How
my student-athlete experience prepared me for where I am today
"My
professional experience has mainly involved caring for orthopedically-disabled children who have difficulty competing in vigorous sports.
My background in competitive athletics gave me a deep sense of compassion
for those individuals who had physical disabilities prohibiting
them from functioning as more fortunate people. The goal of my professional
career was to improve their physical function as much as possible."
Memories
of being a student-athlete I would like to share
"I think that competitive athletics at university level
is an important instructor in leadership. I suspect I learned more
from losing a hard fought race to try again in the next. Incidentally,
I was fortunate enough to get into medical school without a college
degree and the University of Chicago was one of the few places that
allowed me to compete. I was able to compete for my first two years
of medical school. It really forced me to budget my time because
it is awfully hard, as a medical student, to work out for a coupe
of hours a day. This really is the reason I chose the University
of Chicago."
What
I am doing today, and how I got there
"After medical school I interned in the Navy and
then spent an additional three years in submarine and diving medicine.
This required a great deal of physical activity and my swimming
helped me do well in diving school and underwater swim school. After
I left active duty I remained in the Reserve and was called up on
a number of occasions, most recently for the first Gulf war (6 months
in Saudi Arabia) and assignments for six months in Germany during
the Bosnian conflict and finally, three months in Kosovo. All of those
deployments were predicated on my remaining in good physical condition,
based on high school, college and graduate school experience as
a competitive athlete." |
