Cover Story > The Family Buesiness
Drs. Jack, Jamie, and Janwyn Funamura way they did. “It’s unusual, but I don’t try too hard to explain it.” Henry says. “All I know is that I’m happy it’s worked out this way.” While one would be hard-pressed not to admit that the Zeiter family’s case is somewhat unusual, there’s a mounting body of evidence that suggests that medicine, as a profession, carries a stronger sense of family tradition than comparable profession, such as law, engineering or education. In 2002, a study conducted amongst first year medical students in Canada showed that nearly one in six incoming first-year medical students had at least one physician parent. Nearly a decade later, an article in The New York Times highlighted a study suggesting that, among medical schools in the United States, roughly one in five students admitted had at least one physician parent. Some campuses, however, saw rates as high as one in three, the study concluded. Those looking for evidence of a familial tradition in the field of medicine needn’t look much further than right here in San Joaquin County. In fact, for the purposes of this article, more than 70 physicians who are currently members of the San Joaquin Medical Society were identified as having some sort of family tie to the practice of medicine. For some, it may have been a father or mother who served as their guide into the field of medicine. Others, saw brothers, sisters, cousins
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and uncles lead the way. Regardless of how it happens, it seems that medicine isn’t a profession that simply keeps to an individual, but rather has a tendency to spread through the family. Drawing solely from his own experiences, John proposed one explanation for such a trend. “I used to follow my dad around the hospital when I was six or seven years old, so it didn’t take long for me to decide what I wanted to do,” he said. “It actually makes life a little bit easier when you know what you want to do.” Others have chimed in with similar experiences. “At age two my parents told me I would say, ‘I want to be a doctor and use a stethoscope.’ Perhaps those words became a seed which, when watered, grows, said Pamela Tsuchiya, MD, a Tracy-based ophthalmologist who can recall accompanying her father, Alan Nakanishi, MD – who is also an ophthalmologist – during hospital rounds when she was a child. This idea of “watering the seed,” can likely account for many of today’s physicians who decided to follow in their parent’s footsteps. Tsuchiya, for example, recalls getting “play doctor” kits for at least one birthday – perhaps a not-so-subtle nudge toward the profession supplied by her parents. For the Zeiters, there were similar suggestions made, which now can be looked back upon with a certain amount of levity. “My dad basically told me, ‘Look around and choose whatever you want…corneas, glaucoma,
George Westin, MD George Westin Jr., MD Greg Westin, MD Jeffrey Westin, MD Lian Soung, MD Jerry Soung, MD Peggy Soung Sullivan, MD Michael C. Soung, MD Julio Narvaez, MD Elsa Rodriguez, MD Julio Narvaez, MD Fred Manty, MD, DDS Jeffrey Payne, MD, DDS Erik Payne, MD Audrey Payne, MD Alvin Cacho, MD Vince Cacho, MD Valerie Cacho, MD Gabriel Tanson, MD Elvis Tanso, DO Rick Rawson, MD Rick Rawson, MD Julie Zimbelman, MD
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