{"id":3242,"date":"2020-01-31T10:54:03","date_gmt":"2020-01-31T15:54:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/?p=3242"},"modified":"2025-07-25T14:39:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T18:39:12","slug":"before-the-white-coat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/before-the-white-coat\/","title":{"rendered":"Before the White Coat"},"content":{"rendered":"
It was in the middle of the Appalachian wilderness telling stories of a dog who flew to the moon; it was in a lab listening to humpback whales converse in thundering booms; it was in Hawaii, three stories under a pineapple field deciphering Chinese code.<\/p>\n
This is where three of Goucher\u2019s post-baccalaureate premedical (PBPM) students started their path to medicine. Betsy Merideth, director of the PBPM Program, says it was designed for people like Kea Edwards \u201919<\/span><\/strong>, Charlotte Tisch \u201919<\/span><\/strong>, and Ben Bowman \u201916<\/span><\/strong>, who didn\u2019t know they were going to become doctors as undergraduates, which sets them apart from 72% of medical students who have science backgrounds.<\/p>\n
Bowman says that Goucher\u2019s post-baccalaureate science faculty realize their students aren\u2019t ready-made scientists, so they teach accordingly, yet with a high level of rigor to prepare them for medical school. Within the past 10 years, all of Goucher\u2019s PBPM students have been accepted to medical schools at institutions such as Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Columbia, UCSF, University of Michigan, and a host of other top tier schools. That speaks to the quality of the student in Goucher\u2019s program, and to the quality of the program itself, Merideth says. Goucher\u2019s program is sought after, with an 8.9% acceptance rate. It\u2019s why, Merideth says, she can select candidates based not solely on their academics but on their life experiences and the quality of their character.<\/p>\n
Edwards, 26, spent her college summers at Appalachian Mountain Club, working as a search and rescue first responder.<\/p>\n
Edwards double majored in English and gender, sexuality, and women\u2019s studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Her studies required creative and empathetic thought processes in order to see characters in literature for all their complexities\u2014not unlike seeing people in need as more than their symptoms and problems. What people don\u2019t realize about search and rescue, Edwards says, is that between very intense situations, where quick thinking and technical skill are crucial, is the waiting. Edwards found herself having intimate conversations and telling stories to comfort strangers while they waited for transportation out of the wilderness.<\/p>\nKea Edwards ’19<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
After graduating from college, Edwards wanted to become more involved in patient care. So, she took a wilderness therapy position with Trails Carolina, where she worked with young girls who had undergone extreme trauma or were trying to overcome a dark internal struggle. It was the most intimate form of patient care. \u201cI slept alongside the patients; I ate with them every day. I led their group therapy sessions, and I wrote daily reports on their behavior,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Many of the girls had dissociated themselves from their own bodies, so identifying basic needs, such as when to use the bathroom or eat, didn\u2019t come naturally. By focusing on physical activities, like building a fire, patients learned to connect with and care for their bodies, which led to emotional healing.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter working there,\u201d Edwards says, \u201cand spending so much time talking and thinking about mental health, I realized that was really just one piece of the puzzle. So that was sort of the moment where I said, \u2018Oh my goodness, I think I want to be a doctor. What am I going to do?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
She became a medical scribe, who charts physician-patient interactions, for a small-town doctor in North Carolina. \u201cI was worried that a traditional medical setting would leave no room for stories about flying dogs or conversations about mental health, but I found that wasn\u2019t the case,\u201d she says, adding that the doctor made time to build relationships in the rural community. It was the combination of mental health, medicine, and social services she was looking for.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThe truth is that I\u2019ve always been so in love with the physical world, and I think that, in some way, studying medicine is sort of the ultimate extension of that,\u201d Edwards says. \u201cThe human body is so complicated and so beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edwards confirmed what she already knew.<\/p>\n
And so, she applied to Goucher.<\/p>\n
Tisch, 25, spent the summer after her first year at Brown University analyzing hours of humpback whale conversations. \u201cI\u2019m hearing things that people have never heard before. And I\u2019m eavesdropping on whales even though I can\u2019t understand them,\u201d she remembers thinking.<\/p>\n
Her job was to translate what she heard into something scientists could use on a larger scale. It was humbling, she says, to realize how many people are behind scientific research. \u201cIt\u2019s people who sit in labs, do this amazing work, and care so much about animals even though they\u2019re not interacting with them directly every single day,\u201d she says. Tisch didn\u2019t see a humpback whale during the internship, but the research was worth the eavesdropping.<\/p>\n
As she continued her undergraduate studies in psychology and Egyptian archaeology, Tisch interned at a museum, where she found Nesmin, who was mummified more than 2,000 years ago. Tisch researched societies\u2019 treatment of the dead, specifically mummies who in the 19th century were the featured entertainment at \u201cunwrapping parties,\u201d where guests would pillage the deceased Egyptians for their personal belongings.<\/p>\n
Recently, during her first semester of medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, Tisch studied cadavers and often reflected on Nesmin. She realized studying anatomy is a privilege.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cAnatomy was less of an adjustment because I was able, through working so closely with Nesmin, to understand he wasn\u2019t just a mummy in a museum; he was a person who had lived and a person who died, and a person whose body was on display. And it also made me think about people\u2019s rights and wishes. And what we as a society do to protect and respect them,\u201d Tisch says. \u201cThat\u2019s something I really want to take into medicine with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
And she has, in a lot of ways. Whether it\u2019s listening to whales or listening to those who don\u2019t have an audible voice\u2014like Nesmin, the cadavers, and patients who can\u2019t advocate for themselves\u2014Tisch wants to be a doctor who will break down the jargon, shed the white coat, and meet people wherever they are.<\/p>\nCharlotte Tisch ’19<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
And at Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital, Sam was under the bed. So that\u2019s where Tisch went. As a volunteer at the hospital, Tisch\u2019s role was to comfort patients and, in this case, get Sam to do his mouth rinse. When Sam realized she wasn\u2019t going away, he said, \u201cI\u2019ll do the rinse if we can play Battleship.\u201d While they played, he talked about his fear and confusion and promised not to hide from the nurses.<\/p>\n
Before Sam, before Nesmin, and before the whales, Tisch had an \u201cinkling\u201d that she wanted to go into medicine. She didn\u2019t act on it as an undergraduate because she told herself she wasn\u2019t smart enough. Plus, there were so many things she wanted to do, and if she changed her mind, the field would be waiting for her. However, when Tisch\u2019s friends were studying for the MCAT, she was jealous. \u201cI was like, \u2018Wow. You get to take the MCAT?\u2019 And they said, \u2018You want to take it? Maybe you should rethink the whole no-doctor thing.\u2019 And I told them, \u2018Yeah. Maybe you\u2019re right.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
And so, she applied to Goucher.<\/p>\n
Bowman didn\u2019t realize this was where life would take him when he was in his early 20s, three stories under a pineapple field in Hawaii as a cryptologic linguist for the National Security Agency. The underground walk to his office was a mile, so he jokes that anything forgotten in the car was not worth going back for.<\/strong><\/p>\n
In the years to follow, Bowman would lead a full career completely unrelated to medicine before returning to school. Now 37 and in his final year at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, he is applying to residency programs, where he will continue to become an emergency medicine physician.<\/p>\n
Starting out, Bowman couldn\u2019t afford college, so he joined the U.S. Army, which paid for his bachelor’s in international relations while he was learning Mandarin and later French. Bowman\u2019s careers\u2014cryptologic linguist, intelligence officer, and diplomat\u2014 took him around the world, introducing him to many cultures, people, and ways of thinking, which helps him to see past his own biases to better understand and treat his patients, he says.<\/p>\n
Understanding what people mean behind what they say is a large part of medicine, \u201cwhich is all about collecting information and forming theories,\u201d Bowman says. \u201cAnd all of this is to help the patient, but it usually happens behind the scenes.\u201d When a patient walks in, he\u2019s looking for what they brought with them, which family members are attending, clues to provide as much information as possible. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t feel any less high stakes than it did when it was missions to support national security,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
From being in the military, Bowman learned that he likes people, thrives working with a team. In medicine, everyone needs to work together, which is something that some people discover too late.<\/p>\n
In 2011, while working as a diplomat, Bowman flew home to Colorado to see his mother, who was very sick. He stayed with his family for six months, which helped him realize the importance of being close to them, something that was out of the question as a diplomat. Around this same time, he started to consider the six degrees of separation between himself and those he was affecting. In all of his jobs, he has always been aware that his work makes a difference, but he wanted to see it. Six degrees was just too many.<\/p>\nBen Bowman ’16<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
He became certified as an EMT, shadowed friends who were residents or attending physicians, and volunteered at hospitals. Through these experiences, Bowman physically felt and saw what it means to save someone\u2019s life or remove the source of pain.<\/p>\n
Bowman remembers one woman who walked into the emergency room wearing sunglasses and a hat because light bothered her eyes. She was experiencing intense headaches that often caused her to miss work. The woman had too much fluid surrounding her brain, and it was creating painful pressure. \u201cAll we did was poke a little hole at the bottom of her back and drain some of that fluid,\u201d he remembers. \u201cShe instantly felt better. She took her sunglasses off. She was smiling; her headache was gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
And so, he applied to Goucher.<\/p>\n
At Goucher, Edwards, Tisch, and Bowman discovered a community of people who were not competing with each other to become doctors but using their collection of vastly different experiences and expertise\u2014such as professional cycling, the Peace Corps, health policy research, and investment banking\u2014to learn from one another.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>That\u2019s what distinguishes Goucher\u2019s program, says Merideth, who selected these students not just for their academic brilliance\u2014because yes, there\u2019s no denying that\u2014but also for their compassion, their tenacity with a challenge yet their readiness to help their peers. \u201cThat\u2019s what makes them a community, not a random group of 32 people who are only in it for themselves,\u201d she says. \u201cI love my students. They are a treasure, and to know that Goucher is playing a role in sending people into medicine is tremendously rewarding for me and our faculty.\u201d<\/p>\n
It can go one of two ways when there\u2019s a room full of people who all want the same thing, Tisch admits, especially in premedical programs. People can compete with one another, or they can study together, support each other on the bad days, and celebrate the good things, which is what their class did. \u201cBecause at the end of the day, we\u2019re all going to be colleagues,\u201d Tisch says.<\/p>\n
Plus, going back to school, especially in the sciences, was exciting, says Edwards, who already has multiple acceptances from medical schools and will choose one at the end of April. \u201cI was constantly working on this project, and the project was turning myself into a scientist,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n
As Edwards, Tisch, and Bowman proved, becoming a doctor doesn\u2019t have to start with a textbook. Yes, they\u2019re academics, but also empiricists. In fact, \u201cempirics\u201d were an ancient sect of doctors who practiced medicine based exclusively on experience, as contrasted with those who relied on theory or philosophy. These soon-to-be-physicians are the product of both practice and theory in equilibrium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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![\"Kea](\"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/files\/2020\/01\/web-Edwards.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/files\/2020\/01\/Mountains-300x210.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/files\/2020\/01\/whale-300x187.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Charlotte](\"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/files\/2020\/01\/web-Tisch.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/files\/2020\/01\/pineapple-176x300.png\")
<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"Ben](\"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/files\/2020\/01\/web-Bowman.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.goucher.edu\/magazine\/files\/2020\/01\/stethescope-300x191.png\")
<\/strong>That\u2019s what distinguishes Goucher\u2019s program, says Merideth, who selected these students not just for their academic brilliance\u2014because yes, there\u2019s no denying that\u2014but also for their compassion, their tenacity with a challenge yet their readiness to help their peers. \u201cThat\u2019s what makes them a community, not a random group of 32 people who are only in it for themselves,\u201d she says. \u201cI love my students. They are a treasure, and to know that Goucher is playing a role in sending people into medicine is tremendously rewarding for me and our faculty.\u201d<\/p>\n