“These children,” explains Schweitzer, “were from a local school adjacent to Mulago Hospital. They greeted me each morning and afternoon on my way to and from work, and they screamed with laughter each time they saw themselves on my digital camera.”
Medical field an
EYE OPENER
for Luther alumni
Robin Markel (U’01) • Joey Podavin and Kelly Schweitzer (U’03) both knew early on they wanted to go to medical school. The two men, friends since high school, have followed similar paths. Podavin, who completed his two years of pre-medicine courses at Luther College and completed his medical degree in June 2008, is now a family physician in northern Saskatchewan. Schweitzer (BSc, Great Distinction) is currently enrolled in the five-year Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada (ophthalmology) program at Queen’s University after obtaining his chemistry degree through Luther College and his Doctor of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan in 2007. The long road through medical training has taken both men far from home and through a myriad of what Schweitzer describes as “eye-opening” experiences. While Podavin says that it’s difficult to remember now why he first wanted to go into medicine, he does say that the idea of travelling was appealing. He thought being a doctor would give him opportunities to “experience different cultures, and learn about people,” he says. Schweitzer’s story is more specific. “I was hit in the eye with a golf ball while I was at Luther,” he laughs. The ophthalmologist who treated Schweitzer invited him to spend some time in his clinic, and from there Schweitzer ended up “doing some research and some clinical stuff” with him one summer. Podavin currently works as a locum tenens doctor. “What that means,” he explains, “is that I work in a variety of communities to provide coverage where there either is no physician, or the
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