Medical careers are the topic when five alumni doctors spend a Björklunden weekend with future medical students
By Sandra J. Drexler '90
Excerpted from an article originally published in the Boynton Society Newsletter, a publication for supporters of Björklunden vid Sjön.
This past spring, Björklunden, Lawrence's northern campus in Door County, hosted its second Medical Muses Seminar, a session where students with an interest in medical careers could mix and mingle with alumni physicians. The program was the brainchild of Nicholas C. Maravolo, professor of biology and a veteran member of Lawrence's Health Careers Advisory Committee, and Alan Reynolds '72, an anesthesiologist in Wausau.
Alumni panelists were Jim Bruno '81, an orthopedic surgeon in Oconomowoc; Doug Carlson '81, an OB/GYN specialist practicing in Milwaukee; Bart Isaacson '91, an internist in Wausau; Kathy Krohn-Gill '79, a family practitioner in Merrill; and Amy Cooper Schumacher '91, a pediatrician in Madison.
All of them had taken slightly different paths to Lawrence and through medical school and have chosen different specialties, but the tie that binds them is a continuing relationship with Professor Maravolo. It was at his request that the five physicians spent a weekend talking about their lives and careers with 19 Lawrence students at Björklunden.
Much of the advice the doctors offered had to do with determining a personal philosophy and approach to life. A common theme was the need to purposefully choose what is important to you as a person and to decide what things you are willing to sacrifice for your career. Each of the physicians identified a strong family life as being very important in their lives and a guidepost for making decisions. A belief in a higher power was also mentioned frequently, as physicians are required to make difficult decisions, often alone and in a hurry.
The business aspect of a medical practice, in particular, was one area that Carlson noted as lacking in his medical education. As a partner in an independent practice, he describes himself as being as much a businessman as a physician. Bruno suggested that the students subscribe to the Wall Street Journal and Investment Business Daily, and both doctors said that they would have found this advice very helpful as medical students and suggested it as a way to better prepare the Lawrence students for their futures.
Isaacson stressed the fact that liberal arts graduates are greatly advantaged in medical school by their ability to communicate clearly and effectively in both oral and written forms. Krohn-Gill also mentioned communication and listening skills as being very important to a physician and described how Lawrence helped her to hone those skills. Isaacson urged students to explore opportunities outside the sciences in order to be as well-rounded as possible, and Schumacher echoed this statement, saying that any advantages students with deeper scientific backgrounds might have are erased within the first two weeks of medical school. Carlson reassured the students that Lawrence taught him how to study and gave him the skills necessary to successfully complete medical school.
Schumacher has worked through Indian Health Services and was able to talk about the challenges that come with providing care to people who might not even have electricity or running water. She also is a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin Medical School and was able to address students' questions about careers as medical educators.
Much of the weekend was left unstructured in order to provide informal opportunities for the students to interact with and ask questions of the physicians. They shared meals, took walks, and chatted around a bonfire. Lisa Baumann '01, from Watertown, valued this casual atmosphere and the fact that it allowed her to meet the alumni physicians as individuals.
Students attending the seminar ranged from freshmen just beginning to explore their interest in practicing medicine or doing medical research to seniors who were waiting to hear from the medical schools to which they've applied or choosing among the schools that have offered them admission. Based on conversations over the weekend, at least one student decided that a medical career was not for him. Being able to talk with the doctors openly and at length allowed him to make a decision for his future based on real-life experience.
The weekend also provided Baumann with a unique opportunity to talk at length with two women who are successfully combining medical careers with families and to discuss the challenges that women face in the medical profession. One-on-one sessions with the panelists gave her a view of the profession that she never would have had otherwise, and Björklunden provided the perfect setting for those conversations.
The need for a passion for medicine and people was something that Tom Murphy '03, freshman from Delavan, brought away from the weekend. Murphy found the casual nature of the seminar to be the perfect format for informal conversations with the doctors and was also able to spend time talking with each of them. He especially appreciated the fact that the physicians were alumni, and he enjoyed hearing their stories about Lawrence.
Of the four student seminars on various topics that Professor Maravolo conducted at Björklunden this past academic year, he was particularly delighted with this one: "The fact that five busy professionals took a weekend off to spend it with students they didn't know — and then offered to repeat the experience — speaks to the success of the weekend." Having had their first taste of Björklunden, all of the physicians who attended the weekend offered to come back for a repeat of the seminar.
The weekend was deemed a great success by both students and physicians. Krohn-Gill remarked that it might seem as if Maravolo had brought the group together as much for the benefit of the alumni as for the students, since all the physicians commented that the seminar provided them with an opportunity to reflect on their lives and careers, as well as the roads they'd traveled to get there. This was also a way for them to give something back to Lawrence and to the man they claim as their mentor.
They also mentioned that they wished they had had a similar opportunity as undergraduates, which they felt would have better prepared them for their careers and lessened the disillusionment that each had felt at one time or another.