Junior Biology major Justin Dowell plans to attend medical school after graduation from Ashland University to become a surgeon. He spent this summer in Jupiter, Florida taking part in an internship at the Jupiter Medical Center that allowed him to shadow a number of doctors. Justin writes about his experience below. In addition to being an active member of our American Student Medical Association, Justin is supported by Ashland's state-funded Choose Ohio First Scholarship program.
I had the opportunity to shadow multiple physicians at the Jupiter Medical Center in Jupiter, Florida, this summer. For this internship, I had to contact doctors from a given list of different specialties I found interesting. I shadowed a neurologist, pulmonologist, plastic surgeon, orthopedic surgeon, and multiple invasive radiologists as well as an infectious disease specialist. For the neurologist, pulmonologist, and infectious disease doctor, I was primarily in the office seeing patients. Although, I did observe a few bronchoscopies while I was shadowing the pulmonologist. I initially thought a radiologist only read X-rays, but I was proven wrong. I had the chance to watch two spinal surgeries performed by radiologists. These were noninvasive but none the less surgeries. As for the orthopedic surgeon, I observed a couple rotator cuff surgeries. Again, these were not very invasive. I did, however, see an elbow repair where the elbow was fully exposed. Lastly, the plastic surgeon performed multiple breast surgeries, a tummy tuck, and a few smaller surgeries. These were the more invasive surgeries of the summer. I found each of the specialties interesting and informative, but I also found out that I won’t be happy unless I’m in the operating room.
