The President's Corner

At a recent meeting of the Dartmouth Medical School Board of Overseers, I listened intently to a report delivered by Andrew Welch, DMS's director of admissions. He spoke to us about this year's 82 new M.D. candidates—who were selected from a pool of 4,620 applicants. What a daunting task! How does one pore through all of those impressive GPAs, high MCAT scores, and glowing letters of recommendation and find the real people behind the numbers? Fortunately for our medical school and for the future of medicine, the DMS Admissions Committee continues to do a remarkable job in landing great students from that sea of applicants.

I have been a mentor to Dartmouth medical students for 25 years. In my estimation, they are not only exceptional students—bright and hardworking—but also exceptional individuals. I have always been impressed with the range of life experiences that they bring to medical school. They are unusually thoughtful about their choice of medicine as a calling, and I find that they have come to medical school for all the right reasons.

I feel privileged to share my experience as a longtime obstetrician with them, even though I know that my days (and some nights) will be longer when a student is at my side. They, too, have much to teach me.

Some of the rewards of teaching are evident immediately, such as when I watch tears fill students' eyes as they watch their first delivery. And some of the rewards of teaching come later. Two of my former DMS students are now my partners—Richard Salchunas '84 and Heidi Hallonquist '01. And my first grandchild was delivered last year by a former student, Tim Fisher '98, at the naval hospital in Pensacola, Fla. What a small world medicine is!

But I also acknowledge that most of the rewards of my teaching may never be known to me. I am reminded of Albert Schweitzer's words: "No ray of sunshine is ever lost, but the green which it awakens into existence needs time to sprout, and it is not always granted for the sower to see the harvest. All work that is worth anything is done in faith."

It is in this "light" that I encourage all alumni of Dartmouth Medical School to seek opportunities to teach and mentor young people—whether they be students of medicine or science or health policy. We should never underestimate the value not only of the knowledge that we can impart, but also of the support that we can provide. The rewards for teachers are many and far-reaching. And if a student happens to be from Dartmouth Medical School, I can assure you that your experience will be exceptionally rewarding.

Oglesby "Oge" Young, M.D., '75
President, DMS Alumni Council

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