Valley doctor dead after Northeast Fresno crash

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Valley doctor is dead after being hit by a car in Northeast Fresno Friday night.

The accident happened at the intersection of Shepherd and Champlain just after 11 p.m.

Officers say a man and a woman were crossing the street when a car hit the woman.

Witnesses tried to perform CPR but she later died at the hospital.

Action News has learned the victim is 30-year-old Dr. Melissa Dowd. Action News interviewed her for a story about first-year doctors back in June.

Dowd was a resident in the UC San Francisco - Fresno emergency medicine program. She told Action News she was from Virginia and wanted to be a trauma surgeon.

On Saturday a small memorial marked the spot where Dowd was hit. Investigators say it appears she may have been crossing the street against a red light.

Both people in the car that hit her are coopering with the investigation.

The director for the UCSF Fresno medical education program released a statement Saturday.

It says: "on behalf of the UCSF Fresno family, we are deeply saddened and heartbroken by the death of one of our emergency medicine residents."

It goes on to say, "in a short amount of time, she touched the lives of her peers, nurses and patients in a meaningful way. We extend our deepest sympathies to her family and friends. Our thoughts and prayers are with them."

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