NEUROSCIENCE IN ACTION

pituitary disorder program. As a result, Rochester Regional Health – where she is vice president and chair of neurosciences – has a nationally respected department for brain care.

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Dr. Mary Dombovy ’77 says neuroscience can lead to positions in device manufacturing and pharmaceuticals, in addition to giving an edge to med school students.

Mary Dombovy grew up in St. Cloud and chose Saint Ben’s in part to be closer to family. Her aunt had suffered a brain injury, and Mary was happy to repay all the attention she’d received as a child. Then her father suffered a stroke, and her own parents needed a helping hand, too.

“I became interested in more than just their acute treatment, but also in the problems they had with language, memory and cognition and how that changed or improved or didn’t improve over time,” Mary says. “When I was at Saint Ben’s, I had a one-track mind thinking about going to medical school. But I was always interested in how the brain works.”

She majored in biology and chased her dream, first at Mayo Medical School and later with residencies there and at the University of Wisconsin. It was there in 1989 that she met officials from Rochester, New York, who wanted to establish a brain injury and stroke recovery program. She accepted their offer to help build it, starting with neurologic rehab. She later hired neurologists, neurosurgeons, pain and spine physicians, neuropsychologists, and eventually developed programs for memory care, concussions and even a

Mary is a member of the Common Boards here at Saint Ben’s and Saint John’s. She and her late husband, Michael Johnson, have long sponsored a named annual scholarship at Saint Ben’s. And she was instrumental in helping launch our graduate nursing programs. Now she applauds a new undergraduate minor in neuroscience, knowing it will help prepare future Bennies and Johnnies to follow in her footsteps.

“I think it can lead to jobs in a number of areas – not only in medicine,” says Mary, counting off positions with device makers, the pharmaceutical industry, and people who are working on artificial intelligence or brain interface technology. “It gives you the underpinnings, the background. It would’ve allowed me to be a bit ahead when I started med school.

“As I’m looking for residency candidates or physicians, I prefer someone with a neuroscience or biomedical engineering background. I’m also looking for people who can get us involved with practical clinical research among other organizations or industries. From an undergrad position, those two backgrounds better prepare you to do things in this type of medicine than a straight biology or chemistry major. I’m not saying everyone should be able to identify a specialty when they’re an undergrad, but this is where you would seek help from a mentor, too.

“I see neuroscience programs growing,” she continues. “See what kind of traction it gets and one day it might become a major right alongside biochem.”