the "right" next step, she knows firsthand what it's like to take the road less-traveled.
Her advice?
"Trust the process, trust yourself, give yourself time to explore, take risks, adventure a little bit and I guarantee that people will find their place."