Donavon Dahmer is a brilliant and empowered man who grew up in a small town in Mississippi and studied at the Whiddon College of Medicine at the University of South Alabama. Donavon is a graduating senior who received a 2019 Phi Kappa Phi National Fellowship for graduate study, making him the fifth USA student to receive a national PKP honor in recent years. He is the descendant of Vernon Dahmer, a Civil Rights activist who gave his life to provide equality and the right to vote for Mississippians. He was also selected by the University of Iowa Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences for the 2023 class of resident ophthalmologists.