超越高山

Aaron 花边 ’14 says it’s seeking experiences beyond his comfort zone that has shaped the kind of person he’s become.

Some of these experiences include being a student-athlete, 在NASA进行研究, 在喜马拉雅山提供医疗服务.

野马的性能

When 花边 started at MMU as a student-athlete in soccer 和 track, 他对自己的未来没有计划. But through his experiences both inside 和 outside the classroom, 以及通过他的教授的指导, 教练, 和同学, his life found direction 和 a path to medical school at the University of Iowa.

“Aaron is self-motivated 和 has the ability to lead 和 work as a team player,阿莱西亚·赫鲁斯卡说, 生物学教授. “作为一个学术天才, 可靠的, 一个富有同情心的人, I have every confidence that he will be a great doctor with a caring bedside manner.”

“It’s humbling to realize how much I relied on my mentors early on,蕾西说。. “他们帮助我成长，把我推向极限. I graduated an entirely different person than when I started.”

美国宇航局约翰逊航天中心的研究

作为一名医科学生, 花边 became enthralled with the field of space medicine 和 the concept of human physiology in weightlessness.

“我意识到，随着技术的稳步进步, the limits of the human body may be what prohibit deep space travel unless we devote more time 和 research to studying how humans operate in space,他说.

2018年春天, NASA selected 花边 for an aerospace medicine rotation where he could learn from the field’s leading experts at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, 德州. 他的搭档是首席医师. 中性浮力实验室的罗伯特·桑德斯, which is used to train astronauts for spacewalks 和 also houses an altitude 和 hyperbaric chamber.

“It was an incredible opportunity to have an inside view into how the human race is pushing its limits as a species,” 花边 says of the research that is examining ways to increase the time of useful consciousness for astronauts 和 aviators when exposed to a low-oxygen environment.

喜马拉雅地区的服务

对全球健康感兴趣, 花边 left his familiar environment to serve the people of the Zanskar Valley in Ladakh, 印度, 喜马拉雅山脉最偏僻的地方. 毫不犹豫地, 花边 says the month-long rotation was as unique a clinical experience as one can find in medical school.

“I have worked in many emergency departments during my training, all of which have presented their own unique challenges 和 difficult environments, 但没有任何环境像这样具有挑战性,蕾西说。.

The clinical sites they served were only accessible by foot. 这支队伍不得不徒步越过18号山,300英尺的传递, 在海拔14的地方扎营,000英尺, 和 carry all of their clinic 和 personal supplies as they traveled between villages. 门诊的天数变化很大, 有一天治疗农民, 下一个是和尚, 在那之后的学生.

“My biggest takeaway from the trip is the culture of Western medicine 和 how we feel we must fix everything,蕾西说。. "But sometimes trying to fix things can do more harm than good, 无论是在国内还是国外, so we should tread carefully in our daily practices.” 

医学实践

爱荷华大学的同事. 雅各布·梅伦德雷斯说，莱西是一名熟练的临床医生, 以“尊重他人”著称, 善良, 和 caring—a tireless advocate for his patients 和 colleagues."对于莱西所代表的医生来说, the University of Iowa honored him with its Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award.

“在病人护理方面, 我没有和其他供应商合作, 不管训练水平如何, 谁更关心他的病人,梅伦德雷斯说, 谁提名莱西获奖的. “亚伦很有同情心，也很忠诚, 工作勤奋诚实, 和, 如果我的家人生病了, I would want them treated by someone whose clinical knowledge is surpassed only by their willingness to truly care for their patients—someone like Dr. 花边.”

 爱荷华大学的同事. Ethan Craig, who also nominated 花边 for the award, agrees. “亚伦的耐心, 情报, 和 empathy make him perfectly suited to be on the front lines of health care,克雷格说。.

A combination of 花边’s willingness to lend a helping h和 和 accept new challenges shape a career path that benefits others along the way.

“应用ing for rotations at the Johnson Space Center, seeing more patients than I feel comfortable with on shifts, 和 exploring new areas of the world are all things I had 和 have reservations about, 但我把自己放在了那里,蕾西说。. "In the end I never regret it 和 grow from the experiences.”

受MMU同学启发

The people 花边 got to know 和 work with at MMU were key players in shaping his life 和 still are to this day. 他说Ryan Bezy教授, Alesia赫鲁斯卡对此, 约瑟夫·阮, Kristopher Keuseman, 尼尔·伯恩斯坦, 安娜·沃特曼, 和丹尼斯·杜, 在任何给定时间, were involved in a turning point in his life 和 career. 

在MMU，莱西以预期的方式成长. He learned how to effectively manage his time 和 grow in leadership 和 teamwork roles. But what he didn’t expect was how much he would grow emotionally 和 culturally.

“这对我的医疗事业很有帮助, 太, seeing more similarities than differences in my patients.”

“在我的四年里, I had the privilege to befriend 和 work with dozens of individuals from countries all around the globe—a wonderful opportunity to gain perspective on the human experience for someone who had lived in Iowa their entire life,蕾西说。. “这对我的医疗事业很有帮助, 太, seeing more similarities than differences in my patients.”

花边 says he would be amiss if he didn’t mention how inspired he is to this day by his classmates “who have gone on to bigger 和 better things than me” as aspiring physicians (Ben Reinhart ’12, 艾莉森·罗伊，14岁, James Estipona, 14岁, 和妮可·莫罗’15), dentists (Megan Vogel Timm ’14 和 Meghan Nelson ’14), 脊医(Kodey Salow), physical therapists (Brooklyn Schrader ’13 和 Taylor Helms ’13), physician 和 surgical assistants (Brady Gerber ’14 和 Erica Soppe Reed ’14), 药剂师(Kelsey Kernan ' 14), 和研究人员(Matthew Purl ' 14).

As 花边 mentioned in his speech at the annual Donor Appreciation Dinner in June, the average acceptance rate into medical school is 40 percent, 其他医学专业也是如此. 

“Nearly 100 percent of this cohort got into the graduate school program or career of their choice 和 are now actively practicing in that field, 这很了不起,他说.