Megan Herceg is all smiles as she is introduced to her fellow medical school classmates during the first year orientation in Light Hall Monday morning.
photo by Dana Johnson
VUSM Class of ’09 gets ready to shine
Patricia Temple, M.D., left, and her husband, VUSM Dean Steven Gabbe, M.D., talk with first-year medical student Natalie Jacobowski during a lunch on Monday for incoming medical students and their advisers on the first day of orientation.
photo by Dana Johnson
Scott Rodgers, M.D., assistant dean for Medical Student Affairs, talks with some of the first-year medical students during orientation.
photo by Dana Johnson
Bonnie Miller, M.D., associate dean for Undergraduate Medical Education, gives a talk to the incoming first-year medical students on "The 21st Century Doctor.”
photo by Dana Johnson
Brigham Au and Vernon Rayford are good examples of the 105 members of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine's Class of 2009. They're vastly different, yet they're enormously alike.
Au, a recently married graduate of the University of Utah, is a devout Mormon who spent two years in Panama sharing his Mormon-based message and helping develop communities. Rayford, a graduate of the University of Miss., is an African-American from small-town Holly Springs, Mississippi, who comes to VUSM with a Doctor of Pharmacy degree.
But the same thing convinced the former college football players that Vanderbilt was the place for them — the friendliness of the administration, and the fact that Nashville's Mayor Bill Purcell and Vanderbilt Chancellor Gordon Gee were among those who greeted them at VUSM's Second Visit Weekend, held in April. The weekend is held for prospective students to meet current students and faculty, to take a closer look at the program, the campus and Nashville and to determine if Vanderbilt is where they want to earn their medical degrees.
“Second Visit Weekend sealed the deal for me,” Rayford said. “I expected to be intimidated by Vanderbilt and the fact that some of my classmates have done phenomenal things. What I saw was a down-to-earth school that took a personal interest in me early on. I didn't feel that in other places.”
Au agreed. “It was great that Nashville's mayor and Chancellor Gee were there. It shows that they care, about Vanderbilt and about us.” Rayford and Au met at Second Visit Weekend and became friends. “He (Au) is one of the reasons why I'm here,” Rayford said.
The Class of 2009, the 129th class to enter the medical school, is completing a weeklong introduction to the core skills, values and attitudes of the medical profession. They will receive their white coats at the convocation ceremony this evening.
The week began with an informal breakfast on Monday morning, followed by the beginning of orientation activities in 208 Light Hall. Steven G. Gabbe, M.D., dean of the School of Medicine, spoke about the medical school's history and gave the students some examples of distinguished faculty members.
“If you don't have chills running up and down your spine right now, I don't know what it would take for you,” Gabbe said as he kicked off the orientation.
“I know you had many choices of medical schools and spent hundreds of hours making your decision, but we spent thousands of hours looking through nearly 4,400 applicants for this class. Forty-four folks applied for each of your positions, and we're delighted that this class has come together. We believe you are among the very best and brightest of the 16,000 students at the nation's 125 medical schools,” he said.
Caroline Kim, a 2001 Harvard University graduate, said it was the student-centered atmosphere and friendliness of the faculty and staff combined with the way the medical school curriculum is organized that brought her to Vanderbilt. She had applied to several other medical schools, including Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and Penn State, but Vanderbilt was her first choice.
After attending Harvard on an ROTC scholarship, she spent the past four years on active duty — in Korea for a year and Europe for three. She lived in Germany during the medical school application process.
“Vanderbilt extends a welcoming feeling to the interviewees,” she said. “The other schools were totally about competition.”
The Class of 2009 comes from 33 states, six foreign countries — Australia, Canada, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Pakistan — and 60 colleges and universities. Sixteen of the students are graduates of Vanderbilt University.
Also at Monday's session, Bonnie Miller, M.D., associate dean for Undergraduate Medical Education, spoke to the group about what will be involved in becoming a 21st Century Doctor, and Harold Helderman, assistant dean for Admissions, introduced each class member, with each member standing to be introduced to their classmates.
Scott Rodgers, M.D., assistant dean for Medical Student Affairs, went over the nuts and bolts of being a first year student, including the orientation schedule and dress code, and the first day of orientation ended with a picnic at the home of Gabbe and his wife, Patricia Temple, M.D.
Other sessions throughout the week included the pairing up of first-year students with student advisers, an overview of the four years of medical school from students now entering their second, third and fourth years, a session on becoming a culturally competent physician from George Hill, Ph.D., associate dean for Diversity in Medical Education, and talks on wellness and professionalism.
The class was also assigned the book Mountains Beyond Mountains to read prior to beginning medical school and discussions were held about the book.
As always, parents and families were invited to attend the convocation and white coat ceremony, and this year's schedule also included a parents' orientation.
John Humphrey of Los Gatos, Calif., is one student who already knew quite a bit about Vanderbilt's family friendly, student-centered reputation before he got here. His father, Stinson Humphrey, was a member of the VUSM Class of 1978.
“He never pushed me to apply,” said the Duke University graduate who applied to both Northwestern and Johns Hopkins in addition to Vanderbilt. “But he was sure happy when I decided to come here.”