Kaylin Burton’s path to making history in medical education began in the classrooms and labs of Lake Superior State University.
As an undergraduate biology student at LSSU, Burton built the academic foundation and sense of purpose that now guide her as the first medical student to pilot Michigan State University’s Intergenerational Living Initiative. The innovative program places Burton full-time in a senior living community, where she lives among and helps to care for older adults. Some of those residents have dementia, and that experience is shaping her future in primary care medicine.
A lifelong connection to her grandparents first sparked Burton’s interest in working with older adults. With two grandfathers in their 90s and a grandmother approaching the milestone herself, Burton said growing up around their stories and experiences gave her an early respect for aging and elder care. That interest deepened during college, when she worked as a nurse aide in an assisted living facility…