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Michael McCormack ’07 (Hagerstown, Md.) got an up-close, operating-room view of how broken bones are set and torn ligaments repaired during a recent externship at a medical school.
McCormack spent four days shadowing Mark Butler ’77, an orthopedic surgeon on the faculty of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, N.J. A biology major who aspires to become a physician, McCormack saw how doctors and medical students spend their days.
He sat in on patient visits, observed surgeries, and watched residents practice performing operations in a lab.
He was among more than 275 Lafayette students who gained first-hand knowledge of the professional world during January’s interim session in externships hosted by Lafayette alumni and other experienced professionals in business, the arts, education, healthcare, law, engineering, science, government, non-profits and other fields. By shadowing professionals at their workplaces, the students learned about careers they may pursue after college, developed professional networking contacts, and built their resumes.
“By going to a university hospital I was able to see everything, from being a student to running a practice,” says McCormack. “It gave me an idea of what I would experience in medical school.”
He was impressed with the dedication of the residents, who worked in labs throughout the morning, then performed surgery in the afternoons.
McCormack comes from a medical family. His father is an oncologist, his mother a nurse. He, too, plans to study oncology.
The externship allowed him to witness an area of medicine he was unfamiliar with.
“I wanted to see a different side of the medical field,” McCormack says. “Seeing surgery gave me an experience I needed to have.”
He spoke highly of Butler, who explained a number of different aspects of orthopedic surgery as McCormack shadowed him in examining rooms and operating rooms.
“I really enjoyed having someone who was very knowledgeable in that particular field. He gave me a lot of information,” McCormack says. “That really helped me a lot.”
Butler, along with his partner, Dr. Charles Gatt ’86, have hosted a number of interns. Both are committed to helping students from Lafayette.
“It’s difficult for undergraduates to understand what going to medical school really means,” Butler explains. “Many don’t have the opportunity to get any exposure to what our days are like. We try to give them some insight into what is involved in the process of becoming a physician.”
Orthopedic surgeons spend six years in training, and often work as many as 80 hours a week. That takes a powerful commitment. Butler, who is on the admissions committee of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, believes prospective doctors can’t make that commitment without first-hand knowledge of the field.
“Michael got exposed to how rapid a pace it is, and how difficult this career can be,” he says.
Butler, whose daughter Kate Butler ’08 is a third-generation Lafayette student, feels strongly about assisting students of his alma mater.
“Students from Lafayette have a high level of maturity. They are very well prepared for medical school and very well educated,” he says.
McCormack is also involved in an independent research project testing chemotherapy drugs on four different types of cancer cells. He is a member of the Admissions Tour Guide Committee and an event supervisor for Recreation Services.