him go to work every day, loving what he did; he made pediatrics look really fun, and it is!” After her father died, Ellen chose to focus full time on adolescents through the Cleveland Clinic, where she helped develop the Center for Adolescent Medicine. Her medical practice has expanded to include teaching, lecturing nationally and internationally, and presiding over medical societies. Ellen’s career has indeed been “rich and wonderful.” Ellen’s first role model, her father, was close at hand, but others followed and have been important in the development of her career. Ada Koransky Meltzer was also fortunate to find people who inspired her. Ada was in her fourth year of medical school when she came in contact with a doctor who was doing pioneering work in cardiac electrophysiology. Ada was drawn to cardiology because it combined intellectual challenge with procedures. (“I like doing things!”) Ada considers herself lucky to have
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been part of a 30-year “golden age” of cardiology and never stops being fascinated by the heart and circulatory system. Ada stresses the importance of mentors for anyone going into medicine. “Find people who care deeply about the people they care for and maintain high standards of care.” She cautions those who are entering medicine not to take short cuts. Medicine is, after all, more than a job.
“It is an identity that will define you for the rest of your life.” Ada Koransky Meltzer’s words about identity are reflected in the sentiments of many others, accompanied by threads of humility that weave through the narratives. Celena McLaurin says, “It is important to learn very early in your career that you will never know it all. The best of us have learned to remain humble and open to new ideas and thoughts.” Celena’s very first nursing job was at Brown Ledge. She is now an RN at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and she is continuing her education in a pediatric nurse practitioner program at Georgia State
that confronts her: “It’s like trying to drink water from a fire hydrant!”
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Whether new to the field like Katie, or a veteran practitioner, coming to grips with the flow of medical knowledge is one of the great challenges of a career in health care. A word Brown Ledgers use frequently when talking about the medical field is “diversity.” A look at the span of specialties and experiences tells us why. ,#0 -.+0' Is there any other field that offers such wide-ranging opportunities? Jenny University. Mary Barton agrees with Libien, now a neuropathologist and Un U n Celena about always learning. Her neuroscientist at the State University Ce medical career has taken her from of New York, always loved science for m in internal medicine, to its emphasis on discovery, and she ttraining r medical school faculty position, had a hard time deciding between am becoming a scientist or a physician. to the U.S. Department of Health She chose to do both. In college, she aand an n Human Services, and now to non-profit focused on improving “fell completely in love with the brain an the quality of health care. She and was fascinated by how cells and th advises those considering synapses come together to aad d profession in health make the core of who you ap m care that, in addition to are.” Now Jenny teaches, ca a having an affection for does research, and is in ha d people, it is important to charge of several different pe c be committed to life-long programs at SUNY’s p learning. Katie Reynolds Downstate Medical Center. D is on the steepest part of There Th is no doubt that that learning curve and she Sarah Walker shares the S knows about information same love of discovery. s overload all After earning her PhD in A too well. molecular biology, Sarah m /'.+55# (+5*'. /#7'4 She is in her became a postdoctoral b first year of fellow at Dana-Farber f medical school and uses a Cancer Institute. She C metaphor to describe the information is currently both an instructor